1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Fight the good fight is the language of athletic contests. Timothy was to give his best effort to this most worthwhile of struggles, the struggle to further the faith. This would involve the complete appropriation at all times of the fact that he possessed eternal life. No way this suggests that Timothy could gain eternal life by his own efforts.
To Paul, Christ’s life is the possession of each Christian, not only throughout eternity, but now. It is this new life in Christ to which every Christian is called and which Christians confess by baptism and by word. Timothy’s good confession in the presence of many witnesses could refer to his ordination but more likely speaks of his baptism.
