Are you Wrestling?

Many see the Word of God. . .few observe!

Ephesians 6:12 says:  For jwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against kthe rulers, against the authorities, against lthe cosmic powers over mthis present darkness, against nthe spiritual forces of evil oin the heavenly places. [1]

The key word of focus is wrestle. That translation comes from the following two Greek words:

3588. ὁ ho; fem. hē, neut. tó, def. art. Originally a demonstrative pron. meaning this, that, but in Attic and later usage it became mostly a prepositive art. The.[2]

(note: the number for each Greek New Testament word allows you to trace a word through the many dictionaries and lexicons)

3823. πάλη pálē; gen. pálēs, fem. noun from pállō, (n.f.) to shake, vibrate. A wrestling, struggle or hand–to–hand combat. It was used of the wrestling of athletes and the of the hand–to–hand combat of soldiers both of which required deftness and speed. It denoted the struggle between individual combatants in distinction from an entire military campaign (strateía [4752]). Used figuratively in Eph. 6:12, meaning struggle, combat.

Syn.: agṓn (73), struggle; kópos (2873), toil; móchthos (3449), painfulness, travail; talaipōría (5004), wretchedness; kopetós (2870), lamentation.

Ant.: anápausis (372), inner rest; katápausis (2663), rest or cessation of work; anápsuxis (403), a recovery of breath; ánesis (425), relief; anápsuxis (403), revival.[3]

39.29 ἀγωνίζομαιa; ἀγώνa, ῶνος m; πάλη, ης f: to engage in intense struggle, involving physical or nonphysical force against strong opposition—‘to struggle, to fight.’[4]

I would like to introduce you to my favorite Greek language professor, Kenneth Wuest. Following are direct quotes from his book on Greek word studies.

Wuest says, "When we consider that the

loser in a Greek wrestling contest had his eyes gouged out

with resulting blindness for the rest of his days, we can

form some conception of the Ephesian Greek's reaction to

Paul's illustration. The Christian's wrestling against the

powers of darkness is no less desperate

 

(6:12) In the exhortation to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith,” we have a reference to the Greek athletic games. Paul was educated so far as his Greek training was concerned, at the University of Tarsus, at that time the foremost Greek university in the world, outstripping, according to Strabo, the University of Athens, in its zeal for learning. The great apostle shows a first-hand acquaintance with Greek athletics in his writings, where he frequently uses them as illustrations of spiritual truth, for instance, I Corinthians 9:24–27 and Philippians 3:12. All the churches Paul founded were composed of Greeks. Here he was writing to Timothy, whose father was a Greek. One of the chief activities of Roman life was the Greek games, held all over the empire. It was part of the atmosphere the Romans breathed. When Rome conquered Greece in a military sense, Greece conquered Rome in a cultural one. The word “fight” is agōnizomai (ἀγωνιζομαι). Its cognate noun was used in pagan Greece to refer to the place of a contest, the lists, race course, the assembly at the national games, a struggle, battle. The verb means, “to contend in the athletic games for the prize, to fight.” When we find that the gloves of the Greek boxer were fur lined on the inside, but made on the outside of ox-hide with lead and iron sewed into it, and that the loser in a wrestling match had his eyes gouged out, we come to some appreciation of what a Greek athletic contest consisted of. Thus, the word “fight” (agōnizomai (ἀγωνιζομαι)) had a very definite meaning for Timothy. The verb is present tense, imperative mode, commanding a continuous action. It showed Timothy the necessity for the continuous nature of the Christian’s warfare against evil, and of his desperate effort to live a life pleasing to God. The second use of the word “fight” is agōn (ἀγων), the cognate noun of the verb. Expositors translates, “Engage in the contest.” The word “good” is not agathos (ἀγαθος), referring to intrinsic goodness, but kalos (καλος), speaking of goodness as seen from the outside by a spectator. Paul, writing to Timothy just before his martyrdom, says, “The desperate, straining, agonizing contest, marked by its beauty of technique, I, like a wrestler, have fought to a finish, and at present am resting in its victory” (II Tim. 4:7). The phrase, “marked by its beauty of technique,” refers to the beautiful display of his art which the Greek athlete presents to the thousands in the stadium, and in Paul’s sentence, to the beautiful technique inspired by the Holy Spirit, which he used in gaining victory over sin and in the living of a life pleasing to God. Paul therefore exhorts Timothy, “Be constantly engaging in the contest marked by its beauty of technique.” The word “faith” is preceded by the definite article in the Greek text, “the faith.” It is not “faith” in general as exercised by the Christian, to which reference is made here, but to the Faith as consisting of a body of doctrine with its corresponding ethical responsibilities, namely, Christianity and the Christian life. “Lay hold of” is epilambanō (ἐπιλαμβανω), “to seize upon, take possession of.” Thayer, in defining the word, says, “i.e., to struggle to obtain eternal life.” Thus, the act of fighting the good fight is the same act as seen in the words, “lay hold of.” The verb is in the aorist imperative, referring to a single act rather than a process. It refers to the habitual act of fighting the good fight, but takes no note of the process, rather emphasizing the result. Grammarians call it the culminative aorist, viewing the action from its existing results. Now, when Paul exhorts Timothy to lay hold of eternal life, he does not imply that he does not possess it. Timothy was saved, and possessed eternal life as a gift of God. What Paul was desirous of was that Timothy experience more of what this eternal life is in his life. The definite article appears before “life,” marking it out as a particular life which the Scriptures say God gives the believer. The word “profession” is homologeō (ὁμολογεω), made up of legō (λεγω), “to say,” and homos (ὁμος), “the same,” hence, “to say the same thing as another says,” thus, “to agree with what someone else says.” Here it is used of Timothy’s statement of his agreement with the doctrines of Christianity at the occasion of his baptism. “In the early Church, the baptism of a person was a matter in which the Church generally took an interest and a part. The rule in The Didache was, “Before baptism let him that baptizeth and him that is baptized fast, and any others also who are able” (Expositors). This explains the many witnesses who testified to Timothy’s statement of faith in the doctrines of the Church, and his acceptance of them.

Translation. Be constantly engaging in the contest of the Faith, which contest is marked by its beauty of technique. Take possession of the eternal life, into a participation of which you were called and concerning which you gave testimony to your agreement with the good profession in the presence of many witnesses.[5]

Cathy and I have found this struggle can shake our spiritual foundation. All that Satan wants to do is to blind our spiritual eyes. Maybe that is why Paul refers to our spiritual eyes in chapter one. Hopefully the light will come on for each of us and our spiritual eyes will be enlightened.

We pray that this short study causes you to focus more on the battle you face now. Our spiritual battle is desperate and costly if we take a passive stance to what we face. We wish God’s deepest and richest blessings on your daily walk with Him.

Cathy and Danny Sartin

Deeper Still Missions

Copyright © Danny Sartin and Deeper Still Missions. All Rights Reserved.

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j See 1 Cor. 9:25


k ch. 1:21


l See ch. 2:2


m Luke 22:53; Col. 1:13


n [ch. 3:10]


o See ch. 1:3


[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Eph 6:12). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.


fem (feminine)


def (definite)


pron (pronoun)


[2] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.


gen (genitive)


[3] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.


m masculine


f feminine


[4] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Vol. 1: Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (495). New York: United Bible Societies.


[5] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (1 Ti 6:11–12). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.