Fight the Good Fight | Eastside church of Christ

fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 1:18). We often hear this phrase. Even those who are not Bible-believers use this type of language to refer to an effort in something they consider to be a worthy cause. But what did Paul mean by this phrase? Later in the same letter to Timothy, he said, “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). This means that the “good fight” is one that pertains to “faith.” That does not mean any cause that one might believe in as being important. Instead, it refers to the cause of God. We know this because “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Jude wrote, “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). We are to be willing to fight for the cause of God and defend the truth of His word. The Lord has fully equipped us for this fight. We are to “put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11) and take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) to go into battle. This is a spiritual battle in which we are engaged, not a carnal one. The Lord’s “kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36); therefore, we do not take up carnal weapons to advance His cause. Paul wrote, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). We are not trying to fight to win territory, resources, or honor as the kingdoms of men might do; we are trying to win souls over to obey the Lord. Paul told Timothy, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). Fighting the good fight would not be easy. It would involve suffering. Furthermore, Timothy was warned not to allow the affairs of this life to distract him from his purpose. In the same way, we need to be careful not to allow the affairs of this life to cause us to lose sight of the fact that we are soldiers of the Lord. We must “fight the good fight of faith” so that we might “take hold of the eternal life to which [we] were called” (1 Timothy 6:12). Sometimes the most effective method Satan can use to defeat us is to convince us that there are more important things than this great battle that the Lord has called us to fight. –Andy Sochor