BY G. K. Beale
In 1 Timothy 1:18, the phrase “fight the good fight” is composed of a verb (στρατεύω) and a noun (στρατεία), which is a cognate word with the verb. The repeated use of the noun “fight” after the verb “to fight” in this phrase is a figure of speech, whereby there’s “a repetition of the same basic word with the same sense” to underscore the meaning of the redundant wording. e it didn’t appear anywhere else in the New Testament or the Greek Old Testament. What I found surprised me and encouraged my faith. I hope
The wording had a ring to it, so I decided to see if it was used elsewhere in the Greco-Roman world, since your faith is also encouraged amid the trials of this world.
This redundant wording was frequently used from the fifth century BC up to the third century AD and even onward. In its various contexts, the expression can be translated as “battle the battle” or “serve as a soldier in warfare” or, more generally, “perform military service” or “serve in a military campaign.” The wording is typically a patriotic warfare idiom for good character revealed by persevering through not merely one battle but military campaigns extending over a period of time.
Honorable Service
Under the Roman military system, in times of danger from foreign powers, citizens who enlisted in the army were “obligated to serve as soldiers in warfare service [στρατεύω + στρατεία] for twenty years,” though only 10 years were required for being “eligible for any political office.” The point was that an extended period of military service was a requirement for political office since it demonstrated a person’s honorable character as a loyal citizen, willing to persevere in service to protect his home country.
Honorable War
The idiom demonstrates a person’s good character as a loyal citizen to his king and kingdom.
“Fight the good fight” in 1 Timothy 1:18 refers to the warfare that is spiritual and is conducted against false teaching opponents (e.g., 1 Tim. 1:3–6, 18–20; 6:20–21; 2 Tim. 3:7–14). Paul considers Timothy and Titus each to be a “true child,” though a child in “the faith” (1 Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4).
An inheritance is promised if one perseveres. This is clearest in 1 and 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy 4:8, after saying he has “fought the good fight,” Paul says, “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord . . . will award to me on that day.” Like Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7–8, if Timothy perseveres in “fighting the good fight” (1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12), he’ll finally receive an inheritance—he’ll “receive [attain to] the eternal life to which he was called.”
Loyalty to the King
“Fight the fight” occurs 40 times in the Greek world as a patriotic warfare idiom for one who perseveres in loyalty to king and country by fighting war campaigns to preserve the welfare of the kingdom. As a result, a person earns a reputation as a good and honorable citizen.
Paul applies the idiom to fighting for God’s kingdom instead of for an earthly kingdom. He’s referring to a “fight” against false teaching to maintain and foster “godliness.” Thus, this is a “good” fight or extended “war campaign” through which Timothy is to persevere, which will demonstrate his good Christian character and reputation over against the false teachers’ bad character.
“Good” is further defined in 2 Timothy 2:3–4, where Paul exhorts Timothy to be “a good soldier” and then defines part of what such a “good soldier” is: “No soldier while being engaged in a war campaign entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” Thus, the warfare is also “good” because the divine Commander who enlisted the Christian soldier to fight wouldn’t enlist anyone if the warfare wasn’t a “good” one in which to engage.
Ultimate loyalty in this world is to be given to the divine king and not to earthly authorities (though there’s a place for submitting to earthly authorities, as explained in Rom. 13).
Article excerpts taken from The Gospel Coalition (U.S. Edition). Read the full resource here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/fight-good-fight-pauline/
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