Restoring an Ancient Saying

If you hear someone say “Keep the faith,” you’ll likely understand it to mean “Keep your chin up” or “Maintain a positive attitude,” right? That’s the meaning of the expression in modern jargon, but the original Bible expression had a very different meaning. Paul used it here:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the Faith (2 Timothy 4:7)

To say “keep the faith” has become cliché—that is, it’s used so often it has lost its original meaning. But you don’t need to be part of the trend towards watering it down any further. A Christian should try to use the expression “keep the Faith” according to its original meaning.

Ignoring how common usage has stripped it of its meaning, let’s restore “keeping the Faith” to what it should be, a declaration of triumph over false doctrine. Paul was proud of this triumph when he told Timothy that he had kept the Faith. If you aspire to the same triumph, then you should be manly, persevere, and endure hardship like Paul did. You should be sure of what you believe, and stick to it, come what may.

1. Be Manly

All Christians must act like men, even the women and children. But in what way? Acting macho? No. Strutting around like a dude? Of course not. The Bible doesn’t require women to act masculine. The Bible demands that we be courageous in the face of opposition. We have to be firm in the Faith—and that means courage before our enemies. We have to be strong in the face of false doctrine.

Be on the alert, stand firm in the Faith, act like men, be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13; NASB).

Christians have to be fighters. We have to be scrappy. That’s why Paul says that he ‘fought the good fight.’ What is that good fight? It’s the one that’s worth fighting. It’s the battle for the Truth. We battle by maintaining good arguments, impeccable character, holiness, and tough resolve.

Paul declared to Timothy a great accomplishment: Paul had stayed true to sound doctrine, the Faith. And how good that he did so because Paul had exhorted Timothy in his previous epistle to Timothy that Timothy should fight for that same Faith, the one we call the One Faith (Ephesians 4:5).

Fight the good fight of the Faith (1 Timothy 6:12).

Paul had been successful in the challenging task of keeping the Faith. He had contended for the Faith, had fought to preach it, and completed a long career as a missionary—a career which started in Damascus and ended in Rome. He faced many dangers along the way, even a stoning in Lystra.

2. Persevere

Persecution against Christians was intense during Paul’s life, and it still is now. To be a Christian in the midst of the paganism, emperor-worship, and Jewish hatred of Christian doctrine was an intense struggle. Paul had to be very tough, and so do we. We have to fight unbelief, atheism, false doctrines, and apostasy. Paul had to persevere in his day, and so do we now.

For Paul to have been able to make it to the end of his life without slipping into doctrinal error is equivalent to a combat soldier successfully crossing a barbed-wire-strewn minefield—a no-man’s land. Paul, looking back on his own personal history, saw behind him the blown-out craters of false teachings, and the entanglement of the doctrines of men. Thank God he finessed his way through all those.

Paul navigated around Jewish legalism, Gentile paganism, Pharisaism, and his own human propensity towards error. He had fought his way through by loving, forgiving, blessing, and praying. He had kept the Faith through perseverance.

3. Endure Hardship

Paul was a Roman prisoner when he wrote 2 Timothy. It was his last letter before being martyred. Paul was concluding his ministry and ready to die.

The Apostle wrote 13 letters total, and his writing career ended with this letter to Timothy, a true son in the Faith (1 Timothy 1:2). Languishing in a dungeon, the infamously deadly Mamertine Prison in Rome, Paul knew that his end was near, and that he had finished the race.

Paul’s extraordinary effort to stay true to Christ had paid off. He accomplished something great. He had remained loyal to God’s Word and had not failed God or others. This continues to be a huge accomplishment for any preacher today. How hard it is to stay true to God’s Word when the World and even an apostate Church is against you?

These things will only get harder as the Church gets closer to the Apostasy promised in the Scriptures. But take heart. Don't be afraid. To avoid falling into that Apostasy, you only have to focus on one thing: keeping the Faith.

… the Spirit explicitly says that in the Last Times some will depart from the Faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (1 Timothy 4:1; LEB).

… know this, that in the Last Days difficult times will come, for people will be… conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God, maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people (2 Timothy 3:1-5; LEB).