In 1 Timothy 6.12 Paul says to Timothy: ‘Fight the good fight of faith.’ Is he referring to personal holiness or evangelism? Obviously both, because Timothy received a two-part charge in these epistles, firstly to promote sound doctrine, and secondly to do the work of an evangelist. We are to see both ministries as a battle, and conduct them with great effort.

The language of military action continues in 2 Timothy 2.3-4 – ‘Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.’ We know that Paul is thinking of evangelism as well as preaching to the saints because he immediately speaks of enduring ‘all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus’.

What could be more martial than the picture of Christ in Revelation 6.2: ‘And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.’ Here, surely, is the battle for souls illustrated under the direction and leadership of Christ himself.

The longest warfare passage in the epistles is in Ephesians 6, beginning – ‘Put on the whole armour of God.’ Much of the armour is defensive, and clearly represents the believer’s struggle against temptations, trials, and attacks that are made on the Truth. However, the offensive sword, the Word of God, is also there, and Paul proceeds to appeal for prayer that he may open his mouth boldly to make known the Gospel as ‘an ambassador in bonds’.

We see in Ephesians 6 the fourfold battle of the Christian church: the battle for the Truth (to educate God’s people and to defend the faith); the battle for holiness (‘having on the breastplate of righteousness’); the battle for assurance (‘taking the shield of faith’ to ‘quench all the fiery darts of the wicked’); and the battle for souls (having ‘your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace’). The last of these is certainly not the least, but of prime importance, because it comes first in the great commission given by the Lord. All these activities are described using the language of warfare.

Commendably, the battle for Truth is taken very seriously by most reformed preachers today, because we stand for the Reformation, and for the great 17th-century reformed confessions with their remarkable statements of biblical doctrine. Everywhere reformed pastors seek to teach the doctrines with sincerity and diligence.

The battle for holiness is also urged by numerous reformed preachers. Godly living and the mortification of sin by the power and help of the Spirit is strongly set forth in numerous pulpits. Does not the reformed tradition have its Puritans with their great expertise in presenting the standards and methods of holiness? We are inevitably concerned to promote and apply these.

The battle for assurance received renewed attention from the 1950s, when the notable Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones and others focused minds once again on Satan’s offensive to take away the believer’s joy and peace in believing, and how he should be countered. It is vital that these three aspects of the spiritual warfare continue to receive constant and careful attention, but what about the battle for souls? Without doubt, this is the one which has faltered and failed during our ‘watch’, and so much so that there often appears to be no battle at all.

We know well that there are ministers and workers struggling against the trend, and their labours must be acknowledged, but since the 1950s evangelism has been the weakest theatre of war for reformed churches in Britain. Generally speaking, we no longer thrill to the language of Bishop Ryle, who would speak of attacking the strongholds of Satan to rescue perishing souls, and of hunting the fox of unbelief to its lair. Martial language has become an embarrassment. . . to be continued