"I love the sense of satisfaction that I get when I’ve done a swimming workout or race, and know that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of the swim. It’s the best worship I can offer him."
Athletic terminology of Paul
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1 Corinthians and the athletic terminology of Paul, Keith D Caplet, MA thesis, Western Conservative Baptist Seminary (OR), 1981
The thesis is 50 pages long with 5 pages of bibliography. It is in five chapters:
Introduction
The hermeneutics of figurate language
The background of the athletic metaphor
An analysis of 1 Corinthians 9 and the function of the athletic metaphor
Application to the believer
The basic "thesis" defended here is that many people misunderstand this passage because they take the athletic metaphor out of context. For that reason Caplet devotes most of the thesis to the context.
He analyses the connection between the image and the argument, discusses the use of figurative language in the Bible as well as looking at the Greek athletic context before coming to the passage itself.
He comments: "Verses 24 through 27 now follow as the crowning conclusion to 9:1-23. To separate 24-27 from what precedes is to miss completely the point of the athletic imagery." Page 31
A key message that he takes from the passage is the need to exercise self-control - both as an athlete and as a Christian.