Klitschko vs. Byrd

The fight was actually a week or two ago but I missed it. Ah, the miracle of not reading any news about it and having HBO on Demand is that yesterday the fight showed up on the sports list and, since I had no idea of the outcome, it was like having a championship fight staged at my convenience. So, rather than watching the Big Love episode I didn’t watch Sunday, I curled up yesterday evening with a heavyweight fight from Mannheim Germany.

Unfortunately I got sidetracked by what the heck Byrd had written on the back of his trunk waistband. Given that Chris Byrd seems to be a demonstrably religious Christian, I figured it was a biblical reference. After a round or two I finally figured out it was “Phil 4:13” which, I assume, stands for Philippians 4:13.

In the KJV Philippians 4:13 is translated as:

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Which is, to say the least, a bit of an awkward sentence. Assuming “strengtheneth” means the same thing as “strengthens,” the sentence actually says that it’s doing “all things through Christ” which strengthens. The NKJV changes it to:

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now it becomes not doing “all things,” but Christ who does the strengthening which seems to make a bit more sense. The NIV offers:

Phil 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Now any mention of Cristos disappears. Clearly one of those passages that are slightly different in different manuscripts and that give translators fits. On the positive side, at least Philippians is generally agreed to be an epistle actually written by Paul as opposed to Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians and the Pastorals which are generally accepted by scholars not to have been written by Paul. Apparently pseudononimous writings, in which a famous person’s name is attached as author in order to give the writing acceptability, weren’t that unusual back in the 1st and 2nd century. Let’s see now, what would we call that today? Oh yeah, that’s right, we’d call it lying.

Considering that Wladimir cleaned Byrd’s clock and put him out in round 7, I guess it’s all sort of academic. Maybe you could try praying harder next time Chris? It won’t help, but you could try.