2 Timothy 2:5

And if a man also strive for masteries The -also" is placed by R.V. before -a man" instead of after as A.V.; correctly, though awkwardly; as implying not that a man may perhaps beside soldiering also contend in the games, which is the proper inference from the position of -also" in A.V., but that -there is first the case of a soldier, and there is alsothe case of an athlete." The verb, from which comes our -athlete," occurs here only in N.T., though the substantive in the derived sense of -conflict" occurs in Hebrews 10:32, -a great conflict of sufferings." Render, and if again a man contend in the games. We have had the illustration from the race-course and its -games" in 1 Timothy 6:12, and shall have it again lower down, ch. 2 Timothy 4:7. As Ephesians 6 is the chief soldier's illustration, so 1 Corinthians 9:25 sqq. is the chief athlete's, in St Paul. The foot-race is used very strikingly also, Hebrews 12:1. Cf. Appendix, K.

except he strive lawfully Except he have kept the rules of the contest. -The six statues of Jupiter at Olympia were made from the fines levied on athletes who had not contended lawfully." Pausan. 2 Timothy 2:21. (Bp Wordsworth.) Among the rules of the Olympic games were the following; competitors had to prove to the judges that they were freemen, of pure Hellenic blood, not disfranchised, or convicted of sacrilege, and that they had gone through the ten months" preparatory training; they, their fathers, brothers, and trainers had to take oath that they would be guilty of no misconduct in the contests; and they had then a month's preliminary exercises in the gymnasium at Elis under the superintendence of the judges. The -games" included longer and shorter foot-races for men and for boys, chariot-races, horse-races, wrestling, boxing; the pentathlon, a combination of leaping, flat-racing, discus-throwing, spear-throwing, and wrestling; and the pancration, a union of boxing and wrestling. -Without interruption for upwards of a thousand years the full moon after the summer solstice every fourth year witnessed the celebration of these games. b.c. 776 a.d. 394." Wordsworth, Greece, p. 315.