Here are some examples of its usage and meaning:

`She ... did cast in all that she had, even all her living' (Mark

`A woman ... spent all her living upon physicians' (Luke 8:43).

`He divided unto them his living' (Luke 15:12).

Biosis gives us `manner of life' (Acts 26:4) and bioo `live', in the

sense of manner of life (1 Pet. 4:2).

Very near to the meaning of the apostle in 2 Timothy 2:4 is the word

biotikos: `And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be

overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life' (Luke

The Athlete.  To pass so easily from the figure of the soldier to that of the

athlete, as is done in 2 Timothy 2:4,5, is a transition quite in harmony with

Paul's thought and teaching.  The classic example of course is Ephesians

6:11,12, where Paul sees no incongruity in speaking of one clad from head to

foot in armour and equipped with sword and shield, as engaged in `wrestling'.

`Strive for mastery' (2 Tim. 25), translates the Greek word athleo.  This

word covered all the public games, such as running, wrestling and boxing, in

which competitors met and struggled for the victor's crown.  In Hebrews 10:32

we have the word athlesis, `a great fight' associated with endurance and

suffering.  As with the figure of the soldier, so again here the apostle

might have chosen for notice many qualities.  He could have referred to the

endurance displayed by

these athletes; he could have repeated what he says in 1 Corinthians 9

concerning their self -discipline and temperance, but these he had already

introduced in connection with the good soldier.  Here he passes on to make

the most important observation that `if a man also strive for masteries, yet

is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully' (2 Tim. 2:5).

It is this point that the apostle wishes to make and which is repeated

in doctrinal terms in verse 12, `if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him;

if we deny Him,

He also will deny us'.  Those who transgressed the laws governing the Greek

games were fined.  Pausanias tells us that, at Olympia, there were six

statues of Jupiter made from fines imposed upon those who had not `contended

lawfully'.  Epictetus speaks of the severe discipline to which the

contestants were subjected, using very similar terms to those which occur in

1 Corinthians 9.  He says:

`You wish to conquer at the Olympic games? so also do I; for it is

honourable: but bethink yourself what this attempt implies, and then

begin the undertaking.  You must submit yourself to a determinate

course; must submit to dietetic discipline; must pursue the established

exercises at fixed hours, in heat and cold; must abstain from all

delicacies in meat and drink; yield yourself unreservedly to the

control of the presiding physicians, and even endure flogging'

(Epictetus, Enchiridion).

The rigorous examination to which the candidates had to submit before

being permitted to enter the contest throws further light upon the meaning of

this rule that contestants must `strive lawfully'.  They had to satisfy their

examiners as to whether they were slaves or freemen, and whether they were

true Greeks.  This was amplified in the public stadium by the herald laying