ADOKIMOS = disqualified for the prize?
Eric S. Weiss
eweiss at gte.net
Tue Aug 20 10:10:51 EDT 2002
In I Corinthians 9:27, Paul writes: ALLA hUPWPIAZW MOU TO SWMA KAI
DOULAGWGW, MH PWS ALLOIS KHRUXAS AUTOS ADOKIMOS GENWMAI.
The NIV Bible translates ADOKIMOS as "disqualified for the prize." NIV
Study Bible notes here reference I Corinthians 3 related to receiving
rewards, and hence imply or interpret Paul in 9:27 as fearing a loss of
rewards (and that may be why NIV has an "expanded" translation for
ADOKIMOS of "disqualified _for the prize_", rather than simply
"disqualified.").
The New American Bible (Catholic - not New American Standard Bible) study
notes comment that Paul's fear was with respect to salvation.
Without getting into a discussion of whether or not Paul felt his
salvation was in doubt, I would like some help with ADOKIMOS,
specifically: Is/was ADOKIMOS used with reference to a person being
disqualified from an athletic competition or from a judged event or
competition like, e.g., an art show? Moulton-Milligan does not discuss
this word in their lexicon, and some lexicons do give "disqualified" as a
definition (I think with reference to I Corinthians 9:27). I haven't had a
chance to check NIDNTT.
Hence: Is the NIV implication/inference that ADOKIMOS means "disqualified
for the prize" a translation stretch, or can the word in this context,
based on its meaning and usage in Koine and Classical Greek, mean to be
disqualified from a race or competition? Or should the NIV have translated
it simply as "disqualified" or even "worthless/unfit"? The NET Bible has
no textual/lexical comments after 9:15 in this chapter.
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