Just before he was martyred, the apostle Paul declared,

I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith.
— 2 Timothy 4:7

So, what does the New Testament show us about the course we have to run in our Christian life?

First of all, in this verse we see it is a real struggle, a “fight,” as Paul says. This means that, if we truly desire to finish our course, we should not expect an easy, peaceful life, but rather, one of struggling and conflict as we follow Christ in our pilgrim journey on the earth.

Second, this verse also shows us that finishing our course involves “keeping the faith.” This means that, through our believing in the Lord, we are faithful to hold on to, and to testify to, the objective revelation of the truths of the Christian faith that we see in the New Testament, just as Paul himself did.

In the next verse Paul goes on:

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall recompense me in that day—and not only me, but also all those who have loved His glorious appearing.
— 2 Timothy 4:8

Here we see that, to boldly claim the “crown of righteousness,” as Paul did, we must complete our course, as Paul did. And that crown is no small thing; rather, it is the reward of reigning with Christ in the coming age of His 1,000 year kingdom upon this present earth.

The writer of Hebrews, as we saw in the previous Note (see “The Course We Have to Run” • 1) also shows us something regarding this course:

Therefore, let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily besets us and run with endurance the race that is set before us.
— Hebrews 12:2

Here we see that this course is not a sprint, but rather, an “endurance” race; in fact, it is a race that will last our entire lifetime.

This verse also strongly affirms that this race, this course, has indeed been “set before us.” We must be very clear, as the believers in Christ, that God has called us to run the Christian race! Paul was clear about this not only at the end of his life, but throughout his entire Christian life (1 Cor. 9:24-27), and we should be clear about it also.

Finally, we can see another crucial point about this course from Paul’s preaching in the book of Acts:

Now as John was completing his course he said, Who do you suppose I am? I am nothing. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.
— Acts 13:25

Here Paul says that John the Baptist finished “his” course. So, the course he had to run was unique to him; it was “his” course. And just as John had his own course to run, and the apostle Paul had his particular course, so every believer in Christ has their own particular course to run and complete in this life.

That is, the path the Lord has prepared for you to run is very different from that which he has assigned to me, or to Paul, or to John the Baptist, or to any other believer in Christ. So, we ourselves must run our own course; no one else can do it for us!

And what a blessing it would be, to be able to declare at the end of our life, as Paul did, that we had “finished our course”! Yet, we will only have that assurance then if we faithfully run the Christian race today and all through our life, just as the apostle did. So again we would say, may the Lord grant us all to be so faithful to run our Christian race and win the crown of reigning with Christ in the coming age!

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—  22 November 2025 —