As if Timothy’s list of things to do weren’t long enough already, the Apostle Paul adds these three: Flee! Pursue! Fight! None is easy, quickly done and checked off the list. These require constant vigilance and effort. Flee from what? All these things. Chase after what? Paul lists six life-consuming things. What kind of fight will it be? The good fight of faith. Flee, pursue, and fight. We have no ability to do these things by our own power. Maybe that’s why these commands for the man of God come packed with so much gospel encouragement from God.

¹¹ Σὺ δέ, ὦ ἄνθρωπε θεοῦ, ταῦτα φεῦγε· δίωκε δὲ δικαιοσύνην, εὐσέβειαν, πίστιν, ἀγάπην, ὑπομονήν, πραϋπαθίαν.  ¹² ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, εἰς ἣν ἐκλήθης καὶ ὡμολόγησας τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν ἐνώπιον πολλῶν μαρτύρων.  ¹³ παραγγέλλω σοι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῳογονοῦντος τὰ πάντα καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ μαρτυρήσαντος ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν,  ¹⁴ τηρῆσαί σε τὴν ἐντολὴν ἄσπιλον ἀνεπίλημπτον μέχρι τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,  ¹⁵ ἣν καιροῖς ἰδίοις δείξει ὁ μακάριος καὶ μόνος δυνάστης, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων,  ¹⁶ ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν, φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον, ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν δύναται· ᾧ τιμὴ καὶ κράτος αἰώνιον· ἀμήν.

Translation of verse eleven: But you, O man of God, keep fleeing these things. Instead, keep pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

φεῦγε and δίωκε are present imperatives. In a sinful world like ours, spiritual shepherds need to flee constantly and to chase after constantly. When Paul uses ταῦτα in the pastoral epistles, he is usually referring to the preceding section. Timothy must keep running away from the mindset, approach, and goals of false teachers who see ministry as a means to personal gain. The old Adam loves money and pursues it in sinful ways. Fleeing from such things involves the daily drowning of my sinful flesh.

In the holy Scriptures, God provides six “virtue lists” by the hand of the Apostle Paul (here; 2 Cor 6:6–7; Gal 5:22–23; Col 3:12–14; 2 Tim 2:22–25; and 3:10). No two lists are alike. Love is the only virtue that is included in every list.

The lists are not meant to be exhaustive. The items in the list are meant to be pondered, prayed about, and discussed. We are to pursue those things that are of God, from God, pleasing to God, like God—those things that give glory to God. In a list like this, there will be items we struggle with more than others. God’s word and his Spirit produce these virtues in us. We humbly pray that God would produce them in us. We repent of all our failures. When there is visible fruit, all credit belongs to God. 

Translation of verse twelve: Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and (about which) you gave a good confession before many witnesses.

The fight is called good because the good God has called us to it and because it is in service to his good and gracious will. God brings good into this sinful world through his soldiers. All Christians are called to this battle. Spiritual shepherds are called to lead the charge: to preach it and to model it.

The fight is “of faith” because faith is what enables us to fight it and because the fighting is an expression of our faith. We fight through faith. Without faith, we would be on the wrong side of the fight. 

We rightly imagine Timothy making a good confession at both his baptism and his ordination into ministry. As in other places, Paul is probably referring to the latter here. We give thanks and praise to God for the recent graduates who confessed faith and promised faithfulness at their ordination/installation this summer and for pastors who did the same at their installation at a new place of ministry.

Translation of verse thirteen through sixteen: I charge you before God who gives all things life and before Christ Jesus who testified before Pontius Pilate with his good confession, that you keep this command spotlessly, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will make manifest in the proper time—the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He alone has immortality, dwelling in inapproachable light—he whom no one has seen nor can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

The command to keep fleeing, keep pursuing, and keep fighting is a tall order. Timothy is to keep τὴν ἐντολὴν. Commentators have provided at least eight explanations for what “this command” is. A broad perspective is probably the best: baptized children of God, including Timothy, are to obey all things that Jesus has commanded us, and Timothy and all ministers of the gospel are to keep the commands given by the Apostle Paul in this pastoral epistle. Keeping this command is living the humble, repentant life of a believer, with all that it entails.

The life of a believer and the life of gospel minister are tall orders. Who is equal to such a task? But tall orders are made to look tiny and fights of faith are made to look doable and temporary, when God is brought into the picture and when the nature and work of God are pondered.

When the battle seems hard and long, when fleeing and pursuing and fighting are wearing us down, we do well to ponder the long description of God that needs to be broken down into more sentences as we translate. Our God is the blessed one, the glorious one, the wise and loving one, the powerful one, and the loving one. He is the one who provided his Son for us, to redeem us and restore us completely and forever.

For the Savior, who confessed “I am a king” before a governor who had the earthly power to condemn him to crucifixion, is the risen Savior who will appear again at the appointed time to lead us into what we once called unapproachable light—the very presence of God.

The more I think about my Savior and his imminent return, the more I am strengthened for daily fleeing, pursuing, and fighting—the more I am encouraged to keep the command and the more I want to do it.

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, as I write “flee, pursue, and fight” on my daily to do list, I do so with the humble recognition that I cannot do this without your help and without your grace. Keep my eyes focused on my Savior, who went to the cross for me and who is coming back again for me. I yearn for the day and time that you have appointed for his return. Amen.

P.S. For further reading, we recommend Pres. emeritus David Valleskey’s recent book, The Splendid Task of the Ministry: A Pastoral Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (NPH, 2023).