The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture.

Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in church. These missing verses are also Essential Bible Verses, ones we should study with care and attention. Often, we find that they carry difficult messages and warnings.

Today’s reading is from the English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) with commentary by Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

1 Timothy 6:11-12

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

¹¹ But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, Love, steadfastness, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

Last week’s post discussed Paul’s emphasis on personal contentment and ended with a warning about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evils. That is something to which the false teachers in Ephesus were particularly prone (emphases mine):

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Paul meant that the possibility exists of being condemned to eternal death, never mind the other travails that take place in this temporal life when people fall in love with money. Money itself is not a bad thing, but our attitude towards it can lead us severely astray.

So Paul begins by instructing Timothy, calling him ‘O man of God’, to flee these things and instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentlentess (verse 11).

Let’s look at Matthew Henry’s translation of the Bible:

11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

First, Timothy is to remember that he is a man of God. Secondly, he is to flee severe temptations such as the love of money. Thirdly, in short, he is to follow a path involving doing the right things, those things that please God.

There is much to examine in that verse.

Beginning with ‘O man of God’, Matthew Henry’s commentary says:

Ministers are men of God, and ought to conduct themselves accordingly in every thing; they are men employed for God, devoted to his honour more immediately. The prophets under the Old Testament were called men of God.

John MacArthur has more on the expression and its use in the Old Testament. In fact, only Paul and Peter use it in the New Testament — and only thrice, Paul using it twice — which makes it all the more significant:

The subject of these verses is the man of God – the man of God. That in itself is one of my very favorite biblical descriptive phrases – man of God. It appears in verse 11 as a title the Apostle Paul gives to Timothy, a title that is simple yet immeasurably wonderful and rich. What a privilege to be called man of God or God’s man. It is a possessive phrase indicating that Timothy belonged to God in a special and unique way.

The fact is though this term ‘man of God’ is a very common term in the Old Testament, it is a very uncommon term in the New Testament. Only one person on the pages of the New Testament is ever called man of God, and it is Timothy and it is in this text. In a very special and unique way, Timothy was God’s man. And Paul uses this title to increase the sense of responsibility that Timothy had to discharge his ministry. To be reminded that you are God’s man, that you are the very possession of God is to be reminded of great responsibility. And that is precisely the sense in which the Apostle Paul uses the phrase in designating Timothy.

Though it is us uncommon in the New Testament, it is common in the Old Testament. It first appears in designation of Moses, the great prophet of God who wrote the Pentateuch. In Deuteronomy 33:1, Moses is first called the man of God. He is called the man of God again in 1 Chronicles 23:14 and Ezra 3:2. The term ‘man of God’ one time in the Old Testament was used of an angelic messenger, one who came in the form of a man to bring a message from God to the wife of Manoah that she was to bring forth a child who came to be the man Samson. That occurs in Judges 13:6 and 7. In 1 Samuel 2:27 it was used to describe a prophet who spoke on behalf of God to the high priest Eli about the divine judgment soon to come on his sinful family. It was used again in 1 Samuel 9:6 and following to designate Samuel himself as the man of God who spoke divine truth.

Anyone who was the prophet of God was God’s man. And the term ‘the man of God’ was always used in reference to one who bore the Word of God, who represented God by speaking in God’s behalf God’s truth. It was used of the prophet Shemaiah who was sent from God to prophesy against Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12:22. It was used again for the prophet who spoke the Word of God to Jeroboam regarding his being replaced and then judged, 1 Kings 13. Elijah is called the man of God in 1 Kings 17:18 and following, and Elisha in 2 Kings 4 and following is called the man of God many times. David in Nehemiah 12 verses 24 and 36 is also called the man of God. The prophet who confronted Amaziah is called the man of God in 2 Chronicles 25:7 and a prophet by the name of Igdaliah in Jeremiah chapter 35 verse 4 is also called the man of God.

All of the uses in the Old Testament reflect someone who uniquely represents God by speaking the Word of God. The sum of all those uses then tells us unequivocally that it is a reference to a messenger who is sent by God to speak for God. When Timothy then is called the man of God, it is reflective of his call and his ordination and his responsibility to speak the truth of God.

There are two other uses of the term ‘man of God’ in the New Testament. One of them reflects back to the Old Testament men of God, that is 2 Peter 1:21. It says, “The prophecy came not” – referring to the Old Testament – “at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” And there you want to see that as a technical term for the authors of Scripture who were the spokesmen of God, the holy men of God.

The one other use of it is a generic use in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Would you look at that for just a moment? Every use of the man of God is specific up to this point, referring to one or another prophet, referring as in 2 Peter 1:21 to a group of prophets, referring in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 11 to Timothy specifically, but here in verses 16 and 17 of 2 Timothy 3 it is broadened and used in a somewhat generic sense. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness in order that” – and here’s the phrase – “the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” While Timothy is certainly the object in the context here, since he is the recipient of the letter and since his own conversion has been mentioned in verses 14 and 15, the term in use in verse 17 broadens beyond Timothy to include any man of God. The statement then in verses 16 and 17 is primarily for the benefit of those who are the articulators of the Word of God, the messengers of the Word of God, though it certainly extends beyond that at the widest point of interpretation to every believer.

MacArthur explains what ‘O’ means in the Bible. We often pray, ‘O Lord’, and this is why:

The word ‘O’ is a personal appeal. It’s an emotional appeal.

Therefore, when Paul addresses Timothy as ‘O man of God’, he is expressing a deeply emotional appeal to his protégé:

It’s very rare, by the way, in personal greetings in the Greek that word would be used, and it shows the pleading in the heart of Paul. “But you, O man of God,” remember your spiritual beginnings, your spiritual calling. Don’t lose sight of your identity. As a man of God, you have a unique calling. As a man of God, you are to be uniquely identifiable. As a man of God, you are to have characteristics that can be seen and measured.

MacArthur tells us more about the word ‘flee’ in Greek:

That’s a present imperative, keep on continually fleeing. It’s a continual running from. It’s the word pheuge, from which we get fugitive. Someone who is running to escape a pursuer. It pictures one running from a plague, running from a serpent that’s poisonous, running from an attacking enemy. The man of God is a runner. The man of God does not stand still. He runs and he runs from things. He is known by what he flees from. First Corinthians 6:18 the Apostle Paul says, “Flee sexual sin.” First Corinthians 10:14, “Flee idolatry.” Second Timothy 2:22 Paul writes to Timothy, “Flee youthful lusts.” We are fleeing. The man of God is fleeing at all times those kinds of corrupting things.

As for fleeing these things — e.g. the love of money — the man of God must pursue something worthy, otherwise he has not completed his divine mission.

Henry says simply:

Observe, It is not enough that men of God flee these things, but they must follow after what is directly contrary thereto.

Timothy must ‘follow after’ or ‘pursue’ six virtues. As Paul has called him a ‘man of God’, these are particularly important for Timothy.

MacArthur says:

Obviously the Word of God will perfect all believers, but his particular object in mind is the man of God. Now it’s interesting to me that the last usage of this phrase in Scripture is a generic use and therefore we do not feel reluctant to broaden the use of ‘the man of God’ to encompass any today who are the spokesman for God in our generation or in any other generation. God has always had His spokesmen, He has always had His prophets, He has always had His preachers. Men of God are those who uniquely speak His Word …

It’s important that Paul use the term here because of the weighty ministry at the feet of Timothy. You remember that Timothy had been left in Ephesus to put things right in the church, to bring order to a church that had lost its way. False doctrine had crept in. False leadership was there. People unworthy of pastoral roles and serving as elders were in those roles. Sinful leaders, heresy, ungodliness, tolerance of sin, all of that was in the church, and Timothy was given the task of making it right. In order to lay upon him the weight of that responsibility, he calls him God’s man. You are there as the representative of the living God. That adds tremendous sense of responsibility.

In fact, this is such a strategic letter for such a strategic church that Paul three times in the letter points out false teachers and how Timothy is to respond to them. And each time he does it by reminding Timothy of the sacredness of his calling.

These are the mentions of false teachers in 1 Timothy. They had an adverse effect on the congregation:

1 Timothy 1:3-7 – doctrine, command, love, good conscience, sincere faith, false teachers

1 Timothy 1:8-11 – false teachers, sin, Ten Commandments

1 Timothy 1:18-20 – spiritual warfare, false teachers, Hymenaeus, Alexander, shipwreck of their faith, blasphemy, turning over to Satan

1 Timothy 4:1-5 – some depart from the faith, deceitful spirits, teachings of demons, liars with seared consciences, God’s creation good

1 Timothy 6:3-5 – false teacher, conceit, pride, ignorance, quarrels, controversy, greed

1 Timothy 6:6-10 – godliness with contentment, trust in God, love of money, greed, false teachers

Paul’s message is meant for clergy:

So all of us who are called by God, set apart for the proclamation of His Word, to be preachers and teachers and proclaimers are to be men of God. And we should bear that title in some measure of consistency with the long line of holy men who make up the elite company of those so designated men of God. We as men of God today take our place in the ranks of those who are the historic spokesman for the eternal God. What a tremendous calling. Paul’s instruction to Timothy then back in 1 Timothy 6 is heightened, intensified, and made even greater when he calls Timothy man of God, because in so doing he identifies Timothy with that long line of historic spokesmen for God and intensifies his own need to be committed to the task at hand …

… Men of God are men who have been lifted above worldly aims and who have been devoted to divine service, men belonging to a spiritual order with which things temporal, transitory, and passing have no permanent relationship. We are men who are not the world’s men. We are not our own men. We are God’s men. We have been raised above earthly things; we have been raised to the heavenlies; we have become the unique possession of God, His property; we stand in His stead to speak His Word.

Henry wraps these virtues up as being connected:

To arm him against the love of the world, he directs him to follow that which is good. Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness: righteousness in his conversation towards men, godliness towards God, faith and love as living principles, to support him and carry him on in the practice both of righteousness and godliness. Those that follow after righteousness and godliness, from a principle of faith and love, have need to put on patience and meekness—patience to bear both the rebukes of Providence and the reproaches of men, and meekness wherewith to instruct gainsayers and pass by the affronts and injuries that are done us.

MacArthur addresses them individually, but note his Bible translation has Henry’s ‘patience’ and the ESVUK’s ‘steadfastness’ as ‘endurance’, such as an athlete or soldier would practice:

Verse 11 says, “Follow after” – and six virtues are mentioned, “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and meekness.”

MacArthur discusses righteousness:

The first is righteousness – the beautiful word righteousness. And I don’t want to beg the issue and you all know what this means, that rich word – dikaiosunē – basically means to do right, do right before man, do right before God; do right to man, do right to God. The remnant of faithful Israel were called by Isaiah in chapter 51 verse 1, “You that follow after righteousness.” The writer of Hebrews says, “The only people who see the Lord are those who follow after holiness,” Hebrews 12:14.

And the righteousness Paul has in mind here is not imputed righteousness. It’s not sort of that declared righteousness that you receive positionally in Christ in salvation. It’s practical righteousness. The man of God is known by doing right. He does right in his life. He lives according to the standard of God. He obeys God. His conduct is right; his behavior is right; his life is right; he does what’s right.

MacArthur says that godliness is the partner of righteousness:

And the partner to that spiritual virtue is the next one, godliness. That has to do with the inside. Righteousness has to do with the behavior, godliness has to do with the attitude and the motive. This moves inside to direct our thought to the spirit of reverence, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of piety that’s in the heart. Eusebeia, that beautiful word used nine times in the pastoral epistles, a very rich theme throughout all these letters. Right behavior flows out of right attitude; right action flows out of right motive. Reverence for God is what eusebeia means – godliness. It means a worshiping heart. This is a person who not only does right but thinks right, who not only behaves properly but is properly motivated. This is one who, in the words of Hebrews 12:28, serves God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. This is one who lives life in the conscious presence of the holiness of God. Godliness – what a beautiful term. Those are the two overarching virtues the man of God should be known by. They are the things he pursues. They are at the core of his usefulness. They are at the core of his power. They are at the core of his character. Watch your heart. Watch your motives. Watch your desires. Watch your conduct. Watch your behavior. Don’t be an unsanctified preacher.

MacArthur addresses faith:

What does faith mean? Confident trust in God for everything, loyalty to the Lord, unwavering confidence in God’s power, unwavering confidence in God’s purpose, unwavering confidence in God’s plan, unwavering confidence in God’s provision, unwavering confidence in God’s promise. We live believing God. The man of God lives by faith. He trusts the sovereign God to keep His Word and meet his needs and provide everything. There’s no frustration. There’s no forcing. There’s no manipulation. He lives in what I call a relaxed desperation. He is desperate because of the tremendous ramifications of the ministry, but he is relaxed because of his confidence in the sovereignty of God. He lives in faith. The dominant internal attitude is faith. He trusts God. He lives in that confidence. He believes God for everything. He is loyal to God in everything. Unwavering.

Then comes love, faith’s partner:

And coupled with it is love. That beautiful volitional love, the love of choice, agapē, unrestricted and unrestrained. You say, what does this mean? Love to whom here? Love to everybody, love to God, love to men, love to Christians, love to non-Christians. It’s unrestricted; it’s unrestrained; it’s just love. His internal virtue is predominantly that of faith in the sovereign God and love to the sovereign God and love to all men. He understands the great commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” and he also understands how essential it is to love your neighbor as yourself, Matthew 22:37 to 39.

The man of God is a lover of God. He longs for God. He understands what Paul means when he says, “O that I may know Him.” He understands the significance of a spiritual Father in 1 John 2 who knows Him who is from the beginning. He is a lover of God more than a lover of self. And because he is a lover of God, he loves whom God loves, and God loves men and so he loves men. The man of God is known as one who pursues after a life of confident trust in the sovereignty of God and love to God and love to men. He seeks to let the love of God shed abroad in his heart, as Romans 5:5 says, out that it may touch the world. He is a lover. And in the sense, please, that he loves enough to confront with the truth, do not pretend to love someone whose sins you will not confront.

Then there is endurance, or patience, an outward virtue:

Endurance or patience is hupomonē. It means to remain under. It refers not to a passive resignation but a victorious triumphant endurance, an unswerving loyalty to the Lord in the middle of trials. That’s what it means. Going through severe troubles, severe anguish, severe difficulty, never wavering, never compromising, always trusting, always believing whatever the circumstance. This is the endurance of the martyr who will give his life if need be for the cause, the shepherd who if need be will lay down his life for his own flock as his master did. This is the person who under the worst of circumstances makes no issue out of his own rights and his own needs and his own demands. This is the noble virtue, the ability to endure injustice, to endure deprivation, pain, battle, grief, whatever it is with spiritual staying power, to endure even to death. This is the spirit that takes what comes in victory.

And finally, there is meekness, or gentleness, or humility — another outward virtue:

And then that second outward attitude is one of meekness or humility. He projects a selflessness. He projects a meekness, the sweet gentleness of one who though consumed with a great cause recognizes that he makes no contribution to its success. Meekness.

MacArthur ends his commentary on verse 11 by saying:

Those are the marks of the man of God. And again I say you may be a preacher but if these are not the things that you pursue, you’re not the man of God.

Paul then uses words he has employed before — ‘Fight the good fight’ — the good fight of the faith, telling Timothy to take hold of the eternal life to which he was called, about which he made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (verse 12).

Henry explains the expression:

He exhorts him to do the part of a soldier: Fight the good fight of faith. Note, Those who will get to heaven must fight their way thither. There must be a conflict with corruption and temptations, and the opposition of the powers of darkness. Observe, It is a good fight, it is a good cause, and it will have a good issue. It is the fight of faith; we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 2 Cor 10 3, 4.

MacArthur also uses the example of a soldier:

Thirdly, the man of God is known not only by what he flees from and what he follows after but by what he fights for … Let me say this very directly to you. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the literature of the New Testament supports the fact that a man of God who speaks for God is to see himself as a fighter – as a fighter. We are polemicists. We are usually on the attack. We are fighters, contenders, battlers, soldiers, and protagonists. We must understand that ministry is war, and we are warring with the truth against error. We are called to be soldiers.

In fact, in chapter 2 of 2 Timothy, we are soldiers who must endure hardness, who cannot entangle ourselves with civilian life, and who do everything we do to please the one who called us to be a soldier. When Paul came to the end of his pilgrimage and ministry he said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight.” It was a battle. It was a warfare. And to perceive it as anything less is to lose. We battle the world. We battle the flesh. We battle the devil. We battle sin. We battle heresy. We battle error. We battle apathy and lethargy in the church. We battle the kingdom of darkness that yields to us reluctantly. And so it is a severe and never ending battle.

Sadly, some people don’t even know there’s a battle. And some people feel that if things don’t go exactly the way they want them, they better quit. That if it isn’t the way you think it ought to be you ought to leave. And they may be doing nothing but going AWOL. This is a battle. We expect a battle. All that live godly in this present age, 2 Timothy 3:12 says, will suffer persecution. There’s no way around it. We were made for war. We were made for battle. And it is a battle. And first of all, we have to admit to the battle. And Jesus said if you’re not willing to lose your life to find it, you lose it. And if you’re not willing to take up your cross and follow Me, which means to the death if need be, you’re not even worthy to be My disciple. This is a warfare.

And so he says fight. And it’s again present imperative, as the first two verbs were, keep on continually fighting, be always battling. The term is used in military context as well as athletic ones to describe the concentration and the great effort coupled with discipline and conviction required to win. It’s used repeatedly in the New Testament. It’s the word agōnizomai, from which we get agonize. And the word fight is the same root, agōn. Agonize the agōn. Agonize through the battle, spiritual conflict with sin, with unrighteousness with the kingdom of Satan. Play your part as a man of God with a noble commitment to the contest for the truth.

I’m thrilled to be a soldier … It’s the battle over truth. And I am greatly distressed that we live in a time when the idea is that you don’t want to be a battler for truth, you want to do all you can to set aside any theology that might make someone else disagree with you. It’s frightening to me. We are to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. In spite of the intensity and the danger in the fight, beloved, it’s a good fight. Fight the good fight. The word good – kalos – is best translated, I think, excellent or noble. Fight the excellent fight, fight the noble fight, battle for truth, battle for the faith. He says fight the good fight of the faith.

Then we come to Paul’s instruction for taking hold of or laying hold on eternal life.

Henry says:

He exhorts him to lay hold on eternal life. Observe, (1.) Eternal life is the crown proposed to us, for our encouragement to war, and to fight the good fight of faith, the good warfare. (2.) This we must lay hold on, as those that are afraid of coming short of it and losing it. Lay hold, and take heed of losing your hold. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown, Rev 3 11. (3.) We are called to the fight, and to lay hold on eternal life.

MacArthur says that Paul is telling Timothy not to take his eyes off his eternal prize for fighting the good fight:

“Lay hold on eternal life unto which you were also called and have confessed a good confession before many witnesses.” What does he mean by that? Does he mean get saved? No. Timothy’s already saved. Does he mean go to heaven? No, he doesn’t mean go to heaven when he says lay hold on eternal life. What he means is very simple: Get a grip on eternal life.

In other words, you won’t mind giving yourself up in this world if you’ve got a grip on eternal life. In other words, live in the light of eternity. Isn’t that great? Hey, if you’re ministering here just for what you can gain here, you’ve got the wrong perspective. That’s not the perspective of a man of God. Lay hold on eternal life. To put it in the terms of Colossians 3, “Set your affections on things” – what? – “above and not on things on the earth.” Recognize your citizenship, Philippians 3:20, is not on the earth but it’s in heaven. Live and minister in the light of eternity. That keeps your focus in the battle.

MacArthur says that the confession before many witnesses could refer to any and all of the following spiritual events in Timothy’s life:

And then he says, after all, you were called to eternal life and you confessed a noble confession before many witnesses of that eternal life. Now live in the light of it. You were called to it. By the way, every time you see the word called used, the reference to calling used in the epistles, it is always the effectual call of a sovereign God to salvation. You were called to salvation which is eternal life. You confessed your confession, publicly confessing Jesus as Lord with your mouth. You affirmed your salvation unto eternal life. You confessed that Christ was your Lord. You confessed it before many witnesses. He may have in mind Timothy’s baptism. He may have in mind his ordination. He probably has in mind everything from his conversion on through every confession he ever made. He says you have confessed to being a possessor of eternal life, now live in the light of it. See that?

In summary:

The man of God who has been called to eternal life, who has confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has entered into a battle with the forces of sin and a battle with the forces of hell, a battle with lies, a fight for the faith which demands everything he has. And the only way he’s going to be able to give himself to that battle is if he can divorce himself from this world and live in the light of eternity.

MacArthur has several meaningful quotes from Puritan and Anglican preachers from Britain:

Richard Baxter said in The Reformed Pastor, back in the seventeenth century, “Many a tailor goes in rags that makes costly clothes for others and many a cook scarcely licks his fingers when he has dressed for others the most costly dishes.” Don’t be a tailor in rags, don’t be a starving cook, don’t be preparing things for others that you don’t have yourself. Paul was so concerned with these matters of godliness that in Acts 20 he said to the Ephesian elders, “Take heed to yourselves.”

John Flavel, the Puritan writer, said, “It is easier to cry against a thousand sins in others than to mortify one sin in ourselves.” Is that not so? And it is the duty of the preacher to cry against the thousand sins in the lives of others. It is also his duty to deal with the one sin in himself. John Owen wrote, “A minister may fill his pews, his communion role, the ears of the public, but what he is on his knees in secret before almighty God, that he is and no more.”

Charles Bridges [Anglican, 1794 – 1869] wrote in The Christian Ministry this, and I think it’s so direct, “If we should study the Bible more as ministers than as Christians, more to find matter for the instruction of our people than food for the nourishment of our own souls, we neglect then to place ourselves at the feet of our divine teacher, our communion with Him is cut off, and we become mere formalists in sacred profession. We cannot live by feeding others or heal ourselves by the mere employment of healing our people. And therefore, by this course of official service, our familiarity with the awful realities of death and eternity may be rather like that of the grave digger, the physician, and the soldier than of the man of God, viewing eternity with deep seriousness and concern and bringing to his people the profitable fruit of his contemplations. It has well been remarked that when once a man begins to view religion not as of personal but merely of professional importance, he has an obstacle in his course with which a private Christian is unacquainted. It is indeed difficult to determine whether our familiar intercourse with the things of God is more to our temptation or to our advantage.”

It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if the principles here were discussed at length in every seminary in the world. Some years ago, I began writing a series of critiques of seminary curricula in the United States. It was so samey and so depressing that I stopped. There was very little that was edifying in most of the coursework.

That was about a decade ago, but the rot set in decades before that. Think of the tens of thousands of priests and ministers who have left those seminaries and became pastors.

Dear, oh dear. It is hard to imagine how few good ones are in our churches.

Paul then goes on to repeat his charge — command — to Timothy for his work in Ephesus.

Next time — 1 Timothy 6:13-16