When I was a boy we used to be sent outside by sadistic teachers to complete cross-country runs of about three miles, invariably in the coldest, windiest winter weather. Unhappy memories—but oh, the joy of finishing! A greater joy by far awaits the Christian athlete. We are called to endure, to persist all the way to the end, our eyes set upon the goal of Jesus Himself, “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim. 4:7)

Some people are great at start-ups, others are good at keeping things going; still others know how to “finish well,” which does not mean: “I’ve had enough and I’m giving up!” In 2 Timothy we have the classic biblical example of finishing well.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy is his valedictory address, his “last will and testament,” as it were. This is his final period of imprisonment in Rome; not the two years when he was under house arrest and wrote the so-called prison epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. He is now very near his time of execution, as is clear from the preceding verse: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come” (2 Tim. 4:6).

Paul is writing to his beloved spiritual son, Timothy, in one of the tenderest letters we have in the New Testament. And, of course, he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the whole church of Jesus Christ, mindful of the importance of a godly succession of faithful men (2 Tim. 2:2). It is worth noting that the first two pictures we have in this verse, of the soldier and the athlete, match the imagery of 2 Timothy 2:3–5, and indeed the idea of “keeping” or “guarding” could well be linked to the “hard-working farmer” who enjoys “the first share of the crops” (2 Tim. 2:6).

Let’s briefly consider each of these three statements in verse 7.

“I have fought the good fight.”

Paul has done exactly what he has urged in 1 Timothy 6:12, where he refers to “the good fight of the faith.” The Roman world, so familiar to Paul, was highly militarized and gladiatorial. Roman crowds were the very opposite of squeamish. But Paul’s fight is “good”; indeed it could be translated “fine,” “praiseworthy,” or even “beautiful.” There is a unique honor and nobility in Christian spiritual warfare.

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