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the endurance displayed by these athletes; he could have repeated what he says in
I Cor. 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" (II 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 reign with
Him; if we deny Him, He will also 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 I Cor. 9: He says,
"You wish to conquer at the Olympic games? so also do I; for I 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 yourselves 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 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 I Cor. 9: 24-27, where the race, the prize, the
crown, the discipline, are all emphasized. In the concluding sentence Paul 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 I Cor. 9:, he expresses
the thought that he may not even pass the entrance examination. In Phil. 3: he has got
as far as to be in the running, but has neither "apprehended" nor reached his goal, and not
until he pens the last of his epistles can he say, "I have finished my course . . . . .
henceforth a crown" (II Tim. 4: 7, 8).
The time to deal more fully with this subject will be when we come to the central
members of II Timothy where the key words are dokimos, ("approved") and adokimos
("disapproved").
Meantime we must still refrain from any attempt to apply the teaching of the passage
to the believer, and must also make one more survey in order to embrace the threefold
figure used by the Apostle in this passage.