Tuesday
Tuesday
A Charge to a Man of God
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
1 Timothy 6:11–12
Paul begins his charge to Timothy with the words, “But you.” It is a call to him not to drift with the stream but to be different from the prevailing culture. For Timothy was a man of God who derived his values and standards from God, not from the world. Paul now develops a threefold appeal.
Firstly, the ethical appeal. “Flee from all this” and “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” We human beings are great runners. We run from anything that threatens us, and we run after everything that attracts us. How about running from evil and running after righteousness instead? There is no passivity in the attainment of holiness, and no technique. We just have to run.
Secondly, the doctrinal appeal. Timothy was to “fight the good fight of the faith.” Over against the postmodern fashion that truth is purely subjective and that each of us has our own truth, Paul keeps referring to what he calls “the faith,” “the truth,” “the teaching,” and “the deposit”—a body of doctrine that Timothy had to fight for, that is, to guard and defend. Fighting is an unpleasant business, but it cannot be avoided, for it is a “good fight” for the glory of God and the welfare of the church.
Thirdly, the experiential appeal. “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” It may seem strange that a Christian leader of Timothy’s maturity should need this appeal. Had he not been a Christian for a number of years? Yes. Had he not received eternal life? Yes. Then why did Paul tell him to lay hold of what he already had? The answer is that it is possible to possess something without enjoying it to the full.
In conclusion, we note the balance of Paul’s threefold appeal, incorporating ethics, doctrine, and experience. Some Christians fight the good fight of the faith but do not pursue righteousness. Others are good and gentle but have no comparable concern for the truth. Yet others neglect both doctrine and ethics in their quest for religious experience. May God give us twenty-first century Timothys who go for all these three goals simultaneously!
For further reading: 1 Timothy 6:11–16