What Does 2 Timothy 4:7 Mean?
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim. 4:7)
Some people are great at start-ups, others are good at keeping things going; still others know how to “finish well,” which does not mean: “I’ve had enough and I’m giving up!” In 2 Timothy we have the classic biblical example of finishing well.
Paul’s second letter to Timothy is his valedictory address, his “last will and testament,” as it were. This is his final period of imprisonment in Rome; not the two years when he was under house arrest and wrote the so-called prison epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. He is now very near his time of execution, as is clear from the preceding verse: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come” (2 Tim. 4:6).
Paul is writing to his beloved spiritual son, Timothy, in one of the tenderest letters we have in the New Testament. And, of course, he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the whole church of Jesus Christ, mindful of the importance of a godly succession of faithful men (2 Tim. 2:2). It is worth noting that the first two pictures we have in this verse, of the soldier and the athlete, match the imagery of 2 Timothy 2:3–5, and indeed the idea of “keeping” or “guarding” could well be linked to the “hard-working farmer” who enjoys “the first share of the crops” (2 Tim. 2:6).
Let’s briefly consider each of these three statements in verse 7.
“I have fought the good fight.”
Paul has done exactly what he has urged in 1 Timothy 6:12, where he refers to “the good fight of the faith.” The Roman world, so familiar to Paul, was highly militarized and gladiatorial. Roman crowds were the very opposite of squeamish. But Paul’s fight is “good”; indeed it could be translated “fine,” “praiseworthy,” or even “beautiful.” There is a unique honor and nobility in Christian spiritual warfare. The Christian soldier does battle against the world, the flesh and the devil, and fights because they are burdened for the salvation of souls—including their own— and the glory of God. It is no accident that some of the most stirring hymns in the church’s canon pick up on this theme: “Fight the good fight with all thy might; Soldiers of Christ, arise; Onward, Christian soldiers.”
It is the glorious prospect of standing before his Savior, to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” which have kept Paul fighting, running and faithful throughout his days.
“I have finished the race.”
The language of the racetrack is, if anything, even more prominent in Paul’s writings than the vocabulary of warfare. Athletics was to the ancient world what football (pick your code) is to the modern world. And the great challenge in long-distance running, of course, is that you keep on going until you cross the finishing-line, beating back the pain-barrier. When I was a boy we used to be sent outside by sadistic teachers to complete cross-country runs of about three miles, invariably in the coldest, windiest winter weather. Unhappy memories—but oh, the joy of finishing! A greater joy by far awaits the Christian athlete. We are called to endure, to persist all the way to the end, our eyes set upon the goal of Jesus Himself, “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).
“I have kept the faith.”
Does this mean something different to what Paul has already said in this verse? Substantially, it does not. These three statements are simply three aspects of the authentic Christian life. Faith has characterised both Paul’s fighting and his running. The faith in view here is not initial saving faith; it simply means to take Jesus Christ at His word, to know and live out the reality that Jesus is “the faithful witness” (Rev. 1:5). There have been many seasons of affliction, perplexity and persecution in Paul’s life (2 Cor. 4:8–9), and these have come about because Paul has remained steadfastly true to his faithful Savior Jesus Christ. When Paul realized how great was the love and goodness of Christ towards him—“The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20)—what could he do but entrust himself to Him wholeheartedly? What could you do?
Conclusion
Paul has looked back over his whole life and ministry; the three “I haves” of this verse are in the Greek perfect tense, which denotes actions which have been completed, which lie in the past. But the perfect tense also conveys the idea of consequences resulting from these actions, and it is these which Paul has in mind as he looks to the future. He continues in the next verse, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). It is this glorious prospect of standing before his Savior, to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” (Matt. 25:21) which have kept Paul fighting, running and faithful throughout his days.
John Wesley (1703–91) used to say of the early Methodists in England, “Our people die well.” The Apostle Paul can die well now, only because he has lived well; and yet not Paul alone, but Jesus Christ who gave Himself for Paul and came to live in him and through him by His Word and Spirit.
