This study note is about
the triumphant end of Paul’s journey.
Paul never looked
at his end as death like common people used to do.
Paul had a
different concept about death.
This is the core
idea we discuss in this message.
2 Timothy
4: 6 – 8 are the farewell speech of Apostle Paul.
2
Timothy 4: 6 - 8
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink
offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally,
there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have
loved His appearing. (NKJV)
The
passage is rich with colorful images of victory celebrations on the background
of Greek and Roman culture.
Paul
is writing these words not only as a final statement about his martyrdom, but
also about the life and death of all Christian believers.
So
let us think for a while about his perception of the crucifixion of Christ and
life and death of Christian believers as expressed in his epistles.
Paul’s perception of crucifixion
Paul
was an apostle to the gentiles and often talked to them in a way they could
easily understand his message.
Romans
were very proud of their empire and system of governance.
Their
military and judicial systems were unequalled during the time.
Almost
all civilized places in that area from the present Iran to Great Britain were
under their empire.
It
was the practice of all nations of the time to ascribe all their prosperity and
victory to their gods.
That
means, Romans believed that their empire was the empire of their gods or a gift
from their gods.
So
they despised the idea of another Kingdom as preached by Jesus and His followers.
They
never considered Jesus as a serious threat to their empire.
If
Jesus was a mightier King and the Kingdom of God He preached was stronger than
the Roman Empire, it would have been impossible to crucify Him.
This
was a strong argument they posed to the followers of Christ.
And
they questioned the dignity of the death of Jesus on a shameful cross, if He
ever was a King.
So
they rejected the idea of another feeble Kingdom.
For
the Greeks, being the wisest people of the time, the death of Jesus as the Son
of God was an impossibility.
Their
learned philosophy had no place for the crucifixion of God by humans.
For
them Jesus was just a rebel who was betrayed by His own people and killed
brutally by the Romans.
To
these gentile people, Paul said that the truth about the crucifixion of Jesus
is not what they saw with their physical eye, but what has happened in the
spiritual realm.
When
we look at the cross by our physical eyes and listen to the story of the
crucifixion by our physical ears, we see Jesus the rebel betrayed by his own people
and killed by the Romans.
But
the truth is that, what happened on this earth is a parallel event of what has
happened in the spiritual realm.
The
real war was fought between God and satan.
Jesus
was the great military general who fought against satan and his dark kingdom.
Jesus
has fought well, defeated satan, his kingdom was conquered and all captives were
set free.
The
cry of Jesus on the cross was the cry of victory.
The
Greeks could understand it well.
Because,
Greek philosophy taught them about the ultimate reality in the spiritual realm
and the representative reality on earth.
We
read this description of the truth behind the crucifixion of Jesus in Colossians 2:13-15.
Colossians 2:13-15
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having
forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having
wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was
contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross.
15 Having
disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them in it. (NKJV)
This narration of Paul
about the crucifixion of Jesus has not happened on this physical world.
No Jews, no Greeks, no
Romans and none has seen the described events happening.
But Paul argues that
this is what truly happened in the spiritual realm when Jesus died on the
cross.
Truth is what happened
in the spiritual realm and the parallel happenings on this earth is only a
representation that may be removed from the ultimate reality.
Jesus forgave all our
trespasses by His death as atonement.
Jesus wiped out with
His blood and nailed all judgments against human beings.
All contract of slavery
with satan were nailed and cancelled on the cross.
Jesus defeated the dark
kingdom of satan, the enemy king was captured alive, all his weapons were taken
away and the defeated enemy was displayed on the cross for all the public to
see and believe.
Since, the Son of God is
worthy to be called a triumphator.
This is the argument
of Paul to the Romans, the Greeks and other gentile nations.
The picture Paul draws
in the above passage is not a Jewish cultural or military image.
But they were aware of
the Roman celebration of victory since Judea was under the Roman Empire.
The Romans, the Greeks
and the heathen nations around them understood what Paul really meant.
Now,
who is a triumphator?
A Triumphator is the man of triumph in Roman culture.
He is a military general who has won exceptional and decisive victory over
a foreign enemy country.
As he returns from war, the Senate of Rome honors him by permitting a
victory festival.
This is the highest possible honor for a Roman citizen.
The Roman triumph or victory celebration was a civil ceremony and religious
rite of ancient Rome
It was held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement.
The triumphator has
fought a war with a foreign enemy and conquered the enemy and his kingdom.
That means, the Roman
triumph or victory celebration is not a sympathetic tragedy.
That is why Paul
described the crucifixion of Christ as “triumphing over them.”
The details of the
victory festival in Roman culture are paralleled in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Since we have only a
short time over online, let me limit the details of the victory festival of a
Roman triumphator to whatever is mentioned in Colossians 2:13-15
On the day of his triumph, the military general wore a crown of laurel
around his head.
He would be dressed in purple colored garments that identified him as
near-divine or near-kingly.
He rode in a four-horse chariot through the streets of Rome in unarmed
procession with his army, captives and the spoils of his war.
At Jupiter's temple on the Capitoline Hill he offered a sacrifice as the
tokens of victory to the god.
Let us look at the parallel events in Jesus’ life.
Jesus came to the mount of Golgotha
to offer Himself as a sacrifice wearing a crown of thorns, garments
soaked in red blood, unarmed, walking all the way through Jerusalem, displaying
publicly the defeated enemy king satan.
Thus Paul described
the crucifixion of Jesus not as a sympathetic tragedy but as a triumph.
He went far to say
that the real triumph over the real enemy of mankind happened on the cross.
Jesus is above any
Roman military general, because He defeated satan and his dark kingdom.
Paul wrote 2 Corinthians with the same vision about the
crucifixion.
2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads
us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge
in every place. (NKJV)
This passage is about
Christian life.
Their redeemer and
God, Jesus Christ has been celebrating the triumphal festival since the day of crucifixion,
the day of the defeat of satan.
Like the Roman
citizens, we Christian believers are also joining the triumphal march.
This is a victorious procession.
As the procession
goes, the Roman citizens used to strew fragrant flowers all the way spreading a
sweet aroma all around.
Paul is urging the
Christians to live as if participating in the triumphal march of their master
and spread the sweet aroma of victory all around through their life.
So Paul very clearly
used the theme of triumph for describing the crucifixion and the Christian
life.
Paul never talked of
the crucifixion as a tragedy or a sympathetic death.
Christian life is
neither a defeated life.
Paul wanted to give to
the gentile world this message of triumph.
Fought the good fight
Now let us go back to Paul’s farewell words in 2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8
We shall discuss verse
7 and 8 and then go back to verse 6.
In verse 7 there is a
beautiful picture of a wrestler.
The word he uses
for fight is agon (ag-one), which is the word for a contest in the arena.
The word alludes to
the contests at the Grecian games.
Paul has done his
best, fought a good wrestling and has overcome as a
spectacular winner.
But what was the
purpose and method of his fight?
It was not just a
combat in arena, but a war against satan and his kingdom.
So the notion of fight
goes beyond the arena and wrestling to real war fought between kingdoms.
The fight was indeed
to ascertain the superiority of the Kingdom of God.
The verse contains Paul’s
struggle to preach and teach the revelations he received from God about the
life of Jesus, crucifixion and the church.
He had to fight well
like a Roman military general against the foreign enemy to free people from the
slavery of satan.
Now there are nations
to his credit.
He has expanded the
Kingdom of God.
He has resisted the
enemy to the point of death.
And he is ready to go home
for an appropriate reward from the King.
He is a triumphator
worthy of a victory festival.
He expects a crown of laurel from the King.
Finished the race
The second image
contained in verse 7 is that of a marathon racer.
Marathon was conducted
in Greece as a symbol of victory over the enemy.
It has the tradition
of defeating the Persian army by the Greek warriors.
Paul is finishing his long race successfully.
The victory over the enemy is once again
celebrated here.
And so it is time for victory celebration.
It is time for crowing the victor.
Kept the faith
The third image in verse 7 is also from games.
In Greece during the time of Olympics great athletes
came from the known world around.
On the day before the game all the competitors
met and took a solemn oath before the gods.
They proclaimed that that they had done not
less than ten months training and that they would not resort to any trickery to
win.
So Paul may be saying that he had played the
game faithfully keeping all the rules of the game.
Once gain Paul poses himself as a victor; he is
a triumphator.
The crown
What waits for a winner is the crown of laurel.
Paul is ready for it.
In games the greatest prize was the laurel
wreath; with it the victor was crowned.
And to wear it was the greatest honor which
could come to any athlete.
In this moment Paul is turning away from the
verdict of men to the verdict of God.
He is confident of an unfading crown that he
may receive from his master.
Drink offering
Now let us move to verse 6.
2 Timothy 4: 6 For I am already being
poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. (NKJV)
Verse 6 is a part
of this series of rich imagery about fighting and winning over the enemy.
The image is
borrowed from the Roman culture and the victory festival granted to a
triumphator.
But what does the
drink offering has to do with fight and victory?
The Greek word
used by Paul for drink offering is ‘spendo’.
The word literally means to pour out as a
libation to the gods.
Every Roman meal ended with a kind of
sacrifice.
A cup of wine was taken and was poured out to
the gods.
So let us go to
the Roman victory festival for an explanation.
As I told you
before, Christian life is a celebration of the glorious victory of their master
triumphator Jesus Christ.
We have already
seen how the Roman victory procession was conducted in Rome.
It moves through
the sacred road of Rome to the temple of Jupiter at Capitoline hill to offer a
thanksgiving sacrifice by the victor.
The supreme moment
of the triumph is the moment of sacrifice.
Just prior to the
sacrifice of the bull or in a few cases simultaneous with the sacrifice, the
triumphator was offered a cup of wine for him to drink.
It was a Roman
custom that the triumphator would refuse to drink the wine and then pour it on
the altar or on the sacrificial animal itself.
It is the blood of
the triumphator.
Paul is a
triumphator and his death is the crucial moment of triumph.
He is ready to be
offered as a drink offering like a triumphator.
His death is not a
sympathetic tragedy, but a triumph.
And the gentile
nations understood the message of Paul.
My departure is at hand
The Greek word for
departure is the noun ‘analusis’ means to loosen again or to undo.
It is applied to
the act of unloosing or casting off the fastenings of a ship, preparatory to a
departure.
The proper idea in
the use of the word would be that he had been bound to the present world, like
a ship to its moorings, and that death would be a release.
He would now
spread his sails on the broad ocean of eternity.
It is also the
word for unyoking an animal from the shafts of the cart or the plough.
Death to Paul was
rest from toil.
Again it is the word for loosening the ropes of
a tent.
For Paul it was time to shift the camp again.
He was setting out on his last and greatest
journey; he was taking the road that led to God.
Conclusion
Let me conclude this
short study here.
For Paul his death is not
a sympathetic tragedy; it is a triumphant end of his long fight of faith.
He is not going to be
forgotten as a loser, but will be rewarded as a triumphator.
Paul is speaking not only for himself, but for
Christian believers.
The crown is for the winner, not only for him
but for all who finish the race faithfully.
The joy of Paul is open to every man who also
fights the fight; finishes the race and keeps the faith.
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