Paul’s first pastoral letter to his protégé Timothy is winding down in chapter 6 when he commands, “Fight the good fight.” Part of the fight is to flee the evil practices covered in the first part of the chapter, including conceit, lack of understanding of the gospel, craving controversy, seeing godliness as a means of gain.

Two positive parts of the fight are to realize how godliness with contentment can be great gain (verse 6) and to take hold of the eternal life to which you are called (verse 12). In between those two pearls is a list of six characteristics to pursue:

• Righteousness
• Godliness
• Faith
• Love
• Steadfastness
• Gentleness

Two of these are listed as fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5, where there is a sense of seeing the fruits as a measurement of a godly walk. Here the call to fight indicates that the godly walk is not without struggles, but the rewards are great.