Agony

Agony renders the Greek agonia, derived from agon — the arena of athletic contest — denoting the intense straining effort of a competitor in a race or wrestling match. In biblical usage the term encompasses both physical anguish and the severe mental and spiritual distress of extreme suffering. Luke 22:44 uses agonia to describe Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane, where his anguish was so acute that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground — one of the most physiologically arresting details in the passion narrative.

Paul employs the athletic sense of the word group in his accounts of his own ministry — striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily (Colossians 1:29) — and in his exhortation to athletic discipline in 1 Corinthians 9:25. The word thus bridges two distinct registers in the New Testament: the unparalleled suffering of Christ in Gethsemane, and the strenuous but purposeful effort of Christian ministry and discipleship modeled on the athlete who competes for an incorruptible crown.