Read this if you…
- want Paul's deathbed letter — written from prison knowing the end is coming
- like the line 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith' (one of the great farewells in literature)
- care about the passing of the torch: an older man telling a younger one to keep the work going
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
The lineage through 2 Timothy
- The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 2 Timothy shaped it. - Paul's farewell — *"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"* — became Bunyan's template for a Christian's triumphant death - In *The Pilgrim's Progress*, the Interpreter's portrait of the ideal preacher is captioned with this very verse, and Mr. Valiant-for-Truth's deathbed speech enacts it line by line - The model of life-as-soldiering, ending in a kept faith, passes straight from this letter into Bunyan's allegory
Depicted in Art
Paul sits in a darkened cell, pen and codex on his lap, a sword leaning beside him — caught mid-composition by a shaft of light from a small window.
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1627
Paul stands with arm outstretched, exhorting a seated crowd of Thessalonians — figures lean in, faces lit; the apostle gestures upward as he preaches.
Gustave Doré, 1866
An elongated Paul gestures toward an open letter inscribed with his own writing — the apostle pictured as author of the epistles.
El Greco, 1610
Stained glass figure of the young bishop Timothy, robed and holding a scroll, in the right light of the south transept window.
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Oxford University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
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Notable Quotes
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
- John Calvin, Reformation theologian, founder of Calvinism, 1509–1564: "We owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God."
- Adam Clarke, British Methodist theologian & biblical commentator, 1762–1832: "Standing on the verge of eternity, full of God, and strongly anticipating an eternity of glory."
- Martin Luther, German Reformation theologian, Bible translator, 1483–1546: "This epistle is a farewell letter, in which St. Paul exhorts Timothy to go on propagating the gospel."
- Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, 1911–2004: "We have fought the good fight. We have finished the race. We have kept the faith."
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