Fight the good fight

1 Timothy 1 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, ² To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, ⁴ nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. ⁵ But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶ For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, ⁷ wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

⁸ But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers ¹⁰ and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, ¹³ even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. ¹⁶ Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸ This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, ¹⁹ keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. ²⁰ Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

In today’s text Paul says:  It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.      Some people would disagree with and take exception to what Paul says. They would say that as those who are redeemed, we should not refer to ourselves as sinners, not even as sinners saved by grace, for if we are redeemed then we are no longer sinners. There is truth in their argument. When we are saved, when we are redeemed, we are recreated in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:  If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.   Yet, as long as we live in these bodies of flesh and as long as we have these human minds and emotions, we are still subject to the temptations which lead to sin. In Romans 7, Paul speaks of the struggle we all have. In verses 22-25 he says:  I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!      He says, who will deliver me; not who has delivered me. Although we are redeemed, our deliverance from sin continues.      1 John 1:8-10 says:   If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.     This passage too, speaks of sin both in the present tense and in the past tense. None of us can truthfully say that since we were redeemed, we have not sinned. Apart from Christ, we would be and in fact are still sinners. Isaiah 64:6 says:  For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.  Romans 13:13-14 says:  Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ (His righteousness), and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.  In John 16:6-15 Jesus says:   I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; butif I depart, I will send Him to you.And when He hascome, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:of sin, because they do not believe in Me;of righteousness,because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;of judgment, becausethe ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you,but you cannot bear them now.However, when He,the Spirit of truth, has come,He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.     To the extent that we yield to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to convict us and guide us, we walk in the redemption and the righteousness of Christ. To the extent that we walk in our own strength, we will be subject to temptation and sin. So we are a new creation, free from sin, but only as we yield to the Holy Spirit as our guide.

The other part of this question or debate is also spoken of in today’s text. It says:  As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.     There are times that what really happens is that we focus on small details; single words or phrases. We end up straying from the truth of the gospel and focusing on speculations and fruitless discussions. As believers, we allow ourselves to become focused on and divided by the interpretations of scripture, rather than being unified in the revelation of scripture, Jesus Christ.   In Matthew 23:23-24, Jesus, speaking to the religious leaders, says:    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!     We too, when we focus on small details rather than on the whole message of scripture, the message of God’s love and redemption through Christ, can miss our purpose and our goal. We can strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Paul says:   But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.    May we not, by focusing on fruitless discussions, neglect the more important things: justice and mercy and faithfulness.

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.   Amen. May we too fight the good fight, not fighting among ourselves, but yielding to the Holy Spirit, may we walk in and speak the truth of the gospel, that whoever believes in Christ, shall be saved.    Amen.