The Good Fight (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

2025-07-04

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

The apostle tells his protégé to “Fight the good fight of faith.” The only good fight can be of faith. This is not physical fights or winning arguments. It is of faith only, and involves those things mentioned in this verse. This is our calling. Only led by the Spirit of God and in dependence on Him can we fight the cause of Jesus Christ; it is not something we elicit from our own ability. I have eternal life because of Christ, but now I lay hold of what I have and let Jesus’ life thrive in me. I go forth with only what strength He gives me.

Paul did not command Timothy to do anything he did not also do. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). There is a path for every child of God in life. The apostle kept this path to the end, and he was eventually executed. He trusted in Christ each step of the way. He did not do it begrudgingly: “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

It is a good fight that goes on for a lifetime. “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:18-19). Stay dependent on Christ. Keep confessing and trusting and praying, that I do not use conventional weapons of this sinful world, but only relying on Christ. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).