17
programme, and of each pair of combat-
ants, usually unequally matched, one was
bound to be slain unless the whim of the
presiding magistrate decided otherwise,
and turning his thumb downwards he bade
the victor stay his hand. Moreover, of the
gladiators, the very last to be set forth were
the worst of all, those held to be of no
account.
The Apostle draws a most appropriate
parallel from this custom, when considering
the perils which he encountered in his
unequal combat with the powers that be, and
even his own countrymen. Regarded with
contempt by all men, as were the gladiators
who were generally of servile origin, he and
his brethren were made as the filth and offs-
couring of the world (v:13) and the word here
used signified disused olive oil, after it had
been poured on and scraped off the body to
cleanse it. Their lives were continually in
danger, they were “as it were appointed to
death,” and after providing a spectacle to all
men, their ministry was cut short by the cross
or the executioner’s block.
In the ninth chapter of the same epistle Paul
likens our labours to attain to the Kingdom to
those of the athletes who competed in the
games. The Corinthian brethren would be well
acquainted with the great ‘Isthmian Games’
which were held annually near their city.
Indeed, the majority of them would have been
regular attenders thereat until they knew the
Truth, after which, they would have held
severely aloof, for, in addition to many other
reasons, the fact that games were always held
in honour of some god would have been suffi-
cient to deter them. But once again the
comparison is almost complete:-
“Know ye not that they that run in a race run
all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that
ye may obtain. And every man that striveth
for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown,
but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run,
not as uncertainly: so fight I, not as one that
beateth the air: but I keep under my body,
and bring it into subjection: lest by any means
when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway” (vs 24-27).
The severe discipline of the athlete had to be
undergone in detail, and as Paul wrote to
Timothy (2 Tim. 2:5), “If a man also strive for
masteries (Diaglott, the games) yet is he not
crowned except he strive lawfully.” The
account of the thirty days’ training for the
Ruins of Amphitheatre, Ephesus
~ continued ...
Roman chariot in a fight of gladiators