Apostle Paul a Boxer...

[SeventhValley]

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

English Standard Version (ESV)


24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[a] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.


Seems to me that Paul had some first hand experience in the Ring(well they probably didn't use the squared circle like they do today).


The below from:Ancient Boxing and the Apostle Paul - Joshua L. Mann

Notice the statue (below) resembles a Greek man (curly beard and hair), though it likely originated in the 1st BC. During Roman times, boxing gloves included a metal piece over the knuckles which made for a heavy, brutal glove called a caestus. Missing an opponent was extremely dangerous, but not so bad as receiving a blow. Notice (second pic below) the wounds inflicted on the boxer:

 

[PhillipLaSpino]

Not sure if you have ever boxed, or know about the training a boxer goes through. One of the training methods is called "shadow boxing." The person throws punches into the air pretending there is an imaginary opponent at the end of each punch.

This same thing is alluded to in 1 Cor.14:9, "So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? "For you shall speak into the air."

So, I doubt Paul was a boxer!

Phil LaSpino

 

[SeventhValley]

When shadow boxing you don't throw random punches but ones that hit their (pretend) mark. Maybe that is what he is talking about

 

[SeventhValley]

"I do not run aimlessly"
Rocky Runs Up The Stairs -- ORIGINAL - YouTube

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

I've seen that sculpture in person, the Boxer of Quirinal, in Rome, at the National Museum. The pathos is just heart-wrenching.

As for Paul, I doubt we can know whether or not he was a boxer based on metaphor he uses. I uses military metaphors all the time, but I've never been a member of the armed forces (although I'm very good friends with a number of people who have).

He may have been. He may not have been. At the very least he was familiar with the sport, and lacking modern communications that means he probably attended sporting events where he could see them warming up.

 

[ForJesusChrist]

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

English Standard Version (ESV)


24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[a] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.


Seems to me that Paul had some first hand experience in the Ring(well they probably didn't use the squared circle like they do today).

This is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible.

The message Paul is giving us is basically an analogy between athletes and christians. He is saying that athletes train for years just for races, which yield prizes that are perishable. He then says how his "race" is training his body with the word of God and his reward is that he gets eternal life in heaven with God.

There is actually a whole online church service about these verses, I'll post the link if I can find it.


God Bless

 

[Radagast]

There is no evidence that Paul was a boxer, although he clearly understood boxing and other sports of the time. See New Testament athletic metaphors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia