2 Timothy 2:5

The sequence of images here the soldier, the athlete, the field-labourer affords an interesting illustration of repetition due to association of ideas. The soldier and the field-labourer are combined in 1 Corinthians 9:7-10; the athlete appears in 1 Corinthians 9:24 sqq. And the present passage has light thrown upon it from the earlier epistle, in which the various figures are more fully developed.

The connexion between the thought of the soldier and the athlete lies in the word νομίμως (see note on 1 Timothy 1:8); and the exact force of νομίμως will appear from a reference to 1 Corinthians 9:25, “Every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all things”. No one can be said to comply with the rules of the contest who has not undergone the usual preliminary training. One illustration from those cited by Wetstein will suffice, that from Galen, comm. in Hippocr. i. 15: οἱ γυμνασταὶ καὶ οἱ νομίμως ἀθλοῦντες, ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ ἀρίστου τὸν ἄρτον μόνον ἐσθίουσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ δείπνου τὸ κρέας.