2nd Timothy Chapter 2 verse 5 Holy Bible
And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowded, except he have contended lawfully.
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And if a man takes part in a competition he does not get the crown if he has not kept the rules.
read chapter 2 in BBE
And if also any one contend [in the games], he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully.
read chapter 2 in DARBY
And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
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read chapter 2 in WBT
Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn't crowned unless he has competed by the rules.
read chapter 2 in WEB
and if also any one may strive, he is not crowned, except he may strive lawfully;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - Also a man for a man also, A.V.; contend in the games for strive for masteries, A.V.; he is not for yet is he not, A.V.; have contended for strive, A.V. Contend in the games (ἀθλῇ); only here in the New Testament, and not found in the LXX., but common in classical Greek. It means "to contend for ἄθλον the prize, to be an "athlete." This is also the meaning of the A.V. "strive for masteries." "To strive," means properly to contend with an antagonist, and "mastery" is an old English word for "superiority," "victory," or the like. Dryden has "mastership" in the same sense - "When noble youths for mastership should strive,To quoit, to run, and steeds and chariots drive."(Ovid., 'Met,' bk. 1.) Lawfully (νομίμως, as 1 Timothy 1:8); according to the laws and usages of the games. So Timothy must conform to the laws of the Christian warfare, and not shrink from afflictions, if he would gain the great Christian prize.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) 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 dwellers in the great cities of the empire. An athlete is chosen to represent the professed servant of Christ, one of those who, after long and careful training, contends in the public games, then so popular, so entirely a part of the life of every city--in the games of wrestling or running, or in the chariot-racing, or in the hand-to-hand contests. Again, this one--as in the case of the soldier--if he aspired to victory and success, must "endure hardness."Except he strive lawfully.--"Lawfully"--i.e. according to the prescribed conditions of the contest. He must, of course, submit himself to the strict rules of the theatre where the games are held, and (for this is also included in the "lawfully") must besides--if he hopes for a prize--go through all the long and severe training and discipline necessary before engaging in such a contest. Galen uses the same phrase, in the sense of complying with the recognised rules of training as regarding diet.
