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Tag: 2 Timothy 4:7

Kept the faith

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in 2 Timothy, What’s new?.

What did Paul mean when he said he had kept the faith?

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). This is one of the better-known and most-quoted passages of the apostle Paul. These words written just before Paul’s death are a powerful affirmation of his unyielding love and undying faith in Jesus and the gospel message (Galatians 1:4; 2:20; Philippians 1:21).

The word translated “kept” means “to keep by guarding, to watch over.” The Greek word for “faith” is pistis, which has to do with a conviction based on hearing (cf. Romans 10:17). Paul’s trust in Jesus never wavered. His faith was as solid on the day of his death as it had been the moment he first believed on the Damascus road (Acts 9:3). He was firm in his faith in the midst of the mob’s violence (Acts 16:22; 2 Corinthians 11:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:2). He stood uncompromising before the dignitaries Felix (Acts 22:10, 22), Festus (Acts 25:9), and Agrippa (Acts 25:26). He boldly confronted Peter when that apostle showed signs of compromising the teachings of Christ (Galatians 2:11-16).

The expression “I have kept the faith” has two possible meanings. One is that Paul had faithfully declared the gospel and guarded its truth, keeping its message unadulterated. Elsewhere, Paul called this the “pattern of sound teaching” and encouraged Timothy to “keep” it as well (2 Timothy 1:13; cf. 1 Timothy 6:20).

The other possible meaning of “I have kept the faith” is that Paul had fulfilled his divine appointment in this world, viz., that he would be Jesus’ messenger to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; 22:21). When Jesus commissioned Paul, He was clear that the appointment would mean much suffering (Acts 9:16). But Paul gladly accepted the summons and never wavered in his commitment, trusting that he would soon experience “an eternal glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Keeping the faith is never easy. Without question, Satan sought to derail Paul’s work by opposing him far and wide. There were Galatian legalists, Colossian Gnostics, and Judaizers at every turn. There were forged letters (2 Thessalonians 2:2). There were slanderous attacks on his integrity, his personal appearance, and his unpolished speech (2 Corinthians 10:10; 2 Corinthians 1:6). Not to mention the physical beatings he took (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). He was truly “hard pressed on every side” (2 Corinthians 4:8). Paul’s faith was the victory: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). What God had committed to Paul, Paul committed back to God. And through it all, Paul looked forward to the moment when he would hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21).

As believers in Christ, we, too, should “keep the faith.” What has God called you to do? Do it with all your might (Colossians 3:23). Just as Paul “longed for His appearing” and anticipated receiving the “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8), so should we serve the Lord and faithfully fulfill His plan for our lives.

Finished the race

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in 2 Timothy, What’s new?.

What did Paul mean when he said he had finished the race?

“I have finished the race” is the second clause of three within a passage written by the apostle Paul to Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). The apostle wrote these words near the end of his life. These three statements reflect Paul’s struggles in preaching the gospel of Christ and his victory over those struggles.

In the 1st century, the Romans celebrated both the Olympic Games and the Isthmian Games. Competitors would spend up to ten months in arduous physical training. Because the Corinthians were very familiar with these events, Paul used the games as an analogy for a believer’s life of faithfulness. He wrote the church in Corinth saying, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). Paul’s exhortation is that believers should be as focused and dedicated as those ancient runners in the games. Our motivation in serving Christ is much higher; we “run” not for a temporary crown, but for an eternal one.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul is not commending himself for having “run the full distance” (TEV); rather, he is simply describing what the grace of God had enabled him to do. In the book of Acts, Paul says these powerful words: “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

So, by declaring “I have finished the race,” Paul is telling Timothy that he had put every effort into the work of proclaiming to all the gospel of salvation. He had completed the course set before him; he had left nothing undone. He was ready to cross the finish line into heaven.

In a race, only one runner wins. However, in the Christian “race,” everyone who pays the price of vigilant training for the cause of Christ can win. We are not competing against one other, as in athletic games, but against the struggles, physical and spiritual, that stand in the way of our reaching the prize (Philippians 3:14).

Every believer runs his own race (1 Corinthians 9:24). Each of us is enabled to be a winner. Paul exhorts us to “run in such a way as to get the prize,” and to do this we must set aside anything that might hinder us from living and teaching the gospel of Christ. The writer of Hebrews echoes the words of Paul: “Lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

May we be diligent in our “race,” may we keep our eyes on the goal, and may we, like Paul, finish strong.