Notes on Sports

Few engaged in activities purely for entertainment. Sports served practical purposes in gathering food or protection. However, some of these activities were done for competition and the winning of a prize.

Competition

  • 1 Corinthians 9:25 "And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown."
  • 2 Timothy 2:5 "And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules."

Boxing

  • 1 Corinthians 9:26 "I box in such a way, as not beating the air" (NASB)
  • 1 Timothy 6:12 "Fight the good fight of faith"
  • 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight"

Exercise

  • I Timothy 4:8 "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."

Fishing

  • Job 41:7 "Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears?"
  • Isaiah 19:8 "The fishermen also will mourn; All those will lament who cast hooks into the River, And they will languish who spread nets on the waters."
  • Ezekiel 47:10 "It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many."
  • Matthew 4:18 "And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen."
  • Mark 1:16 "And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen."
  • Luke 5:1-2 "So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets."

Hunting

  • Genesis 10:9 "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.""
  • Genesis 25:27 "So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field"
  • Proverbs 6:5 "Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler."

Running a Race

  • Acts 20:24 "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."
  • 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty."
  • 2 Timothy 4:7-8 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."
  • Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us"

Wrestling

  • Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
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