his hand upon the head of the candidate and asking, `can any accuse this man

of any crime?  Is he a robber, or a slave? or wicked or depraved in his

life?'  Finally if the candidate satisfactorily passed this ordeal he was

taken to the altar of Jupiter where he was required to swear that he had gone

through the discipline enjoined, and that he would abstain from every breach

of the laws governing the contest.

Paul makes direct allusion to this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, where the

race, the prize, the crown, the discipline, are all emphasized.  In the

concluding sentence he refers to the office of the herald, and the

possibility, that he, after heralding to others, should himself be

`disapproved' and fail to pass the equivalent of the examination to which we

have referred.  When referring to his own expectations regarding the race,

the crown and the prize, his language is characterized by extreme humility.

Here, in 1 Corinthians 9, he expresses the thought that he may not even pass

the entrance examination.

The Husbandman.  The word so translated is georgos, the origin of our

English name George, and which means `an earth worker', ge meaning `the

earth' and ergo `to work'.  This word establishes another link between 2

Timothy and the epistle of James, for the only other occurrence of georgos in

the epistles is in James:

`Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,

and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter

rain' (Jas. 5:7).

Here, as in 2 Timothy 2, patient waiting is associated with harvest.

The English `husbandman' is derived from hus (old English) a house, and bondi

(old Norse) to dwell, and so does not originally mean a married man, but a

peasant owning his own house and land; a freeholder, or yeoman.  One

occurrence of the verb georgeomai is found in Hebrews, and there the use of

the word transfers the teaching of 2 Timothy 2 from the husbandman himself to

the field that he cultivates.

`For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and

bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed (georgeitai),

receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briars

is rejected (adokimos, "castaway", 1 Cor. 9:27, see note above), and is

nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned' (Heb. 6:7,8).

The next verse shows that salvation is not in view here but `things

that accompany salvation'.  In like manner, the `reigning' or the `denying'

of 2 Timothy 2:12,13 has not to do with salvation itself, but the added glory

that may go with it.  Yet once more, georgion, `husbandry', occurs in 1

Corinthians 3, a passage dealing, not with salvation but service; not with

foundation but superstructure; not with the possibility of `being lost' but

with the possibility of `suffering loss', while at the same time `being saved

as through fire'.

There are some who would refer the word `first' in 2 Timothy 2:6 to the

verb `toiling' rather than to the verb `partaking'.  It is a truth,

certainly, that the husbandman must toil first before he can partake of the

fruits, but it seems fairly certain that the meaning of the apostle here, is

that, after having toiled, he ought to be `a first -partaker' of the fruits.

(See The Companion Bible).  Wordsworth's note is: