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	August 2004
		Did St Paul go to the Games? by Alan Dwight
			As excitement mounts for the Olympic Games in Athens this month, some Christians may wonder if Paul was a spectator at the Isthmian Games in AD 51 when he was working in Corinth as a preacher and tentmaker. Some of his tents may have been used for visitors to the Games. These Games were one of the four Pan-Hellenic Games: Olympic, Delphic and Nemean. Athens had the Panathenaea but these were local. The Games were all held in honour of a god, with opening and closing religious ceremonies; competitors sought help from the gods and gave thank-offerings. As a seaport Corinth was notoriously immoral and it is unlikely that Paul would have attended the Games as they were really pagan ceremonies with performances dedicated to Poseidon (Neptune) and as a Jew he would have been shocked to watch nude competitors. One expects that new Christians, possibly with regrets, would not have attended. Celery The Isthmian Games dominated Corinth for five days’ competition and at least a month of preparation beforehand so it is not surprising that Paul’s first (surviving) letter to the Corinthians used the Games to illustrate how Christians must run with diligence to win the eternal crown rather than an impermanent crown of wild celery or, probably in Paul’s time, of pine. (1 Cor. 9:24,25) Paul goes on to use a metaphor from boxing, another event in the Games when leather strips were used to beat an opponent. Paul showed great respect for the body (1 Cor. 6:19) because it is the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s body suffered much punishment for Christ but for him the important thing was not to be disqualified for the prize. Peace The Greek Games were only for freeborn Greek men whereas today’s Games are very different, and hope to ‘further the cause of peace.’ Let’s hope the 2004 Olympics will achieve this. We will never know if Paul was there in 51, but it is interesting to wonder!