ADOKIMOS = disqualified for the prize?
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Aug 20 10:30:25 EDT 2002
At 10:10 AM -0400 8/20/02, Eric S. Weiss wrote:
>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.
ADOKIMOS is defined by BDAG as "'not standing the test', then unqualified,
worthless, base"; that can be extended in several directions but I think
one ought to be careful (more careful than the NIV translators have been)
not to express the sense more specifically than the context clearly
intends. In VERY colloquial (American) English, the fundamental sense of
the word seems to me to be "not up to snuff."
L&N:
65.13 ADOKIMOSb, ON: pertaining to having been proven worthless - 'of no
value, valueless, worth nothing.' EKFEROUSA DE AKANQAS KAI TRIBOLOUS
ADOKIMOS KAI KATARAS EGGUS 'if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth
nothing and close to being cursed' He 6:8.
88.111 ADOKIMOSa, ON; ATOPOSa, ON: pertaining to not being in accordance
with what is right, appropriate, or fitting - 'not fitting, what should not
be done, bad.'
ADOKIMOSa: PAREDWKEN AUTOUS hO QEOS EIS ADOKIMON NOUN, POIEIN TA MH
KAQHKONTA 'God has given them over to corrupted minds so that they do the
things they should not do' Ro 1:28.
ATOPOSa: hOUTOS DE OUDEN ATOPON EPRAXEN 'but he has done nothing bad' Lk 23:41.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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