I have finished my course – the Apostle Paul

The Apostle now closes his final letter to Timothy noting that his course redirected by Christ on a road to Damascus so many years before — his marathon race of missions into all the world — indeed even the end of the Apostle’s mortal life is at hand.

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in the N. T. σπένδεσθαι, to be offered as a libation, is figuratively used of one whose blood is poured out in a violent death for the cause of God

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Paul, with Timothy about five years earlier, had written to the church in Philippi:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

But even if I am being poured G4689 out G4689 as G4689 a G4689 drink G4689 offering G4689 upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

And you also, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

Epistle of Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi 2:14-18 LSB

The Apostle had then sent Timothy and Epaphroditus to the church at Philippi.

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~ A.D. 66

And now Paul again writes to Timothy:

ἐγὼ γὰρ ἤδη σπένδομαι καὶ ὁ καιρὸς τῆς ἀναλύσεώς μου ἐφέστηκεν

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

2 Timothy 4:6 – Greek NT, LSB:

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I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.

Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy 4:7 NKJV

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I have fought the good fight

ἀγωνίζομαι – agōnizomai –

• to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something):—fight, labor fervently, strive.

That would be the Apostle Paul alright. Every saint of the church recognized his example which the Apostle expected them to follow, as they would Christ, who said:

“Strive G75 to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Gospel of Luke (the physician who traveled with Paul who had written his Gospel while accompanying the Apostle) 13:24 LSB

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Paul had written to the saints in Corinth [~A.D. 55] some ten years ago:

Now everyone who competes G75 in G75 the G75 games G75 exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 LSB

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I have finished the course

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NIV – Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Paul, since his conversion by Christ on the road to Damascus is, if nothing else, consistent in his persistence for the Gospel, even though the Apostle’s mortal life seems always in peril.

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course..

2 Timothy 4:7a KJV

τελέω – teleō – finish

• to bring to a close, to finish, to end
  • to do just as commanded, and generally involving the notion of time, to perform the last act which completes a process, to accomplish, fulfill

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Luke recounts what Jesus had told the Twelve prior to His crucifixion:

“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished [or accomplished – teleō]!

Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

Gospel of Luke 12:49-51 CSB

And in his second account Paul’s physician reports of Christ’s crucifixion, where the Lord Himself spoke, “It is finished,”

When they had carried out [teleō] all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

Acts of the Apostles 13:29-31 CSB – from Paul’s Sermon in Antioch of Pisidia

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I have kept the faith

What does that mean to you?

Do you have the Apostolic faith of Paul.. or Timothy?

Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure,

I am clean from my sin”?

Proverbs 20:9 LSB

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“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love;

just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love [agapē].

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be G4137 complete G4137.

John 15:10 -11 LSB – JESUS

And PAUL personally addressed Timothy earlier in this second letter:

… I unceasingly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, having remembered your tears, so that I may be filled [plēroō ] with joy, receiving remembrance of the unhypocritical faith within you.

Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy 1:3b-5a LSB

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At last the champion’s wreath

Paul finishes his final epistle:

Finally, there is laid 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 who have loved His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8 NKJV

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NEXT: Paul’s last personal pleas

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