2 Timothy 4:7

τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι : See note on 1 Timothy 6:12. The following τὸν δρόμου, κ. τ. λ., makes this reference to the games hardly doubtful.

τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα : cursum consummavi (Vulg.). What had been a purpose (Acts 20:24) was now a retrospect. To say “My race is run,” is not to boast, but merely to state a fact. The figure is also found in 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:12. The course is the race of life; we must not narrow it, as Chrys. does, to St. Paul's missionary travels.

τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα : As in 2 Timothy 2:21, St. Paul passes from the metaphor to the reality. For the force of τηρέω here, see note on 1 Timothy 6:14; and cf. Revelation 14:12, οἱ τηροῦντες τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν πίστιν Ἰησοῦ. The faith is a deposit, παραθήκη, a trust which the Apostle is now ready to render up to Him who entrusted it to him. There is no real inconsistency between the tone of this passage and that of some in earlier epistles, e.g., Philippians 3:12, sqq. St. Paul is merely stating what the grace of God had done for him. A man does well to be distrustful as regards his use of the years of life that may remain to him; but when the life that he has lived has been admittedly lived “in the faith which is in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20), mock modesty becomes mischievous ingratitude.