2 Timothy 2:5

b. THE EXAMPLE OF THE ATHLETE

5. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ�.τ.λ., if any man, again, strive. in the games, &c. See the note on 1 Timothy 6:12 for the use of this metaphor in St Paul and in Philo. ἀθλεῖν does not occur elsewhere in the Greek Bible, but it is a classical word and is used by Philo in similar contexts.

οὐ στεφανοῦται. The word only occurs again in N.T. at Hebrews 2:7, but it is sufficiently common elsewhere. See 1 Corinthians 9:25; 2 Timothy 4:8, and notes on 1 Timothy 6:12.

ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως�, unless he strive according to the rules. For νομίμως see on 1 Timothy 1:8. Unless the athlete submit to the rules, whether of preparatory discipline or those by which the actual contest is ordered, he cannot expect the crown. So Epictetus (who taught at Nicopolis about 95 A.D.) speaks of the need of bodily discipline, of eating ‘by rule,’ to him who would conquer in the Olympic games, applying the illustration as St Paul does here (Encheiridion xxix. b).