II Timothy 4:6-18 (Second Essay); Finished, But Not Yet

Let's now turn to the text and explore these three themes: (1) The Sense of Satisfaction; (2) The Sense of Longing; (3) The Sense of Memory.

I. Satisfaction (vv. 6-8)

In these first three verses, the Apostle does three things: he draws freely on language of earlier Pauline letters; he speaks of the Christian life as both a race and a battle (fight); he uses tenses of verbs that refer to past and current satisfaction with life. Let's explore each briefly. His reference to himself as a libation or sacrifice recalls Phil. 2:17, where the Apostle connects his sacrifice with the Phillipians' faith. His mention of the Christian life as a fight or struggle links with I Cor. 9:24-27. Last words link with earlier words. Perhaps that is the key to a life of meaning, when our vocabulary of today connects with our words of yesterday in a rich symphonic recitation.

But there are more than repeated words or thoughts in view here. Two pictures of the Christian life are suggested: life as a battle and life as a race. Indeed, the Greek words used for "fighting the good fight" are the same: i.e., one is just the verb of the same word as the noun [we have the word "walk" in English, as a noun and a verb, for example]. The word is agon, which means a contest or a fight. The English word derived from it is "agony." Thus, to be in agony is, literally, to be in a great contest or fight. The Christian life is likened to that kind of battle--against foes internal and external. Much more could be said about it, but perhaps that will fuel your own thoughts. How is the Christian life like a battle for you?

Then, there is finishing the "race." The word translated as "race" is dromos, which can either be rendered as "race" or "course." Thus, these two words carry with them the hardness of the agonistic life and the softness of an exploratory life. Both images are brought together in Hebrews 12:1, where we are urged to "run" the "agon." So, maybe the two images of the Christian life, which seem so different from one angle, really just shade into each other as we look at them closely.

Then, there is the arresting tense of the three verbs in v. 7. They are all in the first person singular perfect indicative. The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe an action begun in the past and to be completed sometime in the present/future. When Jesus says "the Kingdom of God has come" or "has drawn near" (Mk. 1:15), he is using the perfect tense of the verb. The Kingdom has broken in already, but its full effect will soon be revealed. That is the way one should read the three verbs in v. 7. The Apostle has been fighting and now is near to completing his fight of faith; he has been running finishing, and now will finish running his course. Perhaps this is one of the keys to feeling whether one has properly "finished" one's life--to see that its full finishing has already taken place in the past but that its consummation still awaits. How does one develop a faith to believe that one's full expression of life has already taken place? That, friends, will be the subject of lots of discussion. But let's begin with that affirmation or let us aspire to be able to say that affirmation--"I have started the process of completing my battles; they will be finished sometime soon..."

II. Longing (vv. 9-15)

These verses aren't in the lectionary reading for most Churches this week, but they deserve a few comments. They show that even though the Apostle is ready to die, and has completed his course, he still longs for more. He wants some to visit him; he wants to direct the work of others; he especially wants the books and parchments to be brought to him. And not all the longing is filled with good things. He recalls a certain Demas who "has deserted me;" he reflects on Alexander the coppersmith who "did me great harm." In fact, he isn't really able to "get over" the last slight. When he says "the Lord will pay him back for his deeds," it may be another way of saying, "I wish I could pay him back..." The thought of judgment against opponents has still not left the Apostle's mind. Those who spend lots of time in the battles of life not only carry some scars into later life but also carry with them the way they hoped the results would have been different. If Clausewitz, the 19th century Prussian theorist of war, defined war as politics by other means, we might say here that the Apostle is ending his life by continuing the fight by other means--through his disciples, his writings, his prayers.

Memory (vv. 16-18)

His final words, however, are words of resolution. That, friends, is how many of us probably wish we could end our life--with words that sum up rather grandly the course of life. After reciting the desertions (Demas), the deceptions (Alexander the coppersmith) and the disappointments, he is ready to end his words in a different key. The last words are that "the Lord stood by me and gave me strength" and "I was rescued from the lion's mouth." Being rescued from the lion's mouth is a prominent biblical image of salvation (see Ps. 22:21; Amos 3:12). Most memorable to me are the words of David as a youth when speaking to Saul, just before going out to meet Goliath in battle:

"The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine" (I Sam. 17:37).

The passage closes with the Apostle's expression of confidence--that such deliverances were not just things in the past, but will continue to characterize God's care toward him.

Conclusion

The best way to be ready to speak with satifaction, longing and good memory in our last days is to cultivate them now. But that is the tension, isn't it? We have so many things to do, so much to contribute--but the Scriptures exhort us to satisfaction now. Live on the razor's edge of this tension and the life of faith will be full of the passion, the battle, the course, the exploration, that fills you and everyone around you.

2969