1Ti 6:12-13 | JFB | STEP | 12. Fight the good fight —BIRKS thinks this Epistle was written from Corinth, where contests in the national games recurred at stated seasons, which will account for the allusion here as in . Contrast "strifes of words" ( ). Compare . The "good profession" is connected with the good fight ( ). lay hold on eternal life —the crown, or garland, the prize of victory, laid hold of by the winner in the "good fight" ( ). " Fight (literally, 'strive') with such striving earnestness as to lay hold on the prize, eternal life. " also —not in the oldest manuscripts. professed a good profession — Greek, "didst confess THE good confession, " namely, the Christian confession (as the Greek word is the same in this verse as that for "confession" in , probably the profession here is the confession that Christ's kingdom is the kingdom of the truth, ), at thy being set apart to thy ministerial function (whether in general, or as overseer at Ephesus): the same occasion as is referred to in . before many witnesses —who would testify against thee if thou shouldest fall away [BENGEL ].

1 Timothy 6:12-13

12. Fight the good fight—BIRKS thinks this Epistle was written from Corinth, where contests in the national games recurred at stated seasons, which will account for the allusion here as in 1Co 9:24-26. Contrast "strifes of words" (1Ti 6:4). Compare 1Ti 1:18; 2Ti 4:7. The "good profession" is connected with the good fight (Ps 60:4).

lay hold on eternal life—the crown, or garland, the prize of victory, laid hold of by the winner in the "good fight" (2Ti 4:7, 8; Php 3:12-14). "Fight (literally, 'strive') with such striving earnestness as to lay hold on the prize, eternal life."

also—not in the oldest manuscripts.

professed a good profession—Greek, "didst confess THE good confession," namely, the Christian confession (as the Greek word is the same in this verse as that for "confession" in 1Ti 6:13, probably the profession here is the confession that Christ's kingdom is the kingdom of the truth, Joh 18:36, 37), at thy being set apart to thy ministerial function (whether in general, or as overseer at Ephesus): the same occasion as is referred to in 1Ti 1:18; 4:14; 2Ti 1:4.

before many witnesses—who would testify against thee if thou shouldest fall away [BENGEL].

13. quickeneth all things—that is, "maketh alive." But the oldest manuscripts read, "preserveth alive"; as the same Greek means in Ac 7:19; compare Ne 9:6. He urges Timothy to faithfulness here by the present manifestation of God's power in preserving all things, as in 1Ti 6:14, by the future manifestation of God's power at the appearing of Christ. The assurance that "eternal life," 1Ti 6:12, will be the result of "fighting the good fight," rests on the fulness and power of Him who is the God of all life, present and to come.

witnessed—It was the Lord's part to witness, Timothy's part to confess (or "profess," 1Ti 6:12) "the good confession" [BENGEL]. The confession was His testimony that He was King, and His kingdom that of the truth (see on 1Ti 6:12; 1Ti 6:15; Mt 27:11). Christ, in attesting, or bearing witness to this truth, attested the truth of the whole of Christianity. Timothy's profession, or confession, included therefore the whole of the Christian truth.