Keywords: Paul, Timothy, agon motif, ascetics, niptic, philocalical, mission, scientific exegesis
Abstract:
The text of 1 Timothy 1: 18-19 is one that describes the counsel and advices of St. Paul to Timothy, in order to streamline his missionary work. The apostle’s care for Timothy is like a father’s care for his son. Therefore, the words of the Apostle do not bear the character of a commandment, but of parental exhortations, springing from the experience and the life of the Apostle. The good fight is the main method that the Apostle Paul suggests to Timothy, in order to achieve or to grow the faith and the good conscience. The meaning of this fight is perceived differently by the scholarly exegetical literature and the patristic and neptic expressions of the Church. For heterodox exegetical researchers, the fight has a corrective feature, directed at the false teachers and by which Timothy would combat or correct them using the spoken word as the main tool. In contrast to this perspective, the Fathers of the Church understand the opposite. False teachers cannot be fought by words or arguments, but by faith and good conscience. These features are inner realities which in order to be acquired require an inner asceticism suggested by St. Paul through the usage of the good fight. Thus, the fight is in the neptic-philokalic perspective, the struggle against sin, against the fleshly mind or thought – which are in fact the opposite of the good conscience of 1 Timothy 1:19 – and, in the end, against the devil. The defining element of this fight is the divine grace and support, which strengthens and crowns the inner asceticism. Without it, the whole ascetic inner approach is doomed to failure. St. Paul confirms this perspective by recalling the prophecies given to Timothy. Therefore, we have the prophecies, the good fight, the faith and the good conscience. These spiritual characteristics are prerequisite for the work of preaching the Gospel and must be appropriated by any authentic Christian missionary.
Pages: 108-116