1 Timothy 6.12-Paul Commands Timothy To Win The Race Which Is Noble And To Experience The Life Which Is Eternal
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 11, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:12-Paul Commands Timothy To Win The Race Which Is Noble And To Experience The Life Which Is Eternal
Lesson # 134
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:12.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6:12 issues Timothy two more commands.
1 Timothy 6:12 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. (NASB95)
“Fight the good fight of faith” is composed of the second person singular present middle imperative form of the verb agonizomai (ἀγωνίζομαι) (ahgoe-nee-zoe-meh), “fight” and this is followed by the articular accusative masculine singular form of the adjective kalos (καλός) (kah-loce), “good” and then we have the accusative masculine singular form of the noun (ἀγών) (ahg-known), “fight” and this is followed by the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις) (pee-steece), “faith.”
The verb agonizomai is used in a figurative sense and means “to make every effort to win” in the sense of engaging in an intense struggle to accomplish a victory against strong opposition.
It contains the idea of a runner struggling intensely to win a race in the Graeco-Roman games in the face of stiff opposition from other runners competing against him.
Here the term refers to Timothy making every effort to win the noble contest of faith by experiencing eternal life which will accomplish the Father’s will for his life despite strong opposition from sin and Satan’s kingdom.
The runner in the Graeco-Roman games would struggle intensely against other runners in order to win a race, which would earn him a crown and rewards at the Bema Seat.
In a similar fashion, Paul is commanding Timothy to struggle intensely to live the Christian way of life against opposition from the sin nature and Satan’s kingdom in order to execute the Father’s will to become like Christ, which would earn him crowns and rewards at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.
The will of the Father is that the Christian become like Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16) and this can only be accomplished by the Christian experiencing eternal life in time prior to the rapture or their death whichever comes first.
The present imperative form of the verb is a “customary present imperative” indicating that Timothy was to “to continue making it his habit of” making every effort win the noble contest or race of faith.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 indicate that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle, including this command here in 1 Timothy 6:12.
Thus this command is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what they talked about before Paul left for Macedonia.
The noun agon means “race” or “contest” since it is used in an athletic metaphor.
Agon is analogous to the square stone pillar that marked the end of the race for a runner in the Graeco-Roman games.
This is indicated by the fact that the square stone pillar in the ancient Graeco-Roman games marked the finish line in these games and accomplishing the Father’s will of growing up to become like Jesus Christ completes the plan of the Father for the believer’s life.
The adjective kalos is modifying the noun agon, “race” and means “noble” and describes the spiritual race to accomplish the will of the Father that Timothy was engaged in as superior to foot races in the natural realm since it possesses a superior goal, the will of the Father.
It describes this spiritual race as of the utmost importance in life possessing outstanding qualities because winning this race results in praise and rewards from a superior sovereign king, Jesus Christ and is against superior opponents, Satan and the sin nature.
The noun pistis refers to Timothy’s post-conversion faith in the Word of God.
This is indicated by the fact that in the very next command, Paul orders Timothy to take hold of eternal life, which refers to experiencing eternal life, which is accomplished by faith in Paul’s gospel.
The noun pistis in 1 Timothy 6:12 is a genitive of means indicating that Paul is commanding Timothy to continue making it his habit of making every effort to win the race which is noble “by means of” his faith in the Word of God.
1 Timothy 6:12 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. (NASB95)
“Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” is composed of the second person aorist middle imperative form of the verb epilambanomai (ἐπιλαμβάνομαι) (ehpee-lahm-banoe-meh), “take hold of” and then we have the articular genitive feminine singular form of the adjective aionios (αἰώνιος) (ay-owe-knee-os), “eternal” and this is followed by the genitive feminine singular form of the noun zoe (ζωή) (zoe-ee), “life” and then we have the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “into” and its object is the accusative feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) (oce), “which” and this is followed by the second person singular aorist passive indicative form of the verb kaleo (καλέω) (kah-leh-owe), “you were called.”
The verb epilambanomai is used in a figurative sense and means “to experience” eternal life, which is accomplished by means of exercising faith in Paul’s apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel.
The aorist imperative form of the verb epilambanomai is a “constative aorist imperative” meaning that this is a solemn or categorical command.
The middle voice the verb epilambanomai is an indirect middle indicating that obeying this command to experience eternal life will be a “benefit” to Timothy.
Paul wants Timothy to know the Trinity experientially in the sense of personally encountering them through the process of fellowship as They are revealed in the pages of Scripture and prayer by God the Holy Spirit.
It also involves Timothy being affected by this encounter with the Trinity resulting in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
It would involve Timothy appropriating by faith his union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
This would result in Timothy obeying the commands and prohibitions that appear in the gospel.
The preposition eis is a marker of purpose indicating the purpose for which Timothy was called.
The verb kaleo is used in relation to Timothy’s conversion to Christianity and refers to the Father “effectually calling” him to trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and which invitation originated from eternity past and is thus directly related to the Christian’s election.
By responding in faith Timothy manifested in time that he had in fact been elected to privilege by God.
God who is omniscient looked down the corridors of time and saw that the Christian would trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and had prepared in advance a plan for him and elected him to privilege.
Therefore, when Timothy placed his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, he was manifesting the fact that he had been elected to privilege by the Father.
He did not coerce Timothy’s volition by electing him but rather elected him to privilege when He saw through His omniscience that Timothy would believe in His Son.
1 Timothy 6:12 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. (NASB95)
“And you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” is composed of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the second person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb homologeo (ὁμολογέω) (owe-moe-lowe-yeh-owe), “you made the confession” and then we have the articular accusative feminine singular form of the adjective kalos (καλός) (kah-loce), “good” and it is modifying the accusative feminine singular form of the noun homologia (ὁμολογία) (owe-moe-lowe-yee-ah), “confession” and then we have the preposition enopion (ἐνώπιον) (ennopee-own), “in the presence of” and then we have the adjective polus (πολύς) (police), “many” which is modifying the genitive masculine plural form of the noun martus (μάρτυς) (marteece), “witnesses.”
The conjunction kai is consecutive meaning that it is introducing a statement that expresses the result of Timothy being effectually called by the Father in eternity past to experience eternal life.
The verb homologeo means “to confess” and refers to Timothy publicly acknowledging or confessing Jesus Christ as His Savior at his baptism (water). Therefore, it denotes that at his baptism Timothy “confessed” Jesus Christ as his Savior.
The noun homologia means “confession” and it is used in an objective sense of Timothy’s statement before the church at Lystra of his allegiance to Jesus Christ expressing his binding assent and public commitment to Him.
The adjective kalos is modifying the noun homologia and means “noble” describing this public confession of Christ as Savior by Timothy at his baptism as of the utmost importance in life possessing outstanding qualities because it delivered him from sin and Satan and eternal condemnation in the lake of fire.
Martus is referring to specifically to the members of the church at Lystra who observed and heard Timothy make a public confession that he was now a believer and follower of Jesus of Nazareth.
The adjective polus means “many” and is modifying the noun martus, “witnesses” indicating that there was a multitude of individuals in Lystra who could testify or verify that Timothy publicly confessed Jesus of Nazareth as his Savior and became His disciple.