A Man of God Is Known by What He Fights For

In 1 Tim. 6:12, Paul commands Timothy to “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” The man of God is a fighter. He is a polemicist, a contender, a battler, a soldier. He must understand that ministry is war and he is fighting on the side of truth against error. To perceive ministry as anything less is to lose. He battles the world, he battles the flesh, and he battles the devil and his kingdom of darkness. He battles sin, heresy, apathy, and lethargy in the church.

That the ministry is warfare was brought home forcefully to me when, as a young pastor, I confronted a demon-possessed woman. She had a supernatural strength, overturning office furniture and kicking my shins until they bled. In a voice not her own she said to me, “Not him … not him … get him out.” I realized then that those demons knew a war was in progress, and they also knew which side I was on.

Paul very clearly saw the ministry as a battle. In 2 Tim. 2:3–4 he told Timothy, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” He chose to minister in Ephesus despite the many adversaries he encountered there (1 Cor. 16:8–9). And at the end of his life he was able to exclaim triumphantly, “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tim. 4:7).

Sadly, many pastors are so entangled in the affairs of everyday life that they do not realize fully the intensity of the battle. Others are fighting the wrong battle. Martin Luther once said,

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.14

Still others go AWOL (Absent Without Official leave) from the battle, fleeing to another church or ministry at the first sign of trouble. A young man once said to me, “I’m going into the pastorate, but I’m being careful about the church I accept. I want one that has no problems.” I replied that the only churches I knew of that had no problems were those that had no people! We must accept the fact that we are in a battle. Paul’s words in 2 Tim. 3:12, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” are doubly true of pastors, since they are the special targets of the enemy. The man of God must be willing to follow his Master even to death (Luke 9:23–24).

Both occurrences of the word “fight” in 1 Tim. 6:12 are from the same root word, agōn, from which the English word agony is derived. It is used in military contexts and of athletic events, including wrestling and boxing. It speaks of the concentration, effort, and discipline required to win a contest. In Paul’s day, boxing was a far more serious affair than it is today. In contrast to the well-padded boxing gloves used by modern boxers, boxers in the Greek and Roman games wore gloves lined with lead and iron. And the loser of the match had his eyes put out. Thus, Paul’s imagery of the ministry as a fight had very serious undertones. Like the verbs in 1 Tim. 6:11, αγονιζομαι is a present imperative, indicating the continuous nature of our struggle. “Good” (in Greek, kalos) is best translated “excellent” or “noble.” Paul tells Timothy (and us) to experience the role of a man of God with a noble commitment to the contest for the truth.

The man of God is thrilled to be a soldier. It is not that he goes out of his way to antagonize people and make enemies, but he is willing to fight the battle for truth. It is greatly disturbing to live in a time when battling for truth is looked upon as divisive and unloving. Far too many in the church today are willing to compromise theologically to avoid conflict, forgetting Jude’s exhortation to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3).

As in Jude 3, the Greek text of 1 Tim. 6:12 has the definite article before “faith.” Paul says, “Fight for the faith”—that is, the contents of the Word of God, the sum total of Christian doctrine. That is the highest cause in the world, and we must fight for it without compromise.

In the second part of verse 12, Paul offers encouragement for the fight: “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” What does Paul mean by that? He does not tell Timothy to get saved, because he was already saved. What he says is, in effect, Get a grip on eternal life. Live in the light of eternity. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2), because “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). As the old hymn put it, the man of God is to live “with eternity’s values in view.” If he does that, he will not mind making sacrifices in this life. The man of God has an eternal perspective; he is not in the ministry merely for what he can gain in this life. As Jim Elliot, missionary and martyr to the Auca Indians, wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”15 Living and ministering in the light of eternity keeps the focus of the man of God on the importance of the battle.

Paul further encourages Timothy by reminding him that he was “called,” a reference to God’s effectual call to salvation. In response to that call, Timothy had publicly confessed Jesus as Lord. Paul may refer to the occasion of Timothy’s baptism or ordination, but more likely to every confession Timothy had made, beginning with his conversion.

The man of God rises above the struggles for perishable, useless things. He fights for what is eternal—the truth of God. It is only by divorcing himself from the things of this world and living in light of eternity that he can hope to succeed.

John MacArthur, Rediscovering Expository Preaching (Dallas: Word Pub., 1997, c1992), 97.