1 Timothy 6:11-16
Introduction: 1 Timothy is a short letter from an older, seasoned pastor (the apostle Paul) to his young co-worker named Timothy. Paul is guiding Timothy in the signs of a healthy church. The church in Ephesus, where Timothy was a pastor, had been exposed to leaders and influencers who were spiritually unhealthy. Paul is providing the cure for this malady. Central to this spiritual malady was false doctrine. People within the church were promoting false teaching that was unhealthy. And it’s unhealthy because it’s not true. In this passage, Paul gives a surprising and counter-intuitive metric of a healthy church: a healthy church – and a healthy Christian – is marked by an intense struggle to preserve the truth of the gospel even at great personal risk. Healthy Christianity engages in the good fight.
Question 1: What’s the fight?
If you’re conflict-avoidant, you and Timothy probably shared the same Enneagram type. If you find this metric of spiritual health questionable, Timothy probably shared the same feeling. By his culture’s standards, Timothy was considered young in a time when youth wasn’t an asset. From evidence in the New Testament, we also discover that Timothy was mostly inexperienced, very shy, and suffered from some kind of physical disorder. Timothy wasn’t looking for a fight. But Paul says he needs to engage in a fight. What’s the fight?
There is always a fight against doubt and unbelief, but that’s not what Paul is talking about in 1 Tim 6:12. Paul is empowering Timothy to fight the good fight of the faith; fight the fight to preserve, uphold, and guard the apostolic faith. Fight to guard the gospel. In fact, this theme of preserving sound doctrine, true teaching, the truth is central to the theme of 1 Timothy. In 1 Timothy 1:18-19, Paul had instructed Timothy to wage the good warfare. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul, in his swansong, says: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
Mixing both athletic and military metaphors, Paul is saying there’s a fight, a wrestling match, a race to uphold the good news about Jesus. There’s a lot of implications of that. But at the very least we can say that Paul is inviting us not to preserve a religious principle, a philosophical idea, a rule of life, or voting bloc, but preserve the good news about a Person: Jesus of Nazareth. It means Christianity is not about a religious idea or political agenda, but a person who is at the center of reality.
This is crucial for Paul and New Testament Christianity because what a church believes shapes how it lives. As Dorothy Sayers wrote, “It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that [doctrine] does not matter; it matters enormously.” Christianity makes claims about facts. Facts about reality. Facts about your life. Facts about Jesus. Getting to know him and how he relates to all things matters.
But there’s always a risk. If Christianity is true, then there are things we need to flee and things we need to pursue. For Timothy, who was naturally conflict-avoidant, Paul is showing him how to wage the good warfare. This would require a cost for Timothy. There was something in Timothy that needed to die so that Christ could work in him the courage and confidence to guard the gospel against influential false teachers
Question 2: Where’s the power for the fight?
For Paul, the power and resources to nobly fight the good fight came from three places.
First, Timothy (and all of us) have tremendous resources in the presence of many witnesses – the church. Timothy is exhorted to “take hold of the eternal life” to which he was called in the presence of many witnesses. Scholars debate whether this refers to Timothy’s ordination as a pastor or his baptism as a Christian. Perhaps baptism is what Paul is referring to. Baptism is the sign and seal of God that he gives his free grace and eternal life to those who trust in Jesus. So Paul is reminding Timothy to remember – to appropriate – his baptism in a new way. This is what preaching and the sacraments are designed to do: beat into your head and heart who Jesus is, who you are in Christ, what you possess in Christ, and what your future is in Christ. Don’t neglect this powerful resource.
Second, there’s power in the presence of the God who gives life to all. Notice that in vv. 15-16 Paul piles on the theological doctrine. God is invincible – He’s the Sovereign. He’s also the immortal one. And the invisible one. Theology matters. Paul is communicating truths to both Timothy’s head and heart. We have a God who has within himself all the resources we need for any situation in life. While the nature of our sin, sorrows, and weaknesses are complex, one thing is true: in moments of sin, anxiety, rage, selfishness, fear and failure, we are forgetting, neglecting, or subconsciously denying something about who God is.
Third, there’s a deep power and resource in Jesus Christ who made the good confession. The confession that Paul is referring to in v. 14 could mean Jesus’ words before Pilate. But it also could refer to Jesus’ voluntary death on a cross. The language could also be translated “in the days of Pontius Pilate,” and so it bears some similarity to the line in the Apostles’ Creed that says: Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” Jesus ultimately suffered under Pontius Pilate on the cross. But that’s not all it was. The voluntary, substitutionary death of Jesus was a confession – a good confession – heralded across the world that God loves us. That God smiles on us. That God delights in us. Paul calling Timothy to risk his life for the truth that God loves us. But Jesus gave his life to confirm the truth that God loves us. So one old theologian said: “Whenever our hearts waver, let us remember that we should always go to the death of Christ for confirmation.”
DIAGNOSE – Where in your own heart do you find you are struggling to preserve the truth of the Gospel? What about in this cultural moment – in what ways are you seeing the truth about Jesus sidelined, marginalized, or denied?
REFLECT OR DISCUSS
What about the sermon impacted you most? What left you with questions?
Are you conflict-avoidant or do you find that you thrive in conflict? Share how this passage challenged either of these tendencies in your own life. What resources did you find?
Paul is writing to a pastor, but the implications are for every Christian. In what ways is it everyone’s responsibility to guard the gospel? What does that look like in your life, in a church, in society to “fight the good fight?”
Dorothy Sayers said that doctrine matters enormously. What theological truths have been impacting your life in this season?