The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Timothy — Section 145

"And now The arena awims around him-he is gone? Ere ceaserl the inhuman shout which hFLi!ed the wretch who WOL He heard it, bnt he heeded not-his eyes Were with his heart, and that WBB far away; He reckeil not of the life he lost or prize, But where his rude hut by the Danube lay; There were his young barbarian~ all at play- There WBB their Dacian mother I he, their sire, Butchered to make a Bomau holiday." L Nmm OF PREPARATION. " But thou, 0 man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." We know what can be undergone by men of the lowest order, when they put themselves in training for entering the prize-ring. Accustomed to spend the greater part of their time in the public-house, they are found rigorously foregoing their pleasures and entailing upon thelll88lves hard employment. In what these pugilists fore~o and endure, do they not put to blush many Uhristians, who cannot be said to forego much, or to give hard service for their religion? There is, we arc, here taught, what becomes the man of God, i.e. the highest type of man-the man who tries to work out the Divine idea of his life and to come to be God-like in his character. "O man of God, learn from these men of a low order. They flee their wonted pleasures; flee thou," says the apostle in earnest address," these things,n i.e. as appears from the context, those habits of mind which we call WO'l'ldly, tendencies to sink higher things in the pursuit of worldly ends, money, enjoyment, position for ourselves, and for our children. Christians who may have no taste for what are regarded as coarse pleasures, may yet be worldly in their ideas and habits. Such worldliness is unworthy of the man of God ; vulgar, demeaning in him. 0 man of God, flee thou worldliness, as thou wouldst a wild beast. Flee it, as certain to eat up thy true manliness. It may be said that more havoc has been wrought in the Church by worldliness than by intemperance. And the one is not so easily dealt with as the other. The intemperate man may be laid hold on. and aided out of his intemperance. But the worldly man may be in position in the Church; and who is likely to succeeil in aiding him out of his worldliness? And so, while the one may be rescued, the other may continue to be the prey of destructive habits that are growing upon him. The other side of duty refers to the acquiring of good habits of mind that are required for the fight. And as the word for worldly habits is flu, so the word for good habits is pursue. It is implied that worldliness seeks us, and we need to get out of its way, to flee from it as from a wild beast. Good habits, on the other hand, retreat from us; they are apt to evade us, and we need to pursue them with all the keenness with which a ravenous wild beast pursues its prey. It is hard for us to come up to them, and to have them as our enjoyed possession. The good habits, so ill to grasp, which are needed for the fight by the man of God are particullirized. First of all he must have righte01l,IJM81J, or the habit of going 'by rule. And along with this he mnst have godli- nesa, or the habit of referring to God. Then he must have faith, which covers his defmcelessnus. Along with this he must have love, which supplies him with fire. He must also have patie'M4 which enables him to hold out to the end. And along with this he must have meekness, which makes his spirit proof against all accumulati<m of tor0ng. In the eye of the world, these habits may seem 'lffl11W,nly ; but, 0 man of God, be true to thyself, and pursue them; let them not escape from thee; by God's decree they ■hall reward thy eager pursuit. II. NATUBE OF TBE FIGHT. "Fight the good fight of the faith." He that bas the faith of a Christian is necessitated to fight. 'l'here is revealed to his faith a God in the heavens, who hates sin, and who also seeks the salvation of souls. In the light of this, which ought to be an increasing light, there is presented an exposure. He comes to see that there are in hie flesh tendencies which are against God. He comes also to see that there i1 in the world, in its opinion and custom, much that is against God. As, then, be woulll. stand by God, he must fight against the flesh and the world-against what would tempt to sin, from within and from without. It is a good tight, being for the <auso of Qod, which is also the cause of man in his establishment in rigi.teousness and love. It ia a good fight, being grounded in iJl.e Tictory of Chriat and ouried on 14 138 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. [ea. n. 1-21.