2 Timothy 4:7-8
“I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. From now on, there is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.”
Where this sits
Paul's last written words, from prison, shortly before his execution. The verse before it says the time of his departure has come.
Reflection
These are close to the last words Paul wrote, and all three verbs are in a tense that means completed. Fought. Finished. Kept. He is filing a report, not making a resolution.
And the three cover different things. Fought the good fight — the conflict, which he does not claim to have won, only to have fought. Finished the course — the distance, simply covered. Kept the faith — the deposit, still intact and handed back.
None of them is a claim about results. He does not say he succeeded, converted a number, or left things in good order. Several of his churches were in trouble as he wrote, and a few verses earlier he records that at his first defence everyone deserted him.
The crown mentioned is the winner's wreath again, and the detail worth keeping is who awards it: the Lord, the righteous judge. Paul, a man about to be sentenced by a Roman court, names a different judge and a different verdict.
And then he widens it deliberately. Not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing. The qualification is not achievement or office. It is affection for something that has not happened yet — which is the only entry requirement he names, in the last thing he ever wrote.
- Theme:
- Perseverance
- Book:
- 2 Timothy