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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
14. ἓν δέ. The concentration of purpose makes all thought and action one. Cp. Joh 9:25, ἓν οἶδα, ὅτι τυφλὸς ὤν, κτλ.
ἐπιλανθανόμενος. As to complacency, not as to gratitude.
ἐπεκτεινόμενος. The compound presents the runner as stretching out his head and body towards the goal.—C. Simeon, of Cambridge, says in one of his last letters, alluding to his still abundant toils, “I am so near the goal that I cannot help running with all my might.” St Chrysostom writes here, ὁ δρομεὺς οὐχ ὅσους ἤνυσεν ἀναλογίζεται διαύλους (“laps”), ἀλλʼ ὅσους λείπεται [ἀνύσαι].—“To abound more and more” (1Th 4:1; 1Th 4:10) was St Paul’s ideal of Christian life for others, and above all for himself.
κατὰ σκοπὸν διώκω. “I press on goal-ward.” Cp. 1Co 9:26, οὔτως τρέχω ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως, “as not in the dark”; as with my goal clear in view. The word σκοπός is used in the classics rather of a target than a goal; but the context here is decisive.
εἰς τὸ βραβεῖον. “Unto the prize” (R. V.); εἰς leads the thought up to the attainment itself.
Βραβεῖον. The word occurs (in N.T.) only here and 1Co 9:24, πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον. The word βραβεῖον is late and scarce in classical Greek, though βραβεύς (an umpire, arbiter, and then, more widely, a leader) is familiar in the Tragedians, and βραβεία (an umpire’s office) occurs in Euripides. In patristic Greek βραβεῖον, naturally, is often found. E.g. Clement of Rome (1 Ep. Cor. Php 3:5) writes of St Paul that ὑπομονῆς βραβεῖον ὑπέδειξεν. The word is transliterated in Latin brabeum, brabium, bravium; so in the Lat. Versions here.—The “prize” is “the crown,” “the wreath,” στέφανος, glory everlasting as the issue and triumph of the life of grace. Cp. Rev 2:10, and esp. 2Ti 4:7-8.
On St Paul’s use of athletic metaphors, see Appendix L.
τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως. Vulg., supernæ vocationis.—Cp. Joh 8:23, ἐγὼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω εἰμί: Gal 4:26, ἡ ἅνω Ἱερουσαλήμ: Col 3:1-2, τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε, φρονεῖτε.—The κλῆσις was ἄνω alike in its origin, its influence, and its issue.
κλῆσις τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Καλεῖν, κλῆσις, κλητός, in the Epistles, refer not merely to the external invitations of the Gospel but to the internal attraction and victory of grace. See e.g. 1Co 1:23-24, where the κλητοί are differenced from those who have heard the message of Christ but who find only σκάνδαλον or μωρία in it.—Τοῦ θεοῦ. The Father. He is the ultimate “Caller” (so Rom 8:29, οὓς ἐκάλεσε, κτλ., and cp. Gal 1:15; 2Ti 1:9); and the “call” is ἐν Χρ. Ἰ. as it comes through the Son and leads to union with Him. Cp. for the phrase 1Co 7:22, ὁ ἐν κυρίῳ κληθεὶς δοῦλος, κτλ.
L. ST PAUL’S USE OF ATHLETIC METAPHORS[20]. (CH. Php 2:16, Php 3:14)
[20] Contributed almost entirely by the kindness of Dr J. Armitage Robinson.
IN his constant illustration of the Christian life by the requirements and rewards of the Greek athletic contests, St Paul at once displays his own Hellenic sympathies and appeals to the noblest enthusiasm of the national life of his Greek converts. The Olympian games were closely connected with all that was most precious in the contribution made by Greece to the providential education of the world. Once in every four years the perpetually quarrelling states of the Panhellenic union proclaimed a solemn armistice for a single summer month, and met on the sacred plain of Olympia in a brotherly contest, city against city as well as man against man, for the highest glory that life could offer. Nothing might take precedence of this supreme festival. Even the sending of forces to support the heroes of Thermopylæ[21] must wait till the sacred month was over. Round this centre of Greek life religion, literature and art ranged themselves spontaneously in their most splendid forms. Historians read their histories to the assembled multitudes; poets proclaimed the glories of the successful champions, and sculptors perpetuated their noble forms. Time for the next four years was marked by the name of the victor in the foot-race, who though he carried off but a crown of wild olive returned to his city to receive substantial honours for the remainder of his days.
[21] Herod. VII. 206. The advance force under Leonidas was to be supported πανδημεί by the Spartans after the Carneia, the Spartan festival which coincided with the Olympia; and the other States were purposing the like action: but ἦν κατὰ τὠυτὸ Ὀλυμπιὰς τούτοισι τοῖσι πρήγμασι συμπεσοῦσα.
Something may be usefully noted here as to the training, the testing of candidates, and the actual contest. The training extended over ten months. A strict diet was enforced (ἀναγκοφαγία). The length and severity of this preparatory discipline led to a professionalism which is sharply criticized by several Greek writers. Athletes as such became marked off from ordinary competitors. Euripides[22] denounces the uselessness of the mere athlete’s life, and Galen[23] (cent. 2) its brutalizing tendency. Extreme exertion, even flagellations, inordinate overfeeding, and as a consequence excessive sleep—these were the exaggerations which accompanied the athletics of a baser period. Yet a certain moral witness was given by the necessity of abstinence from unchaste lusts: and the discipline and self-control demanded by these labours were in striking contrast with the lightness and carelessness which characterized so much of the Greek citizen’s life.
[22] In a long fragment of his tragedy of Autolycus (in Athenæus X. p. 413: Dindorf, Poetæ Scenici, Fragmenta).
[23] In his περὶ Ἰατρικῆς κτλ., c. xlvi. (Galeni opp., v. 894, ed. Kühn), and often.
A month before the contest all the candidates were tested by the Hellanodicæ. Every competitor must be able to shew that he was a pure Greek, and that he had undergone the regular training. He must further declare his determination to abide by the customary rules, and take a solemn oath to this effect.
Of the contest itself two forms only need be noticed here. The Foot-race, in the Stadium, was the central event of the Festival; the Olympiad was marked by the name of the winner. The Herald proclaimed:
“Foot by foot
To the foot-line put.”
The starting-rope (ὕσπληξ), the race, the goal, the revel, the hymn—all these are familiar from the splendid verse of Pindar. And it is to this race that St Paul most frequently refers. But the severer contest of the Boxing-match, sometimes even fatal in its issue, also finds a place in his vocabulary of illustration. The Boxer’s hands and arms were furnished with the dangerous cestus of twisted leather loaded with metal[24]. In training the competitors would practise even upon “dummies,” or upon nothing, “striking the air”: but their crushed ears attested more serious and painful preparations[25].
[24] See e. g. Theocritus, Idyll. XXII. 80, and cp. Virg. Æn. v. 400.
[25] Theocr. XXII. 45, δεινὸς ἰδεῖν, σκληραῖσι τεθλασμένος οὔατα πυγμαῖς.
The following passages in St Paul present more or less distinctly athletic metaphors. The passing character of the allusion in some cases serves to shew how familiar, and how instinctive, was the illustration.—The words printed in thicker type recall, often with unmistakable intention, sometimes perhaps half unconsciously, the phraseology of the games.
1Th 2:1-4. αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε, ἀδελφοί, τὴν εἴσοδον ἡμῶν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὅτι οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν ἀλλὰ προπαθόντες καὶ ὑβρισθέντες … ἐν Φιλίπποις ἐπαρρησιασάμεθα … λαλῆσαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς … ἐν πολλῷ ἀγῶνι … καθὼς δεδοκιμάσμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ … οὕτω λαλοῦμεν … ὡς … ἀρέσκοντες … τῷ θεῷ τῷ δοκιμάζοντι τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν.
1Th 2:18-19. ἠθελήσαμεν ἐλθεῖν … ἀλλὰ ἐνέκοψεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς. τίς γὰρ ἡμῶν … στέφανος καυχήσεως; ἠ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς κτλ.;
2Th 3:1. ἵνα ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κυρίου τρέχῃ καὶ δοξάζηται.
Gal 2:2. μή πως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον.
Gal 5:7. ἐτρέχετε καλῶς· τίς ὑμᾶς ἐνέκοψεν;
Php 1:27; Php 1:30. συναθλοῦντες … τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα ἔχοντες.
Php 2:16. οὐκ εἰς κενὸν ἔδραμον οὐδὲ εἰς κενὸν ἐκοπίασα.
Php 3:12; Php 3:14. οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον … διώκω δέ, εἰ καὶ καταλάβω … τὰ μὲν ὀπίσω ἐπιλανθανόμενος τοῖς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος κατὰ σκοπὸν διώκω εἰς τὸ βραβεῖον κτλ.
Col 1:29; Col 2:1. εἰς ὃ καὶ κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος … θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ἡλίκον ἀγῶνα ἔχω κτλ.
Col 2:18. μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω.
Col 3:15. ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ Χριστοῦ βραβευέτω κτλ.
1Ti 4:7-10. γύμναζε σεαυτὸν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν· ἡ γὰρ σωματικὴ γυμνασία πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὠφέλιμος … εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ κοπιῶμεν καὶ ἀγωνιζόμεθα (ita leg.) κτλ.
1Ti 6:11-12. δίωκε δικαιοσύνην … ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα … ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς … ἐνώπιον πολλῶν μαρτύρων.
Cp. Heb 12:1. ἔχοντες περικείμενον ἡμῖν νέφος μαρτύρων, ὄγκον ἀποθέμενοι πάντα … διʼ ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα.
2Ti 2:5. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στεφανοῦται ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ.
2Ti 4:7-8. τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι, τὀν δρόμον τετέλεκα … λοιπὸν ἀπόκειταί μοι ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης στέφανος.
Cp. Act 13:25. ὡς ἐπλήρου ὁ Ἰωάνης τὸν δρόμον. Act 20:24. τελειῶσαι τὸν δρόμον μου.
By far the most elaborate illustration is found in 1Co 9:24-27, where almost every word receives its signification from the Greek games.
Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον; οὕτω τρέχετε ἵνα καταλάβητε. πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος πάντα ἐγκρατεύεται· ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν ἵνα φθαρτὸν στέφανον λάβωσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄφθαρτον. ἐγὼ τοίνυν οὕτω τρέχω, ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως· οὕτω πυκτεύω, ὡς οὐκ ἀέρα δέρων· ἀλλʼ ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγῶ, μήπως ἄλλοις κηρύξας αὐτὸς ἀδόκιμος γένωμαι.
It is interesting to set beside this the splendid appeal on behalf of purity in Plato, Laws, Bk viii. p. 840. After recording instances of famous athletes and their temperance in the period of training, the Athenian stranger says:
“And yet, Cleinias, they were far worse educated in their minds than your and my fellow-citizens, and in their bodies far more lusty.
“Cleinias. No doubt this fact has been often affirmed positively by the ancients of these athletes.
“Ath. And shall they be willing to abstain from what is ordinarily deemed a pleasure for the sake of a victory in wrestling, running, and the like; and our young men be incapable of a similar endurance for the sake of a much nobler victory, which is the noblest of all, as from their youth upwards we will tell them?” (Jowett’s Plato, Vol. v., p. 409.)