“Fight the Good Fight” is a well-known hymn in other churches but joins “Hymns for Home and Church,” the new global hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with a new tune.
Written by John Monsell in 1860, the text comes from 1 Timothy 6:12, when the apostle Paul wrote to his missionary companion, Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12).
Monsell was an Irish poet and Anglican clergyman who lived from 1811-1875. He was one of the most prolific hymn writers of the 19th century and wrote around 300 hymns, many of which remain in use today.
The Gospel Library’s About the Hymns resource for this hymn explains Monsell “believed ‘worship should be more fervent and joyous, more expressive of real and personal love to God.’ This hymn reflects his ‘most intense longings for closer communion with God.’”
The hymn lyrics invite or even urge the singer or listener to “Fight the good fight,” “lay hold on life,” “run the straight race,” “cast care aside” and “faint not nor fear.”
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has sung it in the past with its previous tune, and it has been included in hymnbooks of other churches.
In 2024, Stephen M. Jones, a member of the Church’s Hymnbook Committee, was looking at the hymn as the committee considered whether a different tune would suit.
When Jones read the line “Christ is the path and Christ the prize” in the second verse, he immediately heard music for this section, which he wrote down. He even marked the date because it felt like a gift, he told the Church News.
“I heard all four voices. I heard the entire thing,” he said. “I heard that and I thought, ‘I wonder what the rest sounds like.’ And shortly thereafter, I finished the rest of it.”
Though several existing tunes were considered, Jones’s music was ultimately chosen. He named the tune “Path and Prize.”
“Those words were so attractive, the poetry of those words — ‘Christ is the path and Christ the prize.’ They exemplify beautiful alliteration, the P and the P. And we are taught so much by President [Russell M.] Nelson and prophets since — President [Dallin H.] Oaks and other Apostles about this path we are on that’s guided by covenants and commandments,” Jones said.
The hymn was added to “Hymns for Home and Church” in the July 2026 release.
1. Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy strength and Christ thy light.
Lay hold on Him, and He shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
2. Run the straight race through God’s good grace;
Lift up thine eyes and seek His face.
Life with its way before us lies;
Christ is the path and Christ the prize.
3. Cast care aside; lean on thy Guide;
His boundless mercy will provide.
Lean, and thy trusting soul shall prove
Christ is thy life and Christ thy love.
4. Faint not, nor fear; His arms are near.
He changeth not, and thou art dear.
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee.
The new hymnbook
Jones, who also wrote new music for “Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus,” which is another hymn in the new hymnbook, has been part of the multiyear process of reviewing the Church’s current hymnbook and “Children’s Songbook,” hymns and songs from the current non-English Church hymnbooks, previously published hymns, existing hymns from other Christian traditions and over 17,000 original submissions.
“I think having a new hymnbook is an opportunity that will bless the Church immensely, beyond words,” Jones said.
He said one blessing is that the hymnbook will unite Church members around the world. When the entire print book is released, everyone will sing from the same page of music with the same numbering. Singing the same hymns “will give us a strength that we can’t now even begin to imagine,” he said.
As Church members learn the new hymns — and take them into their lives, Jones said, so that they become part of the fabric of their testimonies, “I don’t think we can imagine yet the power that the Holy Ghost will bring to us as we sing to the Lord these songs all across the world.”
Jones invited people to lift up their voices and sing the songs, trusting in the promise from the Lord found in Doctrine and Covenants 25:12, which says, “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.”
The Lord has also told His people to “sing a new song,” Jones said (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:98). And Jones said he believes when people sing these new works, they are making an offering to God.
Another goal of the new hymnbook is to increase faith in Jesus Christ.
“I think as we lift up our voices and we think about the chance we have to sing new hymns, it becomes an act of devotion for which we are promised a blessing,” Jones said.
