Fight The Good Fight (2 Timothy 4:5-8)

5 But you must stay focused,
self-controlled and be alert at all times. Tolerate
suffering[1]. Accomplish the good work
of an evangelist, and complete the ministry to which you have
been called.6 For I am already being poured
out, and the last drops of this drink offering are
all that remain; it’s almost time for me to
leave[2]. 


 7 I have fought the
good[3] fight, I have stayed on course
and finished the race, and through it all, I have
kept the
faith.[4] 8 I look
forward to what’s in store for me: a crown of righteousness that
the Lord—the always right and just judge—will give me
that day (but it is not only for me, but for all those who have
loved/have longed for His appearing). (2 Timothy 4:5-8)


 Paul must have had a sense this day was coming. He had
written years earlier:


“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on
the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad
and rejoice with all of you.” (Philippians 2:17)


“Even if” has become “am already.” Paul
sees his blood as the libation which had
already started being poured on the sacrificial
offering.[5] Libations were one of the final acts of a
sacrifice, with the worshiper pouring (usually) wine on the altar
after the burnt offering was mostly consumed. Paul was under a
death sentence; it appears the cruelty had already begin. Paul’s
blood is about to finish off his life of sacrifice, a spiritual
commitment that had now become a physical reality.  And then
here comes his classic ‘legacy’ statement:


“I have fought the good fight, I have stayed on course
and finished the race, and through it all, I have
kept the faith.”