Engaging in the Noble War

This past April, a new English version of Marin Barleti’s book on Gjergj Castriot (1405-1468) was published. Originally written in 1504 and translated into English in 1596, it was the first biography of the national hero of the Albanians, Skanderbeg. Now, the remarkable story of the brave and noble Castriot is available for modern readers.

Castriot, more well-known as Skanderbeg, is remembered for halting the forward progress of the Ottoman Muslims into Europe. In fact, in nearly every major European city or capital, one will find a statute or monument to him. He mobilized Albanian Christians to rebuff the onslaught of the great Mehmet the Conqueror. Were it not for Castriot’s valiancy, Rome and all of Europe would have fallen to the Ottomans.

Castriot put everything on the line and fought with ferocious energy because he knew what was at stake. He fought for the continued existence of his people and their territories. However, on a grander level, he was defending (pre-Reformation)western society.

He did what very few have been able to do in Albania: he unified the people for a cause much greater than their own individual aspirations. He unified them in a most noble cause: their survival and that of Western Christendom.

Can I ask you, what is your bigger purpose? Do you have a noble cause? Consider Paul's admonition to his son in the faith in 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith.” In those immortal words, we see four characteristics of the noble war of the faith.

First, it is for all men of God. This command from Paul is a continuation of the admonition in verse 11. It is for Timothy in particular and for all men of God in general.

Second, we see it is to be a continual agonizing battle. Paul’s command is a word of incredible power and insight, the Greek word agonitzo from which we get the word to agonize. The noun is agon from which comes agony. Paulis commands Timothy and every man of God to agonize, to strive, to faith, or to contend. Not only that, but it is also a continual command… not a one-time-only thing. This is what it means to fight or to strive. Once in the NT, this word is used to speak of striving as in an athletic contest, otherwise, every other time that Paul uses it, it speaks of fighting or striving hard. It is a full-on, undistracted engagement focused on winning. When Castriot and his men went out to battle, did they go out for fun? In baseball, if your team loses, it is not a big deal… they can still play another game tomorrow. Not in war. That is why the word is agonizing. It is for all men of God, a continual agonizing battle, and…

Third, it is a noble war. Again, interestingly, the noun form of the verb is used here! Literally, Paul says, agonize the good agony. And nearly every time this noun is used in the Bible, it always means fight or conflict. I believe in this context, it is best understood as war. And Paul calls it a good war. This word for good here means “good in a moral or virtuous sense.” Not all wars are good and noble. Few are. Paul is not saying to engage in just any conflict or war. He is saying to engage in the noble and good war. How can that be? Because…

Fourth, it is the noble war for Christian truth. Literally, it is the war of the faith. Grammar matters. There is a definite article in the Greek text. It is the war of the faith of Christianity. This means it is the war for Christian truth. Paul did not say, the good war of your faith, or the good war of faith. It is not yours… which is subjective and could change. It is not the good war of"faith," which could be any sort of faith. It is the noble war for the faith of Christianity. This noble war is for the faith of Christianity. It is for the truth of Christianity. And we are in a great spiritual battle! In other words, this fight or struggle of the faith is good and noble, and it should be our continual and primary preoccupation.

For Castriot, it was physical. For us, however, it is never physical. It is always personal and spiritual. The weapons of our battle are the word of God and prayer (2 Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12). Today many are engaged in various struggles and battles. On campuses in the USA and in many lands, there are protests (with violence) against Israel. In addition, we have now come to clearly see the great battle between the administrative state and the people. On behalf of the latter, many are engaged in this worthwhile struggle. For you and me, the most noble cause is the war of the faith.

Practically, how should we be engaged? What does it look like for us? It means we are engaged and focused on spiritual things. We are to be people of the Book, and we are people of much prayer. We are engaged especially in the real battle…intercessory prayer! We are actively appealing to God on behalf of others in our lives. We are then also sharing the truth about Jesus with them. We are not obnoxious about it. We love people, and that love motivates us to find ways to share the truth with them.

Fight on, brothers, fight on!

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