Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The background to this section are the Greek Games. What is being referred to here?
The Greeks had four sets of games:
- the Isthmian (Corinthian)
- Pythian (Delphic)
- Nemean
- the Olympic.
- The Isthmian Games were celebrated every 5th year to the north of Corinth and were doubtless the games Paul was alluding to in this passage. The highlight of the Isthmian games was the sprint over 125 paces, or 625 feet; it was the space of a furlong, and about the eighth part of a mile. The equivalent of the modern 100 metres. It was a sprint, not a long distance race. The long distance was initially reserved for the Olympics, which incorporated the Marathon (a separate celebration altogether – see Bible Gems 220). But later the different distances began to appear at each games.
- The “Pythian” games were celebrated every four years at Delphi, in Phocis, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where was the seat of the celebrated Delphic oracle. These games were of the same character substantially as those celebrated in other places, and attracted persons not only from other parts of Greece, but from distant countries.
- The Nemean games were celebrated at “Nemaea,” a town of Argolis, and were instituted by the Argives in honor of Archemorus, who died by the bite of a serpent, but were renewed by Hercules, They consisted of horse races and foot races, of boxing, leaping, running, etc. The conqueror was at first rewarded with a crown of olive, afterward of green parsley. They were celebrated every third year.
- The “Olympic” games were celebrated in Olympia, a town of Elis, on the southern bank of the Alphias river, on the western part of the Peloponnesus. They were on many accounts the most celebrated of any games in Greece. They were said to have been instituted by Hercules, who planted a grove called “Altis,” which he dedicated to Jupiter. They were attended not only from all parts of Greece, but, from the most distant countries. These were celebrated every fourth year; and hence, in Grecian chronology, a period of four years was called an Olympiad.
But all the Grecian games were essentially the same. All Games consisted chiefly in leaping, running, throwing the discus, quoits, dart throwing, boxing and wrestling. Sometimes horse racing was included as well. Just the distances of the running race changed.
The prize was held by the president of the game, or judge of the race, and received by the winner, who was judged solely by the president or presiding authority. The winner was the one who triumphed over all sports. The prize was a wreath of olive at the Olympic games; a wreath of apple at Delphi; of pine at the Isthmian; and of parsley at the Nemean games. Whatever the prize was, it was conferred on the successful champion on the last day of the games, and with great celebration, and rejoicing. Everyone thronged to see and congratulate them, lifting them on their shoulders to show them to the crowd, and held them up to the applauses of the onlookers, who strewed handfuls of flowers over them.” On their return home, they rode in a triumphal chariot; the walls of the city were broken down to give them entrance; and in many cities payment was given them out of the public treasury, and they were exempted from taxes. Cicero says that a victory at the Olympic games was not much less honourable than a triumph at Rome.
Epictetus gives us a summary from antiquity of what is took to win the Olympics or any of these games:
“Do you wish to gain the prize at the Olympic games? – Consider the requisite preparations and the consequences: you must observe a strict regimen; must live on food which you dislike; you must abstain from all delicacies; must exercise yourself at the necessary and prescribed times both in heat and in cold; you must drink nothing cooling; take no wine as formerly; in a word, you must put yourself under the directions of a pugilist, as you would under those of a physician, and afterwards enter the lists. Here you may get your arm broken, your foot put out of joint, be obliged to swallow mouthfuls of dust, to receive many stripes, and after all be conquered.”
This statement could equally apply to all four games. Of course it is the Olympics which has gone on to endure until today. Of course the games most in focus for the Corinthians were the Isthmian Games. This was the highlight of their year. Of course having a different interval of time between the games meant there were Grecian games almost every year in some part of the Empire.
The Price Of Success Tomorrow Is The Willingness To Sacrifice Pleasure Today.
Robb Thompson
In Ancient Greek marathons a torch was handed to each runner at the starting line. To win, they had to cross the finishing line with their torch still burning. (What a picture!)
Bob Gass