Christian Philosophy: A Definition of Games

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What are games? What makes them distinct from other kinds of activities?

To answer our question, we turn to a common passage that's cited when Christians consider sports and games, whatever the context be where this consideration occurs. That passage is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Here, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, compares the Christian life, or the life lived by faith in Christ (Galatians 2:20), with a race, which, in Paul's historical context, would be a sport and game in Roman society. In verse 24, he rhetorically asks the Christians in Corinth if they know not whether all racers in a race run, but one receives the prize. He then exhorts them to run, so that they may obtain. In verse 25, he goes on to point out how every racer strives to control himself in all things in order to win a temporal reward (or, "corruptible crown" in the KJV), but Christians run in the race of the Christian life to win an incorruptible crown. In verse 26, Paul says that he therefore so runs, not uncertainly. He further elaborates by saying that he so fights, not as one beating the air. In verse 27, the apostle concludes by saying that he makes his body submissive, so that, by any means, when he preaches to others, the apostle himself should not be disqualified.

Now, since our purpose here is not, as Paul's was, to make games a metaphor by which to understand the spiritual life, but rather to develop a Bible-based definition of what games are in and of themselves, let's abstract the elements of a game that we've found in our exegesis of 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Those combined elements we'll use to construct a definition of a game. So, establishing that definition will be the purpose of this post.

In verse 24, we have racers running in a race. In other words, we have participants in an activity (whom we'll refer to by the common game-related term "players"). In verse 25, we have the racers striving for self-control to win the race. In other words, we have the players training to win their game. In verse 26, we have Paul, applying the metaphor of the racer to himself, saying that he doesn’t run uncertainly. The word “uncertainly” can mean “without certain aim.” [1] In other words, Paul plays with a goal in mind. Also in verse 26, he says that he fights, but not as one who beats the air. This may be another way of saying that Paul plays with a goal. Finally, in verse 27, Paul concludes this section by saying he makes his body submissive so that he may not be disqualified [2] by any means, though he himself had preached to others. In other words, Paul needs to ensure he doesn’t break any of the rules, otherwise he would be disqualified. So, drawing on all the elements we’ve gotten from this passage, let’s develop our definition. A game is an activity involving multiple participants (i.e. “players”), where the players train to overcome each other in the activity (in other words, win), where the activity is characterized by striving to achieve a certain goal, and where the players need to abide by certain rules or else be disqualified through their rule-breaking. Obviously, this definition is rough, but it’s a start.

[1] https://biblehub.com/greek/84.htm

[2] https://biblehub.com/greek/96.htm