1 Timothy 6:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Fight the good fight of faith,— Strive generously for the faith; lay hold upon Christ, lay hold upon God, lay hold on eternal life, &c. St. Paul, Hebrews 13:23 says, that Timothy was set at liberty; whence we may conclude, that he had been put in prison on account of the faith, and, on that occasion, made the profession spoken of in this verse;—and the rather, because the profession of Christ before Pilate is mentioned in the following verse. Doddridge reads, Maintain the good combat of faith; and observes very justly, that these and the following words are plainly agonistical, and refer to the eagerness with which they who contended in the Grecian games, struggled for and laid hold of the crown; and the degree to which the presence of many spectators, or, as the apostle elsewhere speaks, the cloud of witnesses, animated them in their contests for it.