Hebrews 12:1-13 portrays the suffering of its readers with two images: an athletic contest, and God's fatherly discipline. N. Clayton Croy places this important passage in the context of Jewish and Greco-Roman traditions. He argues that the idea of training unites the passage, which presents Jesus as the supreme athlete. It also supports a nonpunitive understanding of discipline, in which God's children undergo a positive process of education. These...