12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12 (ESV)
The Apostle Paul issued five commandments to his young protégé Timothy in the immediate context of I Timothy 6:11-16. The first was to flee the temptations of earthly riches (vs.11a). The second was to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness (vs. 11b). The third was to fight the good fight of faith (vs. 12a). The fourth was to take hold of the eternal life.
To take hold of eternal life means to passionately, personally, and obediently seize the goal of pursuing holiness (I Peter 1:13-16). Paul described this pursuit in Romans 6:9-14, 8:1-8, 12:1-2, Philippians 3:12-16, and Colossians 3:1-17.
Dr. John MacArthur writes, “Paul is here admonishing Timothy to “get a grip” on the reality of the matters at hand associated with eternal life, so that he would live and minister with a heavenly and eternal perspective” (Phil. 3:20; Col. 3:1-2).”
It is holiness God called Timothy to pursue. The phrase you were called (ἐκλήθης; eklethes) is an aorist, passive indicative verb. It means God decisively and at a particular point in time summoned Timothy to the task of pursuing holiness. It was this sovereign call unto salvation and sanctification which Timothy made the good confession. The word Paul used was ὡμολόγησας (homolegasas). It means at a particular point in time to acknowledge, admit, and declare one’s faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. This was done publicly, perhaps at Timothy’s baptism. Regardless, there were many witnesses.
At the evening of my public confession of faith in Jesus Christ in the waters of baptism there were many witnesses. Most of them remain dear friends over the past five decades. More than that, they are precious brothers and sisters in Christ.
“One of the reasons there is so little deep, earnest, passionate concern for godliness in the contemporary church is that this truth is so little understood—the truth, namely, that eternal life is laid hold of only by a persevering fight of faith. There is today, by and large, a devil-may-care, cavalier, superficial attitude toward the on-going, daily intensity of personal faith because people do not believe that their eternal life depends on it. The last 200 years has seen an almost incredible devaluation of the fight of faith. We have moved a hundred miles from Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian labors and struggles and fights all his life until he is safe in the Celestial City. O, how different is the biblical view of the Christian life than the one prevalent in the American church,” explains Dr. John Piper.
Are you serious about living a godly life? God created us to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:13-16). Let us strive for such a lifestyle in practice which evidences our eternal life position, which again is only by grace alone, through God given faith alone, in Christ alone.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.
Soli deo Gloria!
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