1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of eternal life, to which you were called, and you made the good confession before many witnesses. Fight the good fight of faith. The fight of faith, both what has been said, and the courageous one in …

Then when he says, fight the good fight of faith, he urges him to engage in the conflict: first, he shows him how to fight; second, he gives a reason. He says, therefore: fight the good fight as soldiers do, who fight for two reasons: …

That is, stand for the faith immovably and invincibly — by the power of the word and by a blameless life. Here is the great reward for the struggle — eternal life. For you are called to the hope of eternal life. Here the apostle …

Fight the good fight of faith - Not about words. Lay hold on eternal life - Just before thee. Thou hast confessed the good confession - Perhaps at his baptism: so likewise, ver. 13; but with a remarkable variation of the expression.

The obligation of that was still upon him, and he must live up to that, and be quickened by that, to do the work of his ministry. He reminds him of Christ's second coming: " Keep this commandment-until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; keep it as long as thou live, till Christ come at death to give thee a discharge.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

Fight the good fight of faith,....

Fight the good fight of faith - “Agonize the good agony.” Thou hast a contest to sustain in which thy honor, thy life, thy soul, are at stake. Live the Gospel, and defend the cause of God. Unmask hypocrites, expel the profligate, purge and build up the Church, live in the spirit of thy religion, and give thyself wholly to this work. Lay hold on eternal life - All this is in allusion to the exercises in the public Grecian games: Fight, conquer, and seize upon the prize; carry off the crown of eternal life!

We fight the good fight by firm faith in the Lord our God—"This is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith." That fight is the fight of faith, fought for the faith and by the faith. The article should be inserted and then the words are—"Fight the good fight of the faith." "Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." "Hold fast the form of sound words." It is worth fighting for, even if we come to resistance unto blood!

Fight the good fight--BIRKS thinks this Epistle was written from Corinth, where contests in the national games recurred at stated seasons, which will account for the allusion here as in 1Co 9:24-26. Contrast "strifes of words" (1Ti 6:4).

We fight the good fight by firm faith in the Lord our God—"This is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith." That fight is the fight of faith, fought for the faith and by the faith. The article should be inserted and then the words are—"Fight the good fight of the faith." "Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." "Hold fast the form of sound words." It is worth fighting for, even if we come to resistance unto blood! He who dies for the faith has laid down his life in a worthy cause and he shall find it unto life eternal. We can only hope that we shall be able to live unto God by faith in Him and faith in the great Truths which He has revealed to be the object of our faith. When I say unto you, "Lay hold on eternal life," do not imagine that this is to be done in a dream, or accomplished without awakening your utmost energies, nor even then without that Divine assistance which only faith can receive. As my text follows the command to "fight the good fight of the faith," it teaches us that the best way of contending for the faith is for ourselves, personally, to lay hold on eternal life. You cannot defend the faith by mere reasoning— victory does not come through an array of arguments which have been, before, used by men of learning—you must, yourself, possess the inward life and exhibit the force and power of it in your daily conduct if you would be successful in the holy war. Men who forget the Divine Life soon cast away the Divine Truth. If the life is not in us, we may make what profession of orthodoxy we like, but we shall, in all probability, before long, turn aside like others, unto crooked ways.

PAUL was very anxious about Timothy, his own son in the faith. He loved him greatly and he had much confidence in him, but still he felt that the work of preaching the Gospel was such a responsible undertaking that he could not be too prayerful for him, nor too earnest in exhorting him to continued steadfastness in those things which he had received. So "the old man eloquent," whose very pen seems to have borrowed some of the burning fervor of his heart, pours out his very soul to young Timothy in the earnest desire that he may find in him a true successor—one who, when Paul is compelled to lay down his trusteeship—will take it up and be faithful to his Lord and to the Gospel when his father in Christ is taken away from him. We cannot be too anxious about our young Brothers who are to preach the Gospel of the Grace of God. Always pray for students! Let them continually be mentioned in your private prayers than when those who have borne the burden and heat of the day shall rest with their fathers, God may raise up better men than they, who shall yet more faithfully proclaim His Word. This passage of Scripture, "Lay hold on eternal life," is suggestive from its connection. In the same verse Timothy is told to, "Fight the good fight of faith." From this it is evident that if he lays hold on eternal life, he will have to fight for it and that if he has to fight, he can only fight by laying hold upon eternal life with a tenacious grip. Every Christian man is a soldier and no man will war a good warfare unless he lays hold upon eternal life with all his heart and soul.

PAUL was very anxious about Timothy, his own son in the faith. He loved him greatly and he had much confidence in him, but still he felt that the work of preaching the Gospel was such a responsible undertaking that he could not be too prayerful for him, nor too earnest in exhorting him to continued steadfastness in those things which he had received.

Fight the good fight of faith - The noble conflict in the cause of religion; see the notes on Eph 6:10-17; compare notes on 1Co 9:26-27. The allusion is to the contests at the Grecian games. Lay hold on eternal life - As the crown of victory that is held out to you. Seize this as eagerly as the competitors at the Grecian games laid hold on the prize; see the notes on 1Co 9:25. Whereunto thou art also called - That is, by the Spirit of God, and by the very nature of your profession. God does not “call” his people that they may become rich; he does not convert them in order that they may devote themselves to the business of gain. They are “called” to a higher and nobler work. Yet how many professing Christians there are who seem to live as if God had “called” them to the special business of making money, and who devote themselves to it with a zeal and assiduity that would do honor to such a calling, if this had been the grand object which God had in view in converting them! And hast professed a good profession before many witnesses - That is, either when he embraced the Christian religion, and made a public profession of it in the presence of the church and of the world; or when he was solemnly set apart to the ministry; or as he in his Christian life had been enabled publicly to evince his attachment to the Saviour. I see no reason to doubt that the apostle may have referred to the former, and that in early times a profession of religion may have been openly made before the church and the world. Such a method of admitting members to the church would have been natural, and would have been fitted to make a deep impression on others. […]