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ministry, is beyond them, and this is one reason why the unsearchable riches of Christ are
so little known and received among God's children today.
Another reason is the difficulty and often isolation of the way that accompanies
faithful witness to this truth. This has been so from the beginning, for Paul now says to
Timothy:
"Suffer hardship with me, as a good solider of Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 2: 3, R.V.).
None of us likes hardship and the temptation is to desert the straight and narrow
pathway of loyalty when we see it coming. The Apostle does not paint this pathway in
rosy colours. Timothy is warned before hand of the cost (compare also 1: 8), and to
emphasize this Paul uses three illustrations (1) the soldier, (2) the athlete, and (3) the
farmer or husbandman.
(1) The good soldier is brought forward first, but it is not fighting qualities or prowess
that are stressed! Indeed the faithful servant of the Lord is told that he `must not fight
(strive A.V.)' (II Tim. 2: 24). Rather it is suffering and endurance and the complete
freedom from all entanglements which was demanded of the Roman soldier. A good
soldier must be prepared to `rough it', to endure hardness and discomfort. Not for him
are the comforts and luxuries of the home. Soldiering must be a full-time occupation
without any distractions:
"No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life: that he may please
him who enrolled him as a soldier" (2: 4, R.V.).
The word bios, life, has a different shade of meaning from zoe the more frequent
word. It is translated `living' in Mark 12: 44; Luke 8: 43; 15: 12. It means
`livelihood' or getting one's living by one's business or daily work. Now there is nothing
wrong in this until it entangles. When this happens it begins to occupy the place of
Christ-directed service and with the result that we are weighed down in the heavenly
race. The earnest runner must be on the alert for this, for weights must be laid aside
(Heb. 12: 1, 2) if we wish to run like the Apostle did and finish our course with joy.
(2) Paul further enforces his point by referring to the athlete in the Olympic Games:
"And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended
lawfully" (2: 5, R.V.).
Many points could have been stressed in connection with the athlete, but the one
brought forward here by the Apostle is the need `to contend lawfully', in other words to
keep the rules. The rules governing the Olympic Games were strict. Athletes had to state
on oath that they had completed ten month's training before they were eligible to enter
the contest.
Any runner who had not done this would have no chance to win and be crowned, but
would also lower the standard of the Games. Severe penalties were imposed on all who
infringed the rules. The application to the believer is clear. Saving grace has placed our