FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT MARK THOMPSON PRINCIPAL
The apostle Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians: For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ … (2 Cor 10:3–5) War and fighting imagery is not unusual throughout the Bible, even in the New Testament, where we are also told to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). Paul spoke about putting on “the whole armour of God” (Eph 6:11) and, most famously of all, of fighting “the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 4:7). This war and fighting imagery is not at all popular in the current climate. Belligerent religion—crusades and jihad—is presented as one of the great destructive forces in our world. Its image is the burning and crumbling towers in New York, or, for the historically minded, Julius II, ‘the warrior pope’ who led armies into battle in the early sixteenth century. Even some Christians are embarrassed by the suggestion that we are in a conflict and that we are called to oppose the forces which reject Jesus and the gospel message. They still hope to be thought well of
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FIG HT T HE GOOD FIGHT
by the world and do all they can to distance themselves from those who use expressions like “enemies of the cross of Christ”, “enemies of the 1 gospel”, or “enemies of God”. We ought not to be embarrassed by the warfare imagery that is found in the New Testament. It reminds us of the ferocity of the struggle, the determination of the opposition, and the need to be prepared. Life in this world is not all rest and unalloyed joy. That is what is promised to us when Jesus returns—in the new heavens and new earth, in which righteousness dwells, when every tear is wiped away, and death, mourning, crying and pain are no more (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:4). In the meantime, we are meant to expect trouble: opposition from without and betrayal from within. It will not be unrelentingly hard or bad. There will be times of joy and encouragement. But we cannot avoid the struggle. We are in the middle of a battle. The deeper reason for this is that in God’s plan, the very origin of evil is being dealt with by God’s wonderful work of salvation. We are saved from death and hell. We are rescued from the darkness and brought into God’s marvellous light (1 Pet 2:9). But the devil is real. He is still active in the world. He has been defeated at the cross, but until Jesus returns he is flaying about, trying to devour as 1 Sadly for them, such expressions are found in the New Testament (Phil 3:18; Rom 11:28; Jas 4:4).
