ἀθλέω

From the study of 2 Timothy 2:5

Range of meaning

To compete in an athletic contest (running, wrestling, boxing, the pankration, which was a no-holds-barred fight, and others). By extension it meant to contend or struggle hard, especially in moral philosophy, where the wise man was pictured as an athlete of virtue. Related words: athlētēs 'athlete', athlon 'prize', and the compound synathleō 'contend together' (Phil 1:27; 4:3).

Against the English

KJV's 'strive for masteries' was ordinary 1611 English for competing for a victor's prize, but most readers today cannot follow it. 'Compete' (BSB, WEB, ESV) is accurate. NIV and NASB add 'as an athlete', which spells out what the Greek verb already contains. YLT's bare 'strive' loses the setting of the games.

How it drifted

Only in the KJV, where 'masteries' (contests for superiority) has dropped out of everyday English.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament the verb appears only here, twice. The athletic word family was a favourite of Greek moral writers. Epictetus repeatedly calls the philosopher an athlete in training and pictures God asking for proof of whether one 'competed lawfully' (Discourses 3.10.8, though readers should check the exact wording). Hellenistic Jewish writing applied it to martyrdom: 4 Maccabees 17 calls the martyrs athletes whose prize was incorruption. Early Christian writers continued it: Ignatius tells Polycarp, 'be sober as God's athlete' (Ign. Pol. 2:3).