1 Timothy 6:¹¹ But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith;take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I direct you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep the commandment without fault or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”

Those who teach and preach the word must “flee” (pheugó: to flee, escape, avoid: it can be translated “run away from”) from “controversial questions and disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions” and pursue (diókó: To pursue, persecute, chase, press forward) the good things mentioned. Paul uses this idea of “fleeing” certain things elsewhere. 2 Timothy 2:²² Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. ²³ But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. ²⁴ The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wronged, ²⁵ with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” There is the “gentleness” of 1 Timothy 6:11 things to pursue. 1 Corinthians 6:¹⁸ Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it”. The word flee can also be translated “escape”. 1 Corinthians 10:¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Remember: Ephesians 5:⁵ For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Greed (the desire for more) is idolatry, the worship of things ahead of God. Luke 12.15: “Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Joesph fled from temptation: Genesis 39:7-22 (KJV)And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.” You can’t just stand there and think about whether you should do something or not. You should already have the conviction that you will not get near something bad. You will be aware of the danger when you see it. When you are caught in a tornado, you know to run, drive away as fast as you can in the opposite direction. You look for an “escape” route when there is a fire in a building. All this applies to temptation and to getting caught up in “controversial questions and disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions”.

“Fight the good fight of faith”. As he sat in a Roman prison (his 2nd imprisonment after being released from his 2 years of “house arrest” of Acts 28), awaiting imminent beheading by Nero, he wrote this: 2 Timothy 4:⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; ⁸ in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” So Paul lived what he preached. “I have fought the good fight” is also significant for believers today because it serves as a stark reminder that the Christian life is a struggle against evil—within ourselves and in the world: I think that is what the “good fight” is, i.e the fight against evil-within ourselves and in the world. The Greek word for “fight” is agónizomai: To strive, to struggle, to fight, to labor fervently (from which we get “agonize”). It can be translated “compete” as in 1 Corinthians 9:NAS: Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control”. It can be used of fighting in warfare. From gotquestions.org “Our battle is not with flesh and blood “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The Christian life is a fight in that Christians face a never-ending struggle against evil—not an earthly military campaign, but a spiritual battle against Satan. This is why we must “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day” (see Ephesians 6:13-18).” Paul was a warrior in spiritual battle. He fought or contended with false teachers in the church. He fought with those trying to kill him or persecute him. He fought through many dangers without quitting, surrendering, or turning back. Our battle is not with flesh and blood “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).” Paul reminded Timothy to “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). We are fighting evil in our own spiritual battles, but we are also fighting the Lord’s battles against evil as His soldiers. The Israelites soldiers went out fighting the Lord’s enemies, but they were fighting the Lord’s battles. But can you imagine a soldier during WWII sitting around in a nice cozy office while a battle is raging right around them? Is that us? We have become complacent. We still go to church and believe in the right doctrines, but we compromise so much. We don’t really fight to put off sin in our lives. We don’t fight to defend the truth against all the false doctrine that is out there. We are not bad people. We just don’t really get our hands dirty in the spiritual warfare out there.

What is the “good confession” that Paul told Timothy to be faithful to? 6:12 “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I direct you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.”  What was the confession Jesus made before Pilate? I believe that is found in Matthew 26:⁶² The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You offer no answer for what these men are testifying against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I place You under oath by the living God, to tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus *said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Jesus confessed to Pilate “You got it right Pilate, I am the Christ the Son of God.” Peter made the good confession in Matthew 16: ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Martha made the good confession” John 11:²⁷ She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world.” It is a public confession of faith. Romans 10:9–10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Timothy was to “take hold (epilambanomai: To take hold of, to seize, to grasp, to help) of the eternal life to which he was called.” (AI) “The verb ἐπιλαμβάνομαι is used in the New Testament to describe the act of taking hold of something or someone, often with a sense of urgency or purpose. It can imply a physical grasp, as well as a metaphorical or spiritual seizing. The term is used in contexts where there is an intervention, assistance, or a decisive action taken.” The Christian pursuit of eternal life is not a passive thing that we just sit back and let God do all the work saving us (as Calvinism teaches). We can’t earn eternal life, but we must actively reach out and grab it. If someone is handing you a package that is really important, then you don’t just sit back and admire it. You reach out and grab it so you can possess it and enjoy what’s in the package.

1 Timothy 6:¹⁴ that you keep the commandment without fault or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” This quite an expression of praise to God the Father, the only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The Father would bring about the 2nd coming at the proper time. He alone possesses immortality. I do not believe that every person born has an eternal “soul” that, when he dies, must exist eternally after death. The Hebrew word for soul just means “life force”. God breathed into man and he became a living soul. But the same word is used for the life in animals, and they don’t have eternal souls. God only promises immortality to believers in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:⁵³ For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; ⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God dwells in “unapproachable light”. What does that mean? We know that “God is light” but what does that mean? God is a spirit who fills the universe, but He is not some bright light everywhere in the universe. What did Moses see when God put him behind a rock and let his see God’s “back side”? It had to be some bright shining light. Moses would talk to God face to face and then come out with his face shining. Was God a bright light in that tent of meeting with Moses? Maybe in the spiritual world of the “heavenlies” God is a bright light, but we just can’t see in now in the flesh. We can only see it when we die and go into the presence of God in the heavenlies.

You would think the letter would end with that great praise, but Paul has one last charge for Timothy. Maybe he was about to end the letter and thought of this last charge. 1 Timothy 6:²⁰ Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— ²¹ which some have professed and thereby have gone astray from the faith.” What are the arguments of what is falsely (pseudónumos: Falsely named, false from which we get pseudonym, a fictitious name) called knowledge (gnosis, knowledge) From bibleref.com
“Paul also repeats a common theme of his instructions to church leaders: steer clear of false knowledge and shallow arguments. Among the false teachings in Ephesus was a philosophy which would soon be known as Gnosticism, named from the Greek root word for “knowledge.” Gnostic ideas presented matter as evil and spirit as good. Depending on the flavor of Gnostic teaching, the sins committed in the body either did not matter or all pleasures of the body were inherently wrong. Timothy was to stay away from such false teachings which contradicted the “sound doctrine” Paul had taught him (1 Timothy 1:8–11).” (AI) “The use of “pseudónumos” in the New Testament reflects a concern with false teachings that were prevalent in the early church. These teachings often masqueraded as legitimate Christian doctrine but were contrary to the apostolic teaching. The early church faced various heresies and false teachings, such as Gnosticism, which claimed to offer secret knowledge.” “In the Greco-Roman world, knowledge was highly valued, often associated with philosophy and intellectual pursuit. In the context of early Christianity, “gnósis” took on a distinct meaning, emphasizing not just intellectual understanding but also experiential and relational knowledge of God. This was in contrast to the Gnostic heresies that emerged in the early church, which claimed secret knowledge for salvation.” Gnosticism didn’t fully develop until the 3rd century, but the roots of it were present even in the first century. Gnostic ideas have impacted Western philosophy and spirituality, particularly through the rediscovery of the Nag Hammadi library. Books like the Gospel of Thomas consist of secret sayings given only to the apostle Thomas. It was not written by Thomas, probably written in the 3rd century, as were other gnostic books. Colossians 2:⁸ See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ. ²⁰ If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” ²² (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of man? ²³ These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

I end my articles on 1 Timothy the same way Paul ended the letter.

“Grace be with you”. I hope you benefited from at least some of the articles.