The Value of Bodily Training in 1 Timothy 4:8

Abstract This article revisits the translation and exegesis of 1 Tim 4:8, a verse that may be said to contain the single explicit comment on the value of athletics in the New Testament. With an eye on the practical theological horizon of sport in the contemporary Christian life, the article particularly asks whether or not the verse—as is often suggested—takes a critical, polemical, or dismissive stance toward bodily training. By clarifying the translation of the Greek text and then attending to ancient hygienic assumptions about γυμνασία (i.e., bodily training), an alternative reading of the verse is suggested. Rather than an obstacle for practitioners integrating Christianity and sport, 1 Tim 4:8 emerges as a text which offers potential biblical grounding for this nexus.