2 Timothy 4:7–8

[See previous posts in this series here: First, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.]

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 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.

The Passage

In looking back over his own life of ministry, Paul uses three phrases to describe his own faithfulness to the task given him: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (4:7). The first two (fought the good fight and finished the race) draw on other times Paul has made reference to athletic metaphor. He has stood his ground in the battle between sin and righteousness (1 Timothy 6:11–12). He has, amidst the cloud of encouraging witnesses, finished the race that is the Christian life (Hebrews 12:1–2; Philippians 3:13–14). So confident is Paul that his life was worthy of imitation, he claims that his reward has already been set aside to be presented to him by the Lord (4:8).

One has to ask what it was that made Paul so content with the race he had run. At the time he wrote this letter, he was in prison awaiting execution. There were many people in the known world that had yet to hear the gospel message to which he dedicated his life to spreading. Many of the churches he had been writing letters to were filled with less-than-perfect people in need to stern correction. What was the tangible prize Paul obtained that enabled him to calmly declare both his successful fight and finished race? The answer lays in the third phrase Paul uses to describe his life of ministry.

Interpreting what his first two statements ultimately mean, Paul writes that he has kept the faith.

It was a life in which he breathed every breath and lived every moment in service of his Lord, a life in which no sacrifice was too great and no commitment too demanding.

 John MacArthur, 2 Timothy, 191.

Paul had fought the good fight by keeping the faith. Paul had finished the race by keeping the faith. This is his declaration of completion. The apostle was able to claim victory because he knew that God does not require success by human standards.

The apostle was able to claim victory because he knew that God does not require success by human standards.

God certainly does not require success in terms of how competitors in the first century Games would have defined it. Instead, God requires only faithfulness from his followers. A life of faithful service to the Lord is success in the eyes of He who ultimately rewards the competitors.

The Principle

Success in the Christian life means faithfulness, not victory.

The Application

An essential component to the success of a gymnast is to understand how it is the judges are scoring. It is these judges, after all, who eventually determine which athlete receives the gold medal. What are the criteria for performance? What are the judges looking for? What do they not want to see?

In the Christian life it is God is the one who gives out the prize. Should we not also seek to understand His criteria for reward? To this end, Paul is holding his own life up as an example to believer that would come after him, challenging them to imitate the way in which he fought and ran. Paul, by himself reflecting Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), has given us the blueprint for which to obtain the ultimate prize, one that is imperishable and glorious. The criteria for success in the eyes of the Great Judge is faithfulness.