“What Is a Christian?” Part 31” by Romans
Last week we reviewed and examined Paul's words in his final epistle, telling Timothy and us that he had “fought the good fight” and “finished the course” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). We are going to now look at our fighting that good fight of faith, as we are admonished to do. We read in 1 Timothy 6:12: "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."
Of this, the Sermon Bible tells us, "The Apostle’s Exhortation with Regard to Eternal Life. There is a deep and solemn interest which always attaches to the last words of a fellow-creature; more especially is this the case if he who is departing out of life has long been eminent for his piety and devotion.
The words of the text were spoken when St. Paul knew that his departure was at hand. Addressing his beloved Timothy, with a full realisation of all the trials of the past, and having the anticipation of his approaching martyrdom, with his dying breath he counsels Timothy, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."
I. Note the object here presented, "eternal life." Eternal life is an expression used in God’s Word to denote the happiness and the glory of heaven. We are not to limit the meaning of this expression to the one idea of never-ending duration. On the contrary, eternal life is a term used to denote all the happiness, all the glory, all the dignity which God can confer on a redeemed creature in eternity.
All that you can conceive of heavenly blessedness, all that Scripture sets forth to us of the happiness reserved for the saints in the life to come,—all is comprehended and included within this brief, comprehensive phrase, eternal life. Of that eternal life we know comparatively little as to its real nature.
The happiness of heaven is for the most part in God’s Word set forth to us either negatively, or by the help of imagery, borrowed from earthly things. I observe (1) that eternal life will comprehend the perfect knowledge of God. We have the authority of our Lord Himself for saying this.
"This is eternal life to know Thee the only God." (2) Eternal life means perfected resemblance to Christ. In proportion as the Gospel of Christ gains its legitimate hold upon any man, in that degree he is brought into the Saviour’s image. (3) Eternal life will consist in the companionship with ail the blessed, with all the saints of God from Abel, the first martyr, down to the saints that shall be brought forth to complete the spiritual edifice.
II. Note the exhortation with regard to eternal life, "lay hold upon it." This is an exhortation which summons to present, to immediate effort. How are we to lay hold on eternal life? I reply at once, Believe on the Son of God, trust in His power, confide in His love, rely on His wisdom, seek to partake of His grace. So shall you lay hold on eternal life.
(2) Next, I would say, Cherish the influences of the Holy Spirit, cherish them by secret prayer; cherish them by holy meditation; cherish them by constant study of the Inspired Word; cherish them in the use of all the appointed means of grace.
(3) And lastly, I would say, Would you lay hold on eternal life? Live for eternity. Propose to yourself as the great object for which you are sent into this world, to win the prize of everlasting life. Bishop Bickersteth, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 54.
Man’s Great Duty: I. Consider our need of eternal life. Sin has brought death into this world; and we are all of us involved in the calamity and buried in the ruins of the fall. We may not have sinned as others have done: that is very possible. But though we have sinned less than others, we cannot be saved by merit; even as, thank God, though we have sinned more than others we may be saved by mercy.
Those who speak of great and little, of few and many sins, seem to forget that man’s ruin was the work of one moment and of one sin. The weight of only one sin sank this great world into perdition; and now all of us, all men, lie under the same sentence of condemnation.
Extinguishing every hope of salvation through works, and sounding as ominous of evil in men’s ears as the cracking of ice beneath our feet, or the roar of an avalanche, or the grating of a keel on the sunken reef, or the hammer that wakens the felon from dreams of life and liberty, that sentence is this: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them."
II. Consider what we have to do to obtain eternal life. Nothing in one sense more difficult, yet in another, easier—a wish, a word, a look, and it is ours. You have only to wish, and, as if struck by a magician’s rod, the walls of your prison-house open. You are free.
III. Consider more particularly what we have to do to obtain eternal life. By the aid of the Spirit, and through the exercise of faith, you are to-lay hold on the Saviour; and laying hold on Him, though it were in the hour of the most imminent destruction, and in the very jaws of death, you lay hold of life—of eternal life.
IV. Consider when we are to lay hold of eternal life. When, but now? Christ promises it today; not tomorrow. Accept it so long as it is in your offer; seize it so long as it is within your reach. T. Guthrie, The Way to Life, p. 1. References: 1Ti_6:12.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. i., p. go; vol. ix., p. 45; Clerical Library: Outline Sermons for Children, p. 256; Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 295; G. W. Conder, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 280; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xii., p. 184. 1Ti_6:14, 1Ti_6:15.—F. W. Farrar, Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 67. 1Ti_6:15, 1Ti_6:16.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 216. 1Ti_6:16.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 123; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 336; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 383.
As we continue to focus on the idea of fighting the good fight, the Apostle Paul provides us with something that we need to keep in mind as we fight this fight of faith. It is something that is all-too-easy to forget: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Of this, Albert Barnes tells us, "For though we walk in the flesh - Though we are mortal like other people; though we dwell like them in mortal bodies, and necessarily must devote some care to our temporal needs; and though, being in the flesh, we are conscious of imperfections and frailties like others.
The sense is, that he did not claim exemption from the common needs and frailties of nature. The best of people are subject to these needs and frailties; the best of people are liable to err.
We do not war after the flesh - The warfare in which he was engaged was with sin, idolatry, and all forms of evil. He means that in conducting this he was not actuated by worldly views or policy, or by such ambitious and interested aims as controlled the people of this world.
This refers primarily to the warfare in which Paul was himself engaged as an apostle; and the idea is, that he went forth as a soldier under the great Captain of his salvation to fight his battles and to make conquests for him. A similar allusion occurs in 2 Timothy 2:3-4.
It is true, however, that not only all ministers, but all Christians are engaged in a warfare; and it is equally true that they do not maintain their conflict “after the flesh,” or on the principles which govern the people of this world. The warfare of Christians relates to the following points:
(1) It is a warfare with the corrupt desires and sensual propensities of the heart; with eternal corruption and depravity, with the remaining unsubdued propensities of a fallen nature. (2) With the powers of darkness; the mighty spirits of evil that seek to destroy us; see Ephesians 6:11-17. (3) With sin in all forms; with idolatry, sensuality, corruption, intemperance, profaneness, wherever they may exist.
The Christian is opposed to all these, and it is the aim and purpose of his life as far as he may be able to resist and subdue them. He is a soldier enlisted under the banner of the Redeemer to oppose and resist all forms of evil. But his warfare is not conducted on worldly principles.
Muhammed propagated his religion with the sword; and the people of this world seek for victory by arms and violence; The Christian looks for his conquests only by the force and the power of truth, and by the agency of the Spirit of God.
For the weapons of our warfare - The means by which we hope to achieve our victory.
Are not carnal - Not those of the flesh. Not such as the people of the world use. They are not such as are employed by conquerors; nor are they such as people in general rely on to advance their cause.
We do not depend on eloquence, or talent, or learning, or wealth, or beauty, or any of the external aids on which the people of this world rely. They are not such as derive advantage from any power inherent in themselves. Their strength is derived from God alone.
But mighty through God - Margin, “to.” They are rendered mighty or powerful by the agency of God. They depend on him for their efficacy. Paul has not here specified the weapons on which he relied; but he had before specified them 2 Corinthians 6:6-7, so that there was no danger of mistake.
The weapons were such as were furnished by truth and righteousness, and these were rendered mighty by the attending agency of God. The sense is, that God is the author of the doctrines which we preach, and that he attends them with the agency of his Spirit, and accompanies them to the hearts of people. It is important for all ministers to feel that their weapons are mighty only through God.
Conquerors and earthly warriors go into battle depending on the might of their own arm, and on the wisdom and skill which plans the battle. The Christian goes on his warfare, feeling that however well adapted the truths which he holds are to accomplish great purposes, and however wisely his plans are formed, yet that the efficacy of all depends on the agency of God. He has no hope of victory but in God. And if God does not attend him, he is sure of inevitable defeat.
To the pulling down of strongholds - The word rendered here as “strongholds” (ὀχύρωμα ochurōma) means properly a fastness, fortress, or strong fortification. It is here beautifully used to denote the various obstacles resembling a fortress which exist, and which are designed and adapted to oppose the truth and the triumph of the Christian’s cause. All those obstacles are strongly fortified.
The sins of his heart are fortified by long indulgence and by the hold which they have on his soul. The wickedness of the world which he opposes is strongly fortified by the fact that it has seized on strong human passions; that one point strengthens another; that great numbers are united.
The idolatry of the world was strongly fortified by prejudice, and long establishment, and the protection of laws, and the power of the priesthood; and the opinions of the world are entrenched behind false philosophy and the power of subtle argumentation.
The whole world is fortified against Christianity; and the nations of the earth have been engaged in little else than in raising and strengthening such strongholds for the space of 6,000 years. The Christian religion goes forth against all the combined and concentrated powers of resistance of the whole world; and the warfare is to be waged against every strongly fortified place of error and of sin. These strong fortifications of error and of sin are to be battered down and laid in ruins by our spiritual weapons.
Casting down imaginations - Margin, reasonings. The word is probably used here in the sense of device, and refers to all the plans of a wicked world; the various systems of false philosophy; and the reasonings of the enemies of the gospel. The various systems of false philosophy were so intrenched that they might be called the stronghold of the enemies of God. The foes of Christianity pretend to a great deal of reason, and rely on that in resisting the gospel.
And every high thing ... - Every exalted opinion respecting the dignity and purity of human nature; all the pride of the human heart and of the understanding. All this is opposed to the knowledge of God, and all exalts itself into a vain self-confidence. People entertain vain and unfounded opinions respecting their own excellency, and they feel that they do not need the provisions of the gospel and are unwilling to submit to God.
And bringing into captivity ... - The figure here is evidently taken from military conquests. The idea is, that all the strongholds of paganism, and pride, and sin would be demolished;
and that when this was done, like throwing down the walls of a city or making a breach, all the plans and purposes of the soul, the reason, the imagination, and all the powers of the mind would be subdued or led in triumph by the gospel, like the inhabitants of a captured city. Christ was the great Captain in this warfare.
In his name the battle was waged, and by his power the victory was won. The captives were made for him and under his authority; and all were to be subject to his control. Every power of thought in the pagan world; all the systems of philosophy and all forms of opinion among people; all the purposes of the soul;
all the powers of reason, memory, judgment, fancy in an individual, were all to come under the laws of Christ, All doctrines were to be in accordance with his will; philosophy should no longer control them, but they should be subject to the will of Christ.
All the plans of life should be controlled by the will of Christ, and formed and executed under his control - as captives are led by a conqueror. All the emotions and feelings of the heart should be controlled by him, and led by him as a captive is led by a victor.
The sense is, that it was the aim and purpose of Paul to accomplish this, and that it would certainly be done. The strongholds of philosophy, paganism, and sin should be demolished, and all the opinions, plans, and purposes of the world should become subject to the all-conquering Redeemer.”
Matthew Henry adds to this: “The power of his preaching, 2 Corinthians 10:3, 5. Here observe, (1.) The work of the ministry is a warfare, not after the flesh indeed, for it is a spiritual warfare, with spiritual enemies and for spiritual purposes.
And though ministers walk in the flesh, or live in the body, and in the common affairs of life act as other men, yet in their work and warfare they must not go by the maxims of the flesh, nor should they design to please the flesh: this must be crucified with its affections and lusts; it must be mortified and kept under.
(2.) The doctrines of the gospel and discipline of the church are the weapons of this warfare; and these are not carnal: outward force, therefore, is not the method of the gospel, but strong persuasions, by the power of truth and the meekness of wisdom.
A good argument this is against persecution for conscience' sake: conscience is accountable to God only; and people must be persuaded to God and their duty, not driven by force of arms. And so the weapons of our warfare are mighty, or very powerful; the evidence of truth is convincing and cogent.
This indeed is through God, or owing to him, because they are his institutions, and accompanied with his blessing, which makes all opposition to fall before his victorious gospel. We may here observe, [1.] What opposition is made against the gospel by the powers of sin and Satan in the hearts of men. Ignorance, prejudices, beloved lusts, are Satan's strong-holds in the souls of some;
vain imaginations, carnal reasonings, and high thoughts, or proud conceits, in others, exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, that is, by these ways the devil endeavours to keep men from faith and obedience to the gospel, and secures his possession of the hearts of men, as his own house or property.
But then observe, [2.] The conquest which the word of God gains. These strong-holds are pulled down by the gospel as the means, through the grace and power of God accompanying it as the principal efficient cause.”
When we fight, we are to fight a good warfare. The Apostle Paul wrote, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare: Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:” (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
The Sermon Bible says of this, “There are some respects in which the idea of warfare applies to the life of all, and there are other respects in which we are called to make our life a warfare of our own free and deliberate choice. I. Take, for example, the period of infancy and childhood, and here we have emphatically the battle (1) of weakness.
Later comes (2) the battle of ignorance, (3) the battle of passion, (4) the battle of necessity and the battle of society conjoined. We observe (a) that the struggle is not equally intense and painful in us all, and (b) that it is not all struggle with any. No human spirit could bear a perpetual strain, no human heart could support a perpetual pressure.
II. Scripture commands us to make our life a warfare of our own free and deliberate choice... (1) The first thing to be done is to put ourselves in alliance with Christ. It cannot be accomplished in any other way. The battle must begin at the cross, and the warfare must be carried on, from beginning to end, under the covert of atoning blood.
(2) It must be maintained in a spirit of prayer, for it is this that preserves our reliance on God, and makes us strong in the strength which is in Christ Jesus. It is such a conflict as requires a better strength than our own, and if this were all we had to depend on it would be useless making the attempt.
(3) The struggle must be maintained honestly. That is to say, we must direct our attention to the resistance of all evil, and to the positive cultivation of all good. (4) We must maintain the warfare cheerfully, not as a dire necessity, but as that which is evidently proper and right, that in which our reason and heart were fully engaged, as that which is daily bringing us nearer to God, and making us more and more meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. A. L. Simpson, The Upward Path, p. 57.
Not the least interesting feature of St. Paul’s first epistle to Timothy is the Apostle’s solicitude, here and there incidentally manifesting itself, for his youthful disciple’s own steadfastness in the midst of the dangers from which he is set to guard others. It is the natural language of a father, who, with the highest opinion of his son’s character, still cannot but remember his youth and inexperience. This is no slight confirmation of the authenticity of the writing.
The office committed to Timothy is described as a warfare, and if we would prove ourselves true men, and carry on the warfare successfully, we must keep, hold fast, maintain, these two requisites—faith and a good conscience. They were required at our first enlistment for that warfare, being, in fact, equivalent to the profession and engagements made at our baptism, and they will be required till the end.
I. Faith is to things beyond the reach of sense what our senses are to things within its reach. It is the soul’s eye, by which we can see what with the bodily eye we cannot see; the soul’s ear, by which we hear what with the bodily ear we cannot hear; the soul’s hand, by which we handle what with the bodily hand we cannot handle.
Faith has to do with this conflict (1) because it recognises it as a reality, (2) because it serves to obtain both strength and succour for us from God, (3) because it supplies us with motives for endurance, (4) it supplies the hope of success. For it gives us confidence in our Leader, and assures us of victory, provided only we be true to Him, who has chosen us to be His soldiers. The battle is not ours, but God’s.
II. But, besides faith, St. Paul mentions another requisite for carrying on the warfare to which we are called—a good conscience. By a good conscience is meant the testimony of our consciences that we are loyal and true to our Leader, that we are, in will and intention at least, obedient to His commands, however, in spite of our better selves, we may, too often, fall short of them.
III. "Which some," says the Apostle, "having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwreck." The point now is not merely the necessity of a good conscience in order to our warring the Christian warfare, but the necessity of a good conscience in order to the preservation of faith.
The persons whom he had in view had either given up the belief of Christianity as a whole—had become apostates, or, like those whom he particularises, had fallen into heresy, and had perverted or abandoned one or more of its cardinal truths. That they had done so he ascribes to their having put away a good conscience.
The putting away of a good conscience, by whatever act or course of action, grieves the Holy Spirit, who, as He is the Author of faith in the first instance, so He is the Preserver and Conservator of it thenceforward. And, together with the departure of the Spirit, there departs the frame of mind which is most congenial whether to the reception or the rejection of the truth.
Note (1) that it is important our conscience should be rightly instructed. A watch only misleads if it be not duly regulated. We are responsible for our consciences, as well as for the conduct dictated by these consciences. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.
(2) If we would maintain a good conscience, we must beware of deliberate, wilful transgression, whether by doing what ought not to be done, or by leaving undone what ought to be done. With either one or the other a good conscience is utterly incompatible. Be thoroughly persuaded that to do and suffer God’s will is your truest interest. C. Heurtley, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, Jan. 27th, 1881. References: 1Ti_1:18—ii. 8.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. ii., p. 209; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 550.
Matthew Henry adds to this: “Here is the charge he gives to Timothy to proceed in his work with resolution. Observe here, The gospel is a charge committed to the ministers of it; it is committed to their trust, to see that it be duly applied according to the intent and meaning of it, and the design of its great Author.
It seems, there had been prophecies before concerning Timothy, that he should be taken into the ministry, and should prove eminent in the work of the ministry; this encouraged Paul to commit this charge to him. Observe, 1. The ministry is a warfare, it is a good warfare against sin and Satan: and under the banner of the Lord Jesus, who is the Captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), and in his cause, and against his enemies, ministers are in a particular manner engaged.
2. Ministers must war this good warfare, must execute their office diligently and courageously, notwithstanding oppositions and discouragements. 3. The prophecies which went before concerning Timothy are here mentioned as a motive to stir him up to a vigorous and conscientious discharge of his duty; so the good hopes that others have entertained concerning us should excite us to our duty: That thou by them mightest war a good warfare.
4. We must hold both faith and a good conscience: Holding faith and a good conscience, 1 Timothy 1:19. Those that put away a good conscience will soon make shipwreck of faith. Let us live up to the directions of a renewed enlightened conscience, and keep conscience void of offence (Acts 24:16), a conscience not debauched by any vice or sin, and this will be a means of preserving us sound in the faith; we must look to the one as well a the other, for the mystery of the faith must be held in a pure conscience, 1 Timothy 3:9.”
There is more that can be said of Faith as a critically important facet of what it is to be a Christian. Next week, God Willing, I plan to review and examine a few thoughts that the Apostle James shares with us about Faith. I invite all of you who are hearing or reading my words to join us for our next Installment of this Series at this same place and time.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “What Is A Christian? Part 31.”
This Discussion was presented “live” on August 28th, 2024.
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