Greek word · G1864
ἐπαγωνίζομαι
epagōnizomai
to contend
A compound of agōnizomai, "to compete in a contest, struggle, fight," which comes from agōn, the athletic games, a lawsuit, or a battle. The prefix epi- adds "for, on behalf of" (some take it as "in addition"). The resulting sense is to exert yourself strenuously in a struggle for something.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
ἐπ-αγωνίζομαι depon.;
1. to contend with (Plut.).
2. to contend for (C.I., 2335, 19): with dative of thing(s), Jude 1:3.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
A compound of agōnizomai, "to compete in a contest, struggle, fight," which comes from agōn, the athletic games, a lawsuit, or a battle. The prefix epi- adds "for, on behalf of" (some take it as "in addition"). The resulting sense is to exert yourself strenuously in a struggle for something. The whole word family carries the idea of costly, sustained effort: the athlete's training and straining, the soldier's fight, the martyr's endurance.
- Against the English
KJV, ESV, WEB and BSB have "(earnestly) contend." YLT's "agonize" brings out the root but not the sense. NLT's "defend" turns it into a defensive, argument-shaped picture. In everyday modern English, "contend" leans toward arguing or debating ("I contend that…"). The Greek picture is effort and struggle, not argument.
- How it drifted
In modern English "contend" is mostly a verb for claiming or arguing. The line has also become a slogan for doctrinal debate and apologetics, so the athletic, endurance sense of the agōn word family has faded.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The compound is rare: it appears only here in the New Testament and not in the Septuagint. The agōn family is common in Jewish and Christian writing of the period. Sirach 4:28 (LXX) says "strive [agōnisai] for the truth to the death." 4 Maccabees (e.g., 17:11–16) presents the martyrs as athletes in a divine contest. Paul uses the imagery in 1 Tim 6:12 ("fight the good fight [agōn] of the faith") and the very close Phil 1:27 ("striving side by side for the faith of the gospel"). Outside the Bible the compound appears in Plutarch with the sense of fighting on or contending further (BDAG).
Where it appears
Jude · 1
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Jude 1:3 ἐπαγωνίζεσθαι to contend earnestly
Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
Here: Built on agōn, the athletic contest, with the prefix epi-, "for, upon." It means to put strenuous effort into a struggle on behalf of something. The present tense presents it as an ongoing effort, and the dative case marks what the struggle is for: "the faith."
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.