WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, RUN THE RACE AND KEEP THE FAITH?
By Ezekiel
Kimosop
In concluding his
exhortation to Timothy, Paul states in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (NKJV)
Paul had just
given Timothy a compelling exhortation in vv.1-6 where he charged the young
minister to preach the word with boldness. He was to “convince, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and teaching (v.2) and to be watchful in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist and fulfil his ministry (v.5).
In short, Paul was exhorting Timothy to be diligent, persistent, and focused on
his primary duty of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to which he had
been called.
Bible scholars say
that 2 Timothy was Paul’s final epistle and his message to Timothy recorded in
2 Timothy 4:1-8 served as his concluding charge to a young minister that he had raised and
mentored in ministry. It was of profound significance in its timing. Paul was
about to depart this world having faithfully served Christ as an apostle and Christian
missionary.
How should the
Bible reader interpret the statement in its passage context? I will proceed to
outline the statement in three segments for clarity.
I HAVE FOUGHT THE
GOOD FIGHT
Paul understood
the ministry task as a battle. How was it so? He fought to defend the faith
from heretics and false teachers (cf. 1 Timothy 1:18-20 where the quest for authentic
defense of the truths of God’s word was most profoundly demonstrated. Paul
confronted two heretics and excommunicated them from the fellowship of the
church of Ephesus). Timothy was already aware of this fact, having previously
received Paul’s First Letter addressed to him. Another set of heretics is
mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17-18. These were just a few of many false teachers
that Paul had to contend with in his Gentile ministry. On some occasions, Paul confronted a radical Jewish group that introduced cultural syncretism into the Christian faith. They demanded that Gentile believers should observe Jewish ritual circumcision. Paul defended our Christian liberty from the demands of cultural exigencies (cf. Galatians 1-5).
How did Paul fight the “good fight”? He stood on God’s side and proclaimed Christ crucified! He never compromised on his doctrine.
Paul suffered many afflictions in his defense of the gospel and finally paid the cost with his life. He was once publicly beaten and humiliated; was locked up in prison; suffered hunger; endured three shipwrecks, among many other painful afflictions, all for Christ’s sake. He counted his life worth nothing apart from Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:22-33).
What fights are you fighting in your Christian life?
Have you placed your focus on the exigency of the battle for proclaiming Christ or are you busy with the struggles of this passing world? God is calling us to fight the good fight that Paul and his associates fought. Circumstances and seasons may have changed since the first century Christian topology, but the battle for the preservation of the faith that was once for all given us remains an enduring fight (Jude 1:3).
Fight the good
fight of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I HAVE RUN THE
RACE
Paul employs a second set of figures of speech to illustrate his ministry journey. He metaphorically describes his service to God as a race that he successfully ran. In 1st Century Greco-Roman world, athletics was a defining and highly cherished community activity and Olympic athletes would race for a crown of wreaths that was placed on the head. Paul meant to say that he had put in the determination and endurance required of a winning athlete in serving God. He was determined to complete with honour his assignment that Christ had bestowed on him as an apostle to the Gentiles.
Bible scholars believe that Paul was aware of the imminence of his martyrdom which is believed to have occurred under Nero in circa 62-64 AD. Timothy would perhaps come to appreciate the import of Paul’s statement when he learns of his martyrdom shortly thereafter.
Earlier in v.6,
Paul hints at his coming departure saying “For I am already being poured out as
a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.” Adam Clarke makes
the following observation about Paul’s imprisonment and imminent martyrdom saying,
“He
considers himself as on the eve of being sacrificed, and looks upon his blood
as the libation which was poured on the sacrificial offering. He could not have
spoken thus positively had not the sentence of death been already passed upon
him”[1]
Those who serve
God should be conscious of the onerous task that God has placed before them.
They should be determined to complete the task with utmost commitment and enduring faithfulness. Paul’s passionate statement in Philippians 3:12-17 reveals his
unquenchable desire to press on and complete his ministry race with honour. He
admitted that he was pressing on to the goal for the prize of the upward call
of God in Christ Jesus.
Are you pressing on the upward way? Are you conscious of the race that Christ has set out for those
He has called to His ministry? We ought to run the race, the pilgrimage journey
in Christ even as we look forward to His soon coming.
Run the race.
I HAVE KEPT THE
FAITH
Paul closes his statement in 2 Timothy 4:7 by stating that he had kept the faith. What did he possibly mean by these words? To keep the faith is to stand firm in the calling of God in Christ. Paul was a faithful Christian missionary whose faith and commitment to Christ was above reproach. He had sacrificed so much in order to serve God. His statement is an affirmation of his moral commitment to the principles of God’s word as pertains to Christian obedience.
Paul refused to
compromise on the convictions of his faith even where his life was in danger.
He was faithful to Jesus, his Master, at all times and was prepared to die for
his faith. He knew that his martyrdom was coming yet he remained unmoved!
Notice the import of his statement in v.8. He longed to meet Christ and to
receive his crown of faithfulness. This is the longing that every child of God
should possess and profess. We should long for Christ’s soon return or our
dying in Christian faithfulness, whichever be the earlier, so that we shall be
joined to Him forever and abide in His glorious presence (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
How is your walk
with Christ? Have you resolved to keep the faith at all times even if this
comes at the cost of suffering and persecution? Are your prepared to take a
stand for Christ in a world where evil is the order of the day?
The story is told
of a courageous Christian woman who refused to take the blood oath of allegiance
during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s in Central Kenya. The young woman
openly proclaimed that she would rather die than take the oath, saying Christ's blood cannot be polluted. One evening,
some Mau Mau vigilantes came for her and she was forcibly captured and taken away into the
forest. She never returned. It is believed that she was martyred and her body
secretly buried in the forest. The courageous commitment of this heroine of
Christ and many others who chose the way of the cross under difficult
circumstances stood out as a source of encouragement to many.
Keeping the faith
is not a mechanical or knee jerk procedure or an act of passive convenience. It is a lifestyle commitment. It is an ever-standing call to
Christian commitment that consistently speaks for itself through our faith and
actions. It is founded on our unflinching submission to the revelation and authority of Scripture. Paul and many other faithful believers in his day suffered for the faith. Some among them including Paul himself faced martyrdom. Their enduring legacy
should encourage us to stand firm in our Christian faith knowing that He who
called us is faithful.
Keep the faith.
