Stephen Hughes wrote:Peter Streitenberger wrote: Ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, (1Tim 6,12) - why is the first imperative in the present tense ... Is it a call to an ongoing fight of faith ...
Taking ἀγωνίζεσθαι as "to fight" or "to compete for" has connotations of somebody wins / somebody loses. Is it in a violent (cf. πάλη) or competative (cf. ἀθλεῖν) (or adversarial - legal) sense here?
Apart from the general meaning of ἐπιλαβεῖν that I'm aware of, is it used with a special sense with say ἆθλον, νίκην or στέφανον?
The term can be used generically of any athletic contest or of simply struggling in general:
ἀγωνίζομαι impf. ἠγωνιζόμην; fut. ἀγωνίσομαι (Just., D. 65, 2) and ἀγωνιοῦμαι (68, 3); 1 aor. ἠγωνισάμην; pf. ἠγώνισμαι (Eur., Hdt.+).
① of a(n athletic) contest, lit. and fig. engage in a contest πᾶς ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος 1 Cor 9:25 (AEhrhardt, ZNW 48, ’57, 101–10); cp. 2 Cl 7:1ff.
② gener. to fight, struggle
ⓐ lit., w. weapons (Polyb. 1, 45, 9; Plut., Marcell. 303 [10, 4]; 2 Macc 8:16) ἠγωνίζοντο ἄν, ἵνα μὴ παραδοθῶ J 18:36.
ⓑ fig. of any struggle (περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας Orig., C. Cels. 1, 62, 63) κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος I labor, striving Col 1:29; cp. 1 Ti 4:10. Of wrestling in prayer (ἀ. δὲ διὰ τῶν πρὸς θεὸν εὐχῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίως στρατευομένων Orig., C. Cels. 8, 73, 24) ἀ. ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν Col 4:12 (ἀ. ὑπέρ τινος: Diod S 13, 14, 3; SIG 317, 20; 386, 19; 409, 33; Jos., Ant. 13, 193). ἀ. ἀγῶνα (s. ἀγών 2) 1 Ti 6:12; 2 Ti 4:7 (JBarton, Biblica 40, ’59, 878–84). W. inf. foll. (Thu. 8, 89, 4 ἠγωνίζετο εἷς ἕκαστος αὐτὸς πρῶτος προστάτης τοῦ δήμου γενέσθαι; Diod S 31, 19, 8 ὥστε ὁ πατὴρ ἐξίστασθαι τῆς ὅλης ἀρχῆς ἠγωνίζετο τῷ παιδί; PLond 1338.—ἀγ. simply=‘take pains, exert oneself’: Just., D. 38, 2; 65, 2 al.; Alex. Aphr., Fat. 31, II 2 p. 203, 9; Sb 6997, 9 [III B.C.]) ἀγωνίζεσθε εἰσελθεῖν strain every nerve to enter Lk 13:24; cp. 1 Cl 35:4; B 4:11.—DELG s.v. ἄγω. M-M. TW.
Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Also from MM:
ἀγωνίζομαι 75
is very common in the inscriptions, e.g. Syll 21333 (iii/B.C.) ἀγωνιζόμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς σωτηρίας, where the reference is to warfare. So ib. 16318 (B.C. 318–7) πρ]οείλετο τελευτῆσαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀγ[ωνιζόμεν]ος ὑπὲρ τῆς δημοκρατίας: ib. 1997 (iii/B.C.) and 19819 (B.C. 281) ἀγωνιζόμενος ὑπ[ὲρ αὐτοῦ], etc. Cf. an Athenian inscription of B.C. 268–6, Syll 21410, ἐπειδὴ πρότερομ μὲν Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ οἱ σύμμαχοι οἱ ἑκατέρων φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν κοινὴν ποιησάμενοι πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ καλοὺς ἀγῶνας ἠγωνίσαντο μετʼ ἀλλήλων πρὸς τοὺς καταδουλοῦσθαι τὰς πόλεις ἐπιχειροῦντας. The phrase here hardly differs from 2 Tim 4:7, and when taken along with the preceding inscription makes it decidedly less clear that the figure there is drawn from the games, as Deissmann thinks (LAE, p. 312), illustrating the passage from a ii/A.D. inscription from the theatre at Ephesus—ἠγωνίσατο ἀγῶνας τρεῖς, ἐστέφθη δύω (Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum III. 604). For the rare use of ἀ. with an inf. as in Lk 13:24 ἀγωνίζεσθε εἰσελθεῖν, Field (Notes, p. 66) compares Diod. Sic. X., p. 25, ed. Bip.: ὥστε ὁ μὲν πατὴρ ἐξίστασθαι τῆς ὅλης ἀρχῆς ἠγωνίζετο τῷ παιδί. The verb is MGr.
Moulton, J. H., & Milligan, G. (1930). The vocabulary of the Greek Testament. London: Hodder and Stoughton.