Praising Athletic Excellence
In the early 20th century, physical culturist Bernarr Macfadden wrote a paean to praise the glory of humanity. His hymn of the gym—titled “Manhood Glorified”—was to be hailed, he said, “with majesty”:
The world resounds, demanding human glory
The cry for health prevails throughout the land
While grovling [sic] through life’s mire
Seeth not the strength, grace and poise
offered to all men.
Thy head hold up and claim thy divine kingship,
For thrones of mighty strength await thee
Claim thine heritage, tingling with pow’r,
And like a roaring lion fight,
For manhood’s great rewards.1
For Macfadden, the glory of human grandeur deserves acclaim, and it is exhibited preeminently in a graceful, manly body.
Macfadden is not alone in his admiration of the human body. Many people experience an aesthetic appreciation for bodies performing excellently. The gracefulness and skill of elite athletes, in particular, captures the attention of spectators, filling them with joy and wonder.2 The aesthetic allure of sports ought not be dismissed as pure ableism. There is something beautiful and praiseworthy about the confluence of discipline, talent, focus, and effort required for athletic excellence. Nevertheless, this is only one kind of bodily excellence, and for Christians it is not the primary one.
A theological understanding of bodily excellence must always keep the purpose of the body in mind. The body does not exist to run fast or lift heavy objects; bodies are meant for love. Christians must remember that God’s delight is not in spectacular human abilities, but in those who fear the Lord (Ps. 147:10-11). This is particularly important for Christian athletes or avid exercisers. While it is possible to glorify God through all kinds of activities—from eating and drinking (1 Cor. 10:31) to throwing balls and running fast—we must acknowledge that glorifying God through impressive athletic feats comes with unique temptations; it requires great humility and virtue. The pursuit of athletic excellence can easily become a justification for pursuing worldly acclaim, and glorifying God for athletes’ abilities can slip into praising (or envying) the athletes themselves.
I do not mean to diminish the value of sports. They are God’s good gifts, and it is fine to celebrate the achievements of elite athletes. I want to suggest, however, that there are three aspects of a biblical conception of strength that Christian athletes must keep in mind if they are to avoid glorying in human strength rather than the strength of God.
1. God’s Strength is Revealed in Human Weakness
One of the temptations for Christian athletes today is to think that God is most glorified by impressive human bodies. But this rests on an anthropocentric rather than a Christocentric understanding of strength. Scripture asserts that those from whom we naturally expect the least (“the weak”) are those through whom God most often displays God’s power.3 The pinnacle of this is the cross, where the power of God to defeat sin, death, and spiritual evil is revealed through a small-town criminal being shamefully executed by worldly powers.
While in athletics, human strength is extolled and weakness is anathematized, in the body of Christ, this is flipped upside down (1 Cor. 1:23—2:16). The Apostle Paul, at least, sees his weaknesses as central to the way in which he is able to participate in Christ’s death and resurrection (2 Cor. 12:7-10). The feebleness of Paul’s body humbles him so that Christ’s power can dwell more abundantly in him (v. 7-9). Moreover, Paul does not merely put up with his weaknesses, he boasts in them (v. 9). “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” he declares (v. 10). Paul’s point is not to valorize weakness in itself, but rather to call attention to the power of God. Strength is good, but it is the strength of the Lord that is to be praised (Ps. 18:1). And God’s strength, mysteriously, is most often revealed in human weakness.4
The counter-intuitive nature of Christian strength does not devalue physical fitness any more than “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25) dismisses the importance of education. Instead, it soberly warns us against adopting worldly conceptions of strength that deny the power of the gospel.
2. Christian Strength is For the Weak
Second, Christian athletes must avoid thinking of strength as a coveted capacity for individuals. Christians are not solitary individuals but belong to the body of Christ. And in the body of Christ, strength is always used for the sake of the weak. This creates space for diversity and difference without envy or competition. “There remains in the body a kind of hierarchy of members,” says Joel Shuman, but it is “a hierarchy rooted in the example of the suffering servant Jesus and displayed in the body’s regard for its weakest members.”5 According to Charles Darwin, the collective fitness of a group is improved when its weakest members are eliminated. Yet, in the Church, the weakest members are not only cared for, but they are also given the greatest honor (1 Cor. 12:22-26.). The purpose of lifting up the weak, according to Paul, is “that there may be no dissension within the body” (v. 25). For him, the Church body is dysfunctional, not when it contains stronger and weaker parts, but when the parts are not in harmony. To the extent that athletic pursuits breed dissension, therefore, they are weakening the body of Christ. While there is value in becoming stronger to better live out one’s vocation as an athlete, such strength must always be situated in the broader context of one’s role in the Church.
3. We Are All Weak
Third and finally, when thinking about strength, we often assume that we are the strong ones. But the reality is: we are all weak. We are creatures, and creatures are vulnerable. If this is not yet apparent, one day it will be. The frailty of our bodies will be disclosed by the stubborn march of time, and when that day comes—if we are not careful—we may regret our misplaced confidence. In Jeremiah 9:23-24, the prophet implores his hearers not to boast in their strength, but in knowing God who acts mercifully. This, I want to suggest, is not an arbitrary injunction but an invitation into life. To trust in one’s own power—whether strength, wealth, or wisdom—is a path to disappointment. If our hope is in physical strength, we are going to be mortified as we age or get injured. But if our hope is in Jesus Christ who has conquered death, we are free to live for God in our strength and our weakness, and to pray with the Psalmist: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:26).
Footnotes
- Bernarr Macfadden, Macfadden’s Encyclopedia (n. 42), cited in James Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness: The History of American Health Reformers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982), 303. Formatting original.
- Gumbrecht suggests that the seven primary elements of sport we praise are as follows: “sculpted bodies; suffering in the face of death; grace; tools that enhance the body’s potential; embodied forms; plays as epiphanies; and good timing.” Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, In Praise of Athletic Beauty (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2006), 151–52.
- Christ manifests his glory through human bodies. “But he does that in a way that confounds all expectations,” notes John Kleinig. “He does not display his glory through their extraordinary, superhuman physical vitality. Rather,he hands them over to death with Jesus in order to manifest the life of Jesus in their bodies.” John Kleinig, Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021), 19.
- It is true that the physical strength of Moses (Deut. 34:7), Joshua (Josh. 14:10-11), and even Jesus (Luke 2:40) are highlighted in Scripture. But the purpose of these passages is to demonstrate God’s favor with them. Reading these verses in canonical context, it is far-fetched to claim they are prooftexts for contemporary strength training.
- Joel James Shuman, The Body of Compassion: Ethics, Medicine, and the Church (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999), 109.
