This 1998 study explores an important passage of Hebrews, which uses the image of an athletic contest and God's fatherly discipline. N. Clayton Croy examines the idea of 'training' which unites the passage, and sets its conception of non-punitive discipline against the background of Jewish and Graeco-Roman traditions.

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 ideas combine to support a call in Hebrews to faithful endurance rather than repentance.