Secondly, the Christian worker is compared to an athlete. The athletic imagery appears elsewhere in Paul’s letters (see especially 1 Cor 9.24-27).

Athlete translates a verb that means “to be a contestant in competitive games,” “to engage in a contest,” hence “to compete.” The word for crowned appears only here in the Pastoral Letters. (It occurs twice more, in Heb 2.7, 9.) It was customary in ancient times to bestow a crown of leaves or flowers on victorious athletes; the crown therefore is a symbol of victory. An athlete is not crowned may therefore mean that (1) an athlete cannot win in the contest, or (2) an athlete is not acknowledged as victor even though he or she wins the contest.

According to the rules is literally “lawfully,” which is the same word found in 1 Tim 1.8. What these rules are is not specified in the text; perhaps these refer to training regulations, which goes logically with the first option above and that produces the following possible restructuring: “Athletes cannot win in a contest unless they obey the rules of training.” A second possibility is to understand these rules as pertaining to the competition itself, which goes with the second option above and produces a possible restructuring as follows: “Athletes are not crowned as winners even though they win the contest, unless they follow all the contest rules.” This second option seems to be closer to the intention of the verse, since it reiterates the eschatological emphasis that, as we have seen, is a main feature of this letter. Furthermore, this option takes seriously the meaning of athlete, which as previously mentioned is derived from a verb that means “to compete” and therefore focuses on actual competition rather than mere preparation.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Any person who runs (or, competes) in a race against others cannot win unless he (or, he or she) follows (or, obeys) all the rules.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .