Gordon Franz
A sport shoe company ran an advertisement during the 1996 Olympics, with the line, “You do not win the silver medal, you lose the gold!” That line caught the essence of Greek athletic competition. The athlete enters the competition with the goal of winning the event, not losing it. The legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, tried to instill this winning attitude in his football players when he said, “Winning is not everything, it is the only thing.”
The epitaph of a boxer named Agathos Daimon found on a funerary monument at Olympia in Greece said:
A funerary monument from Isthmia depicting the various crowns won by the athlete buried here. Isthmia is the site of the Greek Isthmian Games on the Isthmus of Corinth. From 776 BC, the Greeks computed time based on the Olympiad, a period of four years reckoned from one celebration of the Olympic games to the next. The Isthmian Games were held in the second and fourth year of every Olympiad. All of Greece converged on Corinth for the games that were held to honor Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Contests included foot racing, wrestling, boxing, long jumping, discus throwing, javelin hurling, chariot racing, poetry reading and singing. According to inscriptions contemporary with the Apostle Paul, women as well as men competed in these games.
Here he died boxing in the stadium
Having prayed to Zeus for a wreath
or death. Age 35. Farewell.
For this competitor, second place was not an option. He went for the gold and died trying to win it (Milavic 1992:11).
The Apostle Paul described the Christian life in terms of athletic metaphors. His goal was to win the “race” of the Christian life, not to loose it (Phil 3:12–14; 1 Cor 9:24–27; 2 Tim 4:6–8). He died winning the race!
Paul at Corinth
Dr. Luke does not explicitly state why Paul went to Corinth during his second missionary journey (Acts 18). However, the discerning Bible student, knowing the history and geography of the city of Corinth, could surmise three reasons for Paul going to this city. First, Corinth was on the strategic lines of communication. There was the major east-west maritime trade route that went via the Isthmus of Corinth, which was a vital link in trade between Rome and the eastern part of the empire. There were also the north-south land roads that went from the Greek mainland to the Peloponnesus. Many people passed through this area and Corinth would be strategic for the spread of the gospel. The second reason for Paul going to Corinth was that there was a Jewish community in Corinth (Acts 18:4). As a general rule, Paul sought out the Jewish community because he had a desire to reach his kinsmen according to the flesh with the gospel (Rom 1:16; 9:1–5). The third reason was that the Isthmian Games were held during the spring of AD 51 and Paul knew there would be many people from throughout Greece at this event. The games were a golden opportunity to reach many with the gospel. All three reasons for going to Corinth have one common denominator. The Apostle Paul wanted to reach as many people as he could with the gospel.
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The city of Corinth was situated on an isthmus along the major east-west maritime trade route, via the Isthmus of Corinth, linking Rome and the eastern part of the empire. Nero began digging a canal through this isthmus in AD 67. All north-south land routes connecting the Greek mainland to the Peloponnese peninsula to the southwest also passed through the isthmus. The Isthmian Games at Corinth, honoring Poseidon, were one of four major athletic festivals in ancient Greece. Known as the periodos (“circuit”) they included the Pythian Games at Delphi honoring Apollo, the Greek god of beauty, light, healing, music, poetry and prophecy; the games at Nemea honoring Zeus, the Greek god of the heavens; and, oldest of all, the Olympic Games at Olympia also honoring Zeus.
The Isthmian Games
Athletes throughout Greece would converge on the Isthmian Games every two years during the spring. These games were in honor of the Greek god Poseidon (the Roman counterpart was Neptune), the “earthshaking god of the sea.” The most prominent building at Isthmia was a temple dedicated to Poseidon. There were also a stadium, theater and hippodrome used for the athletic competitions. A small structure called the Palaimon was situated near the Poseidon temple. Within this structure, the athlete took an oath to abide by the rules of the Games. If they broke the oath, they were disqualified from the Games.
The athletes would compete in footraces, wrestling, boxing, throwing the discus and javelin, the long jump, chariot racing, poetry reading and singing. (You did not know singing was considered an athletic event, did you?). According to several inscriptions that are contemporary to Paul, women competed in these games as well. The inscriptions mention women winning the 200-meter dash as well as the war-chariot races.
BSpade 17:2 (Spring 2004) p. 59
Ruins of the Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia. The most prominent building at Isthmia was the temple of Poseidon, god of the sea (Roman Neptune), in whose honor the biennial Isthmian Games were held.
Since there were no permanent accommodations at the site, the people stayed in tents in the surrounding fields. Fixing or selling tents would have given ample employment to Paul and his new found colleagues, Aquila and Priscilla, as well as opportunities to share the gospel with those attending the Games (Acts 18:3). Joining him were his co-worker Silvanus and their disciple Timothy (1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:1).
Paul’s Use of Athletic Terminology
Let us examine four passages of Scripture where Paul probably has the Isthmian Games in mind when he penned the words.
“Wrestlers” at Olympia. Jonathan (left) and David (right) Spyralatos pose the same wrestling stance in the gymnasium of Olympia as seen on a modern Greek coin commemorating the 2004 Olympics. Paul used wrestling terminology in Ephesians 6:12.
The first passage is 1 Corinthians 9:24–27. This section introduces the next portion concerning Old Testament examples of believers who were tempted with various sins (10:1–13). Paul encourages them to exercise self- discipline in their Christian life so they will not be disqualified from the race.
Unlike the modern Olympic games where gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the first three places respectively, in the ancient games only the winner received the crown. There was no second place award—winning was everything! Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to run the race of the Christian life to obtain the prize (vs 24). According to Paul, believers are to “compete” by being temperate, or exercising self-control, in their personal behavior (vs 25a). In the Isthmian Games, those who won the competition were awarded a celery crown for the prize. Paul describes it as a “perishable crown,” yet focuses the believer’s attention on the goal of the “heavenly race,” an “imperishable crown” (vs 25b).
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Boxing was one of the contests in both Greek and Roman games. Competing until one of the athletes was either knocked out of signaled for defeat, the contest could go on for hours. Boxers wrapped their knuckles with leather straps, as depicted in this statue from the Vatican Museum. In the Roman games, the wrapping also incorporated lead, iron or even spikes.
The two word pictures that Paul uses in verse 26 are that of a runner who runs focused on the finish line and the boxer who does not shy away from his opponent like a shadow boxer, but rather engages him to the finish. In the Olympics, boxing was the most brutal of events. The boxer wrapped his knuckles with leather straps. In the Roman competition, which the Isthmian games probably followed, the wrapping “incorporated lead, irons and even spikes”! The athletes boxed, sometimes up to four hours, until one competitor was knocked out. Or one boxer “signaled defeat by a raised index finger” (Milavic 1992:14). Boxing was serious and brutal competition. At times, the Christian life could be also (2 Tim 3:12).
Paul goes on to say that he disciplines his body so he will not be disqualified from the Christian “race” (vs 27). Paul is not saying he could loose his salvation. He knew that was eternally secure in the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Tm 1:12; Rom 8:31–39). He was, however, concerned that the Lord would not be able to use him in preaching the gospel to others and that he would suffer the loss of rewards as well as be “ashamed at His coming” at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Cor 3:12–17; 1 Jn 2:28; 2 Tim 2:11–13).
Remains of the Palaimon, a small structure located near the Poseidon Temple at Isthmia. This is where the athletes took an oath to “play by the rules.” Paul might have had this in mind when he penned 2 Timothy 2:5.
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“Bema” (judgment seat) in the Agora (market place) of Corinth. Officials at civil proceedings or public performances sat here. Similar official boxes have been found in Greco-Roman stadiums and theaters. The Apostle Paul was brought before the “bema” and accused of “persuading people to worship God contrary to the Law” (Acts 18:12–17). Every believer will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Cor 3:12–15).
The second athletic passage to examine is 1 Timothy 4:7–8. Paul admonishes Timothy to “exercise yourself to godliness.” He had in mind the gymnasium, which was common in every Greek city, where the athlete would spend time exercising his body in preparation for the upcoming games. The priority for the Christian should be on exercising the “spiritual life” before the “physical life.” Paul is not against exercising one’s body because he points out there is some temporal benefits for it. However, exercising the spiritual life should be a priority because it has both temporal and eternal consequences.
The third passage is 2 Timothy 2:5. Paul states, “If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (NKJV). Most likely Paul had in mind the oaths that the athletes took in the underground cave of the Palaimon. Here, the athletes swore that they would follow the rules in their training as well as not cheat in order to win the Isthmian crown. In the Christian “race,” we must follow the rules as well. In order to know what the rules are, one must know the “Rule Book,” the Word of God. It behooves the believer in the Lord Jesus to read, study and apply the Word of God to his/her life.
The final passage, 2 Timothy 4:6–8, was penned by Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome awaiting his execution in June of AD 67. One of the archaeologists that excavated at Isthmia described Paul’s words here in this way:
The words in Greek have a more distinctly athletic flavor. To bring this out the passage might be rendered: “I have competed in the good athletic games; I have finished the foot race, I have kept the pledge (i.e. to compete honestly, with reference to the athletic oath). What remains to me is to receive the crown of righteousness, which has been put aside for me; it will be awarded to me by the Lord, the just umpire, on that day” (an allusion to the last day of the games when, presumably, the prizes were handed out to the winners) (Broneer 1962:31, footnote 23).
It is interesting that Paul brings up the same two word pictures that he uses in 1 Corinthians 9, the boxer and runner, when he describes his disciplined Christian life. Now at the end of his life, the discipline had paid off. He is a winner and the fear of being disqualified is behind him.
Paul addressed this passage to his disciple Timothy who had spent time with him in Corinth during his second missionary journey. He instructed Timothy to go to (Alexandria) Troas and bring his winter garments and books that he left in the care of Carpus (2 Tm 4:13, 21). Paul apparently had left them in Troas during his fourth missionary journey on his way to Nicopolis where he was eventually arrested and taken to Rome (Ti 3:12).
At this point, permit me to use my “sanctified imagination.” On his journey from Troas to Nicopolis, Paul stopped in Corinth to meet the believers. While there, he may well have heard of Emperor Nero’s performance in the singing competition, or actually saw it himself. Emperor Nero was visiting Corinth in order to inaugurate the beginning of the Isthmian canal project. While there, he wanted to compete in the Isthmian Games, so the people accommodated him by changing the date of the event to the fall of AD 66.
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Head of Nero as Nero, on a bronze coin minted in Rome AD 64–66. Nero blamed Christians for the fire that ravaged Rome in AD 64. This initiated persecutions against the Christians by Roman authorities that lasted until the fourth century.
Suetonius, a Roman historian, wrote about Nero’s singing exploits in Greece in his Lives of the Caesars, Nero. He described Nero’s voice as “weak and husky” (Nero 20:1; Loeb Classical Library 2:115) and even commented that one of Nero’s generals, probably tongue-in-cheek, called it a “divine voice” (Nero 21:1; Loeb Classical Library 2:117). The singing competition did not involve just one song, but a whole oratorio usually lasting several hours. Suetonius describes some humorous events that transpired while Nero sang:
While he was singing no one was allowed to leave the theatre even for the most urgent reasons. And so it is said that some women gave birth to children there, while many who were worn out with listening and applauding, secretly leaped from the walls, since the gates at the entrance were closed, or feigned death and were carried out as if for burial (Nero 23:2; Loeb Classical Library 2:123).
This is hardly a description of a prize-winning performance! Yet Nero won almost all the contests he entered. How did he do it?
There were four ways Nero could win the singing competition. First, he could win on his own merits because he had an excellent voice. Suetonius put the lie to that. Second, he could bribe his competition to “throw” the contest. Some of them did take the money Nero offered (Nero 23:2; Loeb Classical Library 2:123). One greedy competitor thought he could take advantage of this and asked for 10 talents (of gold?). Nero thought this was extortion so he reverted to his third option, which was to send his thugs out to intimidate this competitor. Needless to say, he was convinced to drop out of the event! The final way for him to win was to bribe the judges. That Nero did very effectively by offering the judges Roman citizenship and a large sum of money (Nero 23:3; 24:2; Loeb Classical Library 2:123–27)!
I believe Paul was aware of what transpired at Isthmia and used this as the backdrop for his final words to Timothy:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who love His appearing (2 Tm 4:7–8, NKJV).
The Apostle Paul knew he had played by the rules and that he had won the race. The Lord Jesus, the righteous Judge, would reward him for his victory. This was a marked contrast with Nero who did not play by the rules and had bribed the unrighteous judges!
Perhaps Paul stopped at the office of the Agonothetes, the president of the Isthmian Games, at the southern side of the Agora of Corinth. He would have noticed the athletic scene on the mosaic floor. In the midst of the circular panel an athlete stood wearing a leafy crown and holding a palm branch, and giving thanks to the seated Eutychia, the goddess of good fortune, for his recent victory. Paul probably chuckled when he wrote Timothy because his crown came from the Lord Jesus, not Eutychia (2 Tm 4:8), and it was to Him he gave all the glory for the strength to stand firm in the conflict (2 Tm 4:18).
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Remains of the theater of Isthmia where Nero “won” the singing competition in the fall of AD 66.
Paul’s Outreach Strategy
There are at least three lessons that can be gleaned from Paul’s visit to the Isthmian Games. The first is that he went where the people were. There are some Christians who have expressed concerns about Christians going to athletic events, especially the Olympics, because of the commercialism and the pagan New Age influence. Yet this is nothing new. Paul had Poseidon and commercialism to contend with at the Isthmian Games. It would be helpful to keep in mind, however, that Paul did not go to the Isthmian Games to worship Poseidon; he went to witness to people!
Second, when Paul communicated with the people in his epistles, he used familiar illustrations. His epistles are peppered with athletic terminology (Sauer 1956:30–67). The teacher of the Word of God should know his audience and use word-pictures from everyday life that are familiar to them.
Third, Paul was not a “Lone Ranger” missionary when he engaged in mission work. He always did his outreach with others. His co-worker was Silvanus, with whom he discipled Timothy and others (2 Tm 2:1–2). He was also able to work side by side with transplanted “locals,” Aquila and Priscilla.
(A variation of this article appeared in Missions, October 2000, pages 11–14.)
Bibliography
Broneer, Oscar
1962 The Apostle Paul and the Isthmian Games. Biblical Archaeologist 25:2–31.
Milavic, A.
1992 Ancient Olympia: The Place, The Games. The Celator 6.7:6–16.
Rolfe, John C., trans.
1992 Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Nero 2. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Sauer, Erich
1956 In the Arena of Faith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
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Contributing Authors
Paul J. Ray, Jr., is Archaeological Publications Director at the Institute of Archaeology at Andrews University, Berrien Springs MI and editor of the Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin and the Horn Archaeological Museum Newsletter. He is author of Tell Hesban and Vicinity in the Iron Age (2001), as well as numerous scholarly articles.
Bryant G. Wood is director of ABR and director of ABR’s excavation at Khirbet el-Maqatir. Well known for his research on the Israelite Conquest of Canaan, Dr. Wood has lectured and written extensively on this subject.
Gordon Franz is a staff member of ABR and Bible teacher who has engaged in extensive archaeological research in Israel and the Mediterranean World. He is a former field trip instructor at the Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem and presently team-teaches the Talbot School of Theology’s Bible Lands program.
Charles F. Aling, Ph. D., is currently the Chair of the History Department at Northwestern College, St. Paul MN. Dr. Aling is also the president of the Institute for Biblical Archaeology and is the author of Egypt and Bible History.
Bible And Spade 17:3 (Summer 2004)