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Robertson's Word Pictures of the NT

2 Timothy 2:5

If also a man contend in the games

(εαν δε κα αθλη τις). Condition of third class with present (linear) active subjunctive of αθλεω, old and common verb (from αθλος, a contest), only this verse in N.T., but συναθλεω in Philippians 1:27. Note sharp distinction between αθλη (present subjunctive, engage in a contest in general) and αθληση (first aorist active subjunctive, engage in a particular contest). Not "except he have contended," but simply "unless he contend" (in any given case) "lawfully" (νομιμως). Old adverb, agreeably to the law, in N.T. only here and 1 Timothy 1:8.Is not crowned

(ου στεφανουτα). Present passive indicative of στεφανοω, old verb (from στεφανος, crown), in N.T. only here and Hebrews 2:7; Hebrews 2:9. One apodosis for two protases. The victor in the athletic contests was crowned with a garland.

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See also 2 Timothy 2:5 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 5. _IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES_] εαν δε και αθλη τις. _If a man contend in the public games_-the Olympic or Isthmian games among the Greeks, so often alluded to and particularly explaine...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    AND IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES - As in the Grecian games. See this favorite illustration of Paul explained in the notes at 1 Corinthians 9:24 ff. YET IS HE NOT CROWNED, EXCEPT HE STRIVE LAWFUL...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    II. FAITH'S CONFLICT AND THE BELIEVER'S PATH CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The apostle's charge (2 Timothy 2:1)_ 2. As soldier and husbandman (2 Timothy 2:3) 3. Identification with Christ (2 Timothy 2:8) 4

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    (_d_) 2 Timothy 2:1. THE APPEAL RENEWED. Thus enriched in his ordination, challenged by Paul's example, and warned by the Asian defection, Timothy, for all his work, must find continual strength in hi...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE CHAIN OF TEACHING (2 Timothy 2:1-2)...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    IF. App-118 A MAN. any one. App-123. ALSO STRIVE. strive also, STRIVE FOR MASTERIES. contend in the games. Greek. _athteo_. Only here. NOT. App-105. CROWNED. Greek. _stephanoo._ Only here and Hebr...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Personal and Ministerial Zeal enforced by Parables from the life of the Soldier, the Athlete and the Farmer The Apostle resumes the main thread of exhortation to Christian courage. After its enforcem...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The three illustrations follow of the soldier, the athlete, the farmer, with the common point of _persevering pains_. They are all familiar to St Paul. That of the soldier has occurred already, 1 Timo...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _And if a man also strive for masteries_ The -also" is placed by R.V. before -a man" instead of after as A.V.; correctly, though awkwardly; as implying not that a man may perhaps beside soldiering als...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    _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 no...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    REPETITION OF CHARGE I. BE STRONG IN CHRIST’S STRENGTH...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΆΘΛΉ _praes. conj. act. от_ ΆΘΛΈΩ (G118) участвовать в состязании. _Conj._ в _conj._ 3 типа, которое предполагает возможность или вероятность условия, ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΫ́ΤΑΙ _praes. ind. pass. от_ ΣΤΕΦΑΝΌΩ (G...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES,— _And if a man combat in the public games, he is not crowned, unless he has observed the rules prescribed._ Heylin. If, in the Grecian games, they contended accordi...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    c. As an athlete 2 Timothy 2:5 _TEXT 2:5_ 5 And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully. _Thought Questions 2:5_ 74. Isn-'t there a rather abrupt...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. AND, [ De (G1161)] - 'Moreover.' STRIVE FOR MASTERIES - in the great national games of Greece. YET IS...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    2 Timothy had been with the apostle in Rome, whence he was probably sent to Philippi (Php_2:19). The most loving and intimate relations existed between them, and Paul continually refers to him as his...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    EXHORTATIONS TO FLRMNESS, UNCONTENTIOUSNESS, AND PERSEVERANCE 1-26. The duties of God's ministers are, (1) to maintain the faith against assailants and seducers (2 Timothy 2:1; 2 Timothy 2:14; 2 Timot...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ENDURE HARDNESS] RV 'suffer hardship with me.' A GOOD SOLDIER] The soldier's virtue is to be shown in resisting, (1) the enemies of the faith, (2) all evil; and with this end in view he will not devot...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    HOW WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER TO DO GOD’S WORK 2 TIMOTHY _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 2 APPEAL TO BE STRONG AND TO SUFFER (2:1-13) V1 You then, my child, be strong with the help of Christ Jesus...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    AND IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES. — More accurately translated, _again, if a man strive in the games._ Another picture is drawn, and the picture is, as before, a well-known one to all the dwelle...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 30 THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE AS MILITARY SERVICE; AS AN ATHLETIC CONTEST; AS HUSBANDRY. - 2 Timothy 2:3 ST. PAUL represents the Christian life and the Christian ministry under a variety of figures...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    The sequence of images here the soldier, the athlete, the field-labourer affords an interesting illustration of repetition due to association of ideas. The soldier and the field-labourer are combined...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    The condition of all success is toil; toil which may involve pain. Think of the price of a soldier's victory, the conditions of an athlete's crown, of a field-labourer's wage. Our Lord Jesus Himself,...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    “A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST JESUS” 2 Timothy 2:1 _ Soldier_, 2 Timothy 2:1: There is grace enough in Jesus for every need, but we must avail ourselves of it. We can expect nothing less than hardship, s...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    In order to fulfil the ideal revealed in the instructions, Timothy was charged to "be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." The apostle employed three figures of speech, the soldier, the...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    DIFFERENT IMAGES OF A MINISTER'S LIFE If Timothy was to pass along the gospel, he would have to be prepared to suffer persecution, self denial and the onslaught of the enemy like a soldier on active d...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (3) And if a man also strive for masteries, [yet] is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. (3) The third admonition: the ministry is similar to a game in which men strive for the victory, and no...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (1) В¶ Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2) And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be ab...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Turning to the SECOND EPISTLE, we find that, although there is the same grand truth of the Saviour God maintained, the state of things had become sensibly worse, and the hour for the apostle's departu...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _SELF-MASTERY_ ‘If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.’ 2 Timothy 2:5 Let me ask you in all earnestness whether you have seriously set before yourself...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    5_And if any one strive _He now speaks of perseverance, that no man may think that he has done enough when he has been engaged in one or two conflicts. He borrows a comparison from wrestlers, not one...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    The truth was the especial treasure committed to him; and he has not only to keep it, as we have seen, but to take care that it was propagated and communicated to others after him, and perhaps still f...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES,.... In the Olympic games, by running, wrestling, leaping, c. YET IS HE NOT CROWNED with a corruptible, fading crown, a crown made of herbs and leaves of trees,...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And if a man also strive for masteries, _yet_ is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. Ver. 5. _Except we strive lawfully_] _Tam circa ciborum quam continentiae ac honestatis rationem, _ saith C...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Thou therefore endure hardness_ Κακοπαθησον, literally, _endure evil;_ that is, expect persecutions and various sufferings, and, by the powerful aids of divine grace, endure them with courage, consta...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    LAWFULLY; according to the laws which, in the Grecian games to which the apostle alluded, governed those who sought the prize....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    ADMONITION TO FAITHFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    AND IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES, YET IS HE NOT CROWNED EXCEPT HE STRIVE AWFULLY....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    If in chapter 1 we have seen the blessedness of God's abiding presence in His beloved saints - whatever may be the human failure everywhere - now in chapter 2, verses 1 to 13, there is a resulting con...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-7 As our trials increase, we need to grow stronger in that which is good; our faith stronger, our resolution stronger, our love to God and Christ stronger. This is opposed to our being strong in ou...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    And look as it is in the public games in use amongst you, where divers strive by wrestling, fighting, racing, where there is a crown proposed as the prize for those who are the conquerors in the game;...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Origen Against Celsus Book VIII For "no one will be crowned," unless here upon earth, with this body of humiliation, "he strive lawfully."[114] Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book II For those...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    2 Timothy 2:5 And G1161 also G2532 if G1437 anyone G5100 athletics G118 (G5725) is G4737 not G3756 crowned...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    2 Timothy 2:5. STRIVE FOR MASTERIES. St. Paul's habitual way of looking at the Christian life led him to pass naturally from the thought of the soldier to that of the athlete. We want some word to exp...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    2 Timothy 1:1. _Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    2 Timothy 2:1. _Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus._ Is an exhortation to every one of us, not only to have grace, but to be strong in it. There are many professor...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Walk of a good soldier of Christ in times of apostasy. CHARACTERS: Christ, Paul, Timothy, David, Hymenaeus, Philetus, Satan. CONCLUSION: Those who have work to do for Christ must stir them...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    2 Timothy 2:1. _Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus._ Be strong in the Lord, and in every virtue. This is chiefly repeated from Ephesians 6:10. 2 Timothy 2:3. _Endure hardness,_ or hardship...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    UNLESS HE OBEYS THE RULES. An example from the games. After the race, those who had disobeyed the rules were disqualified. Compare 1 Corinthians 9:27 and note....

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Not crowned, except he strive lawfully._ LAWFUL STRIVING The athlete who competes in the games does not receive a crown, unless he has contended law fully,_ i.e._, according to rule (νομίμως νόμος...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ 2 Timothy 2:3. ENDURE HARDNESS.—R.V. “Suffer hardship with me.” Compare 2 Timothy 1:8, where the same word occurs. It would seem more consistent to refer the fellowsh...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION 2 TIMOTHY 2:1 _Child _for _son_, A.V.; _strengthened _for _strong, _A.V. BE STRENGTHENED (ἐνδυναμοῦ)_; _more exactly (as Huther), _become strong, _or, which is the same thing, _strengthe...

  • The Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn

    Ver. 5. _But_ (δὲ, introducing a fresh illustration Winer, _Gr_. § 53, 7, _b_; not only so, but there is this further case) _if any one also strive in the games_ another good rendering of Scholfield's...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace (2 Timothy 2:1) You see, it is legalism that is threatening the church. This idea that you can work yourself into divine favor. So "be strong in the gra...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 9:24; 1 Peter 5:4; 2 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:8;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    Strive for masteries [α θ λ η]. N. T. o. o LXX Paul uses ajgwnizesqai (see 1 Corinthians 9:25), which appears also in 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Timothy 6:12;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CHRISTIAN'S TITLES 2 Timothy 2:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We will discuss the seven distinctive names under which Paul addressed his son in the faith. As a prelude to these seven names, it might be h...

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Old Testament