1 Corinthians 9:24

In these verses the apostle hints at the great encouragement he had to act in this manner. He had a glorious prize, an incorruptible crown, in view. Upon this head he compares himself to the racers and combatants in the Isthmian games, an allusion well known to the Corinthians, because they were celebrated in their neighbourhood: "Know you not that those who run in a race run all, but one obtaineth the prize? Co1 9:24. All run at your games, but only one gets the race and wins the crown." And here,

I. He excites them to their duty: "So run that you may obtain. It is quite otherwise in the Christian race than in your races; only one wins the prize in them. You may all run so as to obtain. You have great encouragement, therefore, to persist constantly, and diligently, and vigorously, in your course. There is room for all to get the prize. You cannot fail if you run well. Yet there should be a noble emulation; you should endeavour to outdo one another. And it is a glorious contest who shall get first to heaven, or have the best rewards in that blessed world. I make it my endeavour to run; so do you, as you see me go before you." Note, It is the duty of Christians to follow their ministers closely in the chase of eternal glory, and the honour and duty of ministers to lead them in the way.

II. He directs them in their course, by setting more fully to view his own example, still carrying on the allusion. 1. Those that ran in their games were kept to a set diet: "Every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things, Co1 9:23. The fighters and wrestlers in your exercises are kept to strict diet and discipline; nay, they keep themselves to it. They do not indulge themselves, but restrain themselves from the food they eat and so from the liberties they use on other occasions. And should not Christians much more abridge themselves of their liberty, for so glorious an end as winning the race, and obtaining the prize set before them? They used a very spare diet, and course food, and denied themselves much, to prepare for their race and combat; so do I; so should you, after my example. It is hard if, for the heavenly crown, you cannot abstain from heathen sacrifices." 2. They were not only temperate, but inured themselves to hardships. Those who fought with one another in these exercises prepared themselves by beating the air, as the apostle calls it, or by throwing out their arms, and thereby inuring themselves, beforehand, to deal about their blows in close combat, or brandish them by way of flourish. There is no room for any such exercise in the Christian warfare. Christians are ever in close combat. There enemies make fierce and hearty opposition, and are ever at hand; and for this reason they must lay about them in earnest, and never drop the contest, nor flag and faint in it. They must fight, not as those that beat the air, but must strive against their enemies with all their might. One enemy the apostle here mentions, namely, the body; this must be kept under, beaten black and blue, as the combatants were in these Grecian games, and thereby brought into subjection. By the body we are to understand fleshly appetites and inclinations. These the apostle set himself to curb and conquer, and in this the Corinthians were bound to imitate him. Note, Those who would aright pursue the interests of their souls must beat down their bodies, and keep them under. They must combat hard with fleshly lusts, and not indulge a wanton appetite, and long for heathenish sacrifices, nor eat them, to please their flesh, at the hazard of their brethren's souls. The body must be made to serve the mind, not suffered to lord over it.

III. The apostle presses this advice on the Corinthians by proper arguments drawn from the same contenders. 1. They take pains, and undergo all those hardships, to obtain a corruptible crown (Co1 9:25), but we an incorruptible. Those who conquered in these games were crowned only with the withering leaves or boughs of trees, of olive, bays, or laurel. But Christians have an incorruptible crown in view, a crown of glory that never fadeth away, an inheritance incorruptible, reserved in heaven for them. And would they yet suffer themselves to be outdone by these racers or wrestlers? Can they use abstinence in diet, exert themselves in racing, expose their bodies to so much hardship in a combat, who have no more in view than the trifling huzzas of a giddy multitude, or a crown of leaves? And shall not Christians, who hope for the approbation of the sovereign Judge, and a crown of glory from his hands, stretch forward in the heavenly race, and exert themselves in beating down their fleshly inclinations, and the strong-holds of sin? 2. The racers in these games run at uncertainty. All run, but one receives the prize, Co1 9:24. Every racer, therefore, is at a great uncertainty whether he shall win it or no. But the Christian racer is at no such uncertainty. Every one may run here so as to obtain; but then he must run within the lines, he must keep to the path of duty prescribed, which, some think, is the meaning of running not as uncertainly, Co1 9:26. He who keeps within the limits prescribed, and keeps on in his race, will never miss his crown, though others may get theirs before him. And would the Grecian racers keep within their bounds, and exert themselves to the very last, when one only could win, and all must be uncertain which that one would be? And shall not Christians be much more exact and vigorous when all are sure of a crown when they come to the end of their race? 3. He sets before himself and them the danger of yielding to fleshly inclinations, and pampering the body and its lusts and appetites: I keep my body under, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away (Co1 9:27), rejected, disapproved, adokimos, one to whom the brabeutēs - the judge or umpire of the race, will not decree the crown. The allusion to the games runs through the whole sentence. Note, A preacher of salvation may yet miss it. He may show others the way to heaven, and never get thither himself. To prevent this, Paul took so much pains in subduing and keeping under bodily inclinations, lest by any means he himself, who had preached to others, should yet miss the crown, be disapproved and rejected by his sovereign Judge. A holy fear of himself was necessary to preserve the fidelity of an apostle; and how much more necessary is it to our preservation? Note, Holy fear of ourselves, and not presumptuous confidence, is the best security against apostasy from God, and final rejection by him.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Know ye not ... - In the remainder of this chapter, Paul illustrates the general sentiment on which he had been dwelling - the duty of practicing self-denial for the salvation of others - by a reference to the well known games which were celebrated near Corinth. Throughout the chapter, his object had been to show that in declining to receive a support for preaching, he had done it, not because he was conscious that he had no claim to it, but because by doing it he could better advance the salvation of people, the furtherance of the gospel, and in his special case 1Co 9:16-17 could obtain better evidence, and furnish to others better evidence that he was actuated by a sincere desire to honor God in the gospel. He had denied himself. He had voluntarily submitted to great privations. He had had a great object in view in doing it. And he now says, that in the well known athletic games at Corinth, the same thing was done by the “racers” 1Co 9:24, and by “wrestlers, or boxers”; 1Co 9:25.

If they had done it, for objects so comparatively unimportant as the attainment of an “earthly” garland, assuredly it was proper for him to do it to obtain a crown which should never fade away. This is one of the most beautiful, appropriate, vigorous, and bold illustrations that can anywhere be found; and is a striking instance of the force with which the most vigorous and self-denying efforts of Christians can be vindicated, and can be urgeD by a reference to the conduct of people in the affairs of this life. By the phrase “know ye not,” Paul intimates that those games to which he alludes were well known to them, and that they must be famillar with their design, and with the manner in which they were conducted. The games to which the apostle alludes were celebrated with extraordinary pomp and splendor, every fourth year, on the isthmus which joined the Peloponnesus to the main land, and on a part of which the city of Corinth stood.

There were in Greece four species of games, the Pythian, or Delphic; the Isthmian, or Corinthian; the Nemean, and the Olympic. On these occasions persons were assembled from all parts of Greece, and the time during which they continued was devoted to extraordinary festivity and amusement. The Isthmian or Corinthian games were celebrated in the narrow part of the Isthmus of Corinth, to the north of the city, and were doubtless the games to which the apostle more particularly alluded, though the games in each of the places were substantially of the same nature, and the same illustration would in the main apply to all. The Nemean game were celebrated at “Nemaea,” a town of Argolis, and were instituted by the Argives in honor of Archemorus, who died by the bite of a serpent, but were renewed by Hercules, They consisted of horse races and foot races, of boxing, leaping, running, etc. The conqueror was at first rewarded with a crown of olive, afterward of green parsley.

They were celebrated every third, or, according to others, every fifth year. The “Pythian” games were celebrated every four years at Delphi, in Phocis, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where was the seat of the celebrated Delphic oracle. These games were of the same character substantially as those celebrated in other places, and attracted persons not only from other parts of Greece, but from distant countries; see Travels of Anacharsis, vol. ii, pp. 375-418. The “Olympic” games were celebrated in Olympia, a town of Elis, on the southern bank of the Alphias river, on the western part of the Peloponnesus. They were on many accounts the most celebrated of any games in Greece. They were said to have been instituted by Hercules, who planted a grove called “Altis,” which he dedicated to Jupiter. They were attended not only from all parts of Greece, but, from the most distant countries. These were celebrated every fourth year; and hence, in Grecian chronology, a period of four years was called an Olympiad; see Anacharsis, vol. iii, p. 434ff. It thus happened that in one or more of these places there were games celebrated every year, to which no small part of the inhabitants of Greece were attracted. Though the apostle probably had particular reference to the “Isthmian” games celebrated in the vicinity of Corinth, yet his illustration is applicable to them all; for in all the exercises were nearly the same. They consisted chiefly in leaping, running, throwing the discus or quoit, boxing, wrestling, and were expressed in the following line:

Ἀλυά, ποδωκείην, δίσκον, ἀκοντα, τάλην Alua, podōkeiēn, diskon, akonta, talēn

, “Leaping, running, throwing the quoit, darting, wrestling.” Connected with these were also, sometimes, other exercises, as races of chariots, horses, etc. The apostle refers to but two of these exercises in his illustration.

They which run - This was one of the principal exercises at the games. Fleetness or swiftness was regarded as an extraordinary virtue; and great pains were taken in order to excel in this. Indeed they regarded it so highly that those who prepared themselves for it thought it worth while to use means to burn their spleen, because it was believed to be a hinderance to them, and to retard them in the race. Rob. Cal. Homer tells us that swiftness was one of the most excellent endowments with which a man can be blessed.

“No greater honor e’er has been attain’d,

Than what strong hands or nimble feet have gain’d.”

“One reason” why this was deemed so valuable an attainment among the Greeks, was, that it suited people eminently for war as it was then conducted. It enabled them to make a sudden and unexpected onset, or a rapid retreat. Hence, the character which Homer constantly gives of Achilles is that he was swift of foot. And thus David, in his poetical lamentations over Saul and Jonathan, takes special notice of this qualification of theirs, as preparing them for war.

“They were swifter than eagles,

Stronger than lions.” 2Sa 1:23.

For these races they prepared themselves by a long course of previous discipline and exercise; and nothing was left undone that might contribute to secure the victory.

In a race - (ἐν σταδίῳ en stadiō). In the “stadium.” The “stadium,” or running ground, or place in which the boxers contended, and where races were run. At Olympia the stadium was a causeway 604 feet in length, and of proportionable width. Herod. lib. 2. c. 149. It was surrounded by a terrace, and by the seats of the judges of the games. At one end was fixed the boundary or goal to which they ran.

Run all - All run who have entered the lists. Usually there were many racers who contended for the prize.

But one receiveth the prize - The victor, and he alone. The prize which was conferred was a wreath of olive at the Olympic games; a wreath of apple at Delphi; of pine at the Isthmian; and of parsley at the Nemean games - Addison. Whatever the prize was, it was conferred on the successful champion on the last day of the games, and with great solemnity, pomp, congratulation, and rejoicing, “Everyone thronged to see and congratulate them; their relations, friends, and countrymen, shedding tears of tenderness and joy, lifted them on their shoulders to show them to the crowd, and held them up to the applauses of the whole assembly, who strewed handfuls of flowers over them.” Anachar. iii, 448. Nay, at their return home, they rode in a triumphal chariot; the walls of the city were broken down to give them entrance; and in many cities a subsistence was given them out of the public treasury, and they were exempted from taxes. Cicero says that a victory at the Olympic games was not much less honorable than a triumph at Rome: see Anachar. iii, 469, and Rob. Cal. art. “Race.” When Paul says that the one receives the prize, he does not mean to say that there will be the same small proportion among those who shall enter into heaven, and among Christians. But his idea is, that as they make an effort to obtain the prize, so should we; as many who strive for it then lose it, it is possible that we may; and that therefore we should strive for the crown, and make an effort for it, as if but one out of many could obtain it. This, he says, was the course which he pursued; and it shows, in a most striking manner, the fact that an effort may be made, and should be made to enter into heaven.

So run, that ye may obtain - So run in the Christian race, that you may obtain the prize of glory, the crown incorruptible. So live; so deny yourselves; so make constant exertion, that you may not fail of that prize, the crown of glory, which awaits the righteous in heaven; compare Heb 12:1. Christians may do this when:

They give themselves wholly to God, and make this the grand business of life; “When they lay aside every weight” Heb 12:1; and renounce all sin and all improper attachments; When they do not allow themselves to be “diverted” from the object, but keep the goal constantly in view; When they do not flag, or grow weary in their course; When they deny themselves; and, When they keep their eye fully fixed on Christ Heb 12:2 as their example and their strength, and on heaven as the end of their race, and on the crown of glory as their reward.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1Co_9:24

They which run in a race, run all, hut one receiveth the prize.

The Greek athletic festivals and their lessons

1. Of these the most famous was that held every fifth year at Olympia in the west of Peloponnese. Very famous and ancient also was the Isthmian festival held every two years at the Isthmus, about eight miles from, and in full view of, the city of Corinth. Similar festivals were held at Nemea and Delphi. But in these the athletic element was less conspicuous. All these were instituted before the dawn of history. Other festivals, in imitation of them, were held in Pauls day in many cities of Asia, e.g., at Tarsus, and notably at Antioch in Syria.

2. All athletes, i.e., competitors for prizes, had ten months training, under the direction of appointed teachers and under various restrictions of diet. At the beginning of the festival they were required to prove to the judges that they were of pure Greek blood, had not forfeited by misconduct the right of citizenship, and had undergone the necessary training. Then began the various contests, in an appointed order. Of these, the oldest and most famous was the footrace. Others were wrestling, boxing, chariot and horse racing. The prize was a wreath (or crown) of olive at Olympia, and of pine leaves (at one time of olive) at the Isthmus. The giving of the prizes was followed by processions and sacrifices, and by a public banquet to the conquerors. The whole festival at Olympia lasted five days.

3. The importance of these athletic festivals in the eyes of the ancient Greeks it is difficult to appreciate now. They were the great family gatherings of the nation, held under the auspices, and under the shadow of the temples, of their gods. The laws regulating them were held as binding by the various independent states of Greece. The month in which they were held was called the sacred month, and was solemnly announced. And all war between Greek states ceased, under pain of the displeasure of their gods, while the festival lasted. The festivals were attended by immense crowds from all the Greek states, and from even the most distant colonies. The various states sent embassies, and vied with each other in the splendour of them and of the gifts they brought. The greatest cities thought themselves honoured by the victory of a citizen. The victor was received home with a triumphal procession, entered the city by a new opening broken for him through the walls, was taken in a chariot to the temple of its guardian deity, and welcomed with songs. In some cases a reward in money was given, and release from taxation. In honour of the successful athlete poems were written; of which we have specimens in the poems of Pindar. A statue of the victor was permitted to be placed, and in many cases was placed, by townsmen or friends, in the sacred grove of the presiding deity. An avenue of these statues, shadowed by an avenue of pine-trees, leading up to the temple of Poseidon, which stood within two hundred yards of the racecourse at the Isthmus of Corinth, is mentioned by Pausanias (bk. 2:1, 7). Close by this temple with its avenue of statues Paul probably passed on his way from Athens to Corinth. The Olympic festival, which survived the longest, was abolished in A.D. 394, four years after the public suppression of paganism in the Roman Empire. The Greek athletic festivals must be carefully distinguished from the bloody Roman gladiatorial combats. That these athletic festivals permeated and moulded the thought both of classic writers and of the apostle to the Gentiles, we have abundant proof. Eternal life is to be obtained only by contest and victory (Php_3:14; 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_2:5; 2Ti_4:7 f; cf. Luk_13:24; Heb_12:1; Jam_1:12; 1Pe_5:4; Rev_2:10; Rev_3:11. The Christian life is both a preparation for conflict (verse 25; 2Ti_2:5), a race (verse 24; Php_3:12; Act_20:24; 2Ti_4:7); a boxing (verse 27); and a wrestling (Eph_6:12), Pauls converts will be his crown in the great day (1Th_2:19; Php_4:1). And, just as the athlete, victorious but not yet crowned, lay down to rest on the evening after conflict, waiting for the glories of the morrow, so Paul (2Ti_4:7 f). This metaphor--

I. Presents a needful complement of Pauls doctrine of justification by grace and through faith. Though eternal life is altogether a free gift of God, it is given only to those who strive for it with all their powers. Therefore we must ever ask, not only whether an action open to us is lawful, but whether it will increase or lessen our spiritual strength. Just so, an athlete would forego many things otherwise harmless, and some not even forbidden by the laws for athletes, simply because he was striving for a prize.

II. Receives in turn its needful complement in the doctrine of the holy spirit. Had we to contend for life in our own strength, we might be doubtful of the result, as was many a resolute athlete on the morning of the contest. But in us is the might of God, crushing (Rom_16:20; 1Jn_4:4) our adversary under our feet, and carrying us (1Ki_18:46) forward to the goal. Therefore, day by day we go down into the arena, to fight with foes infinitely stronger than we, knowing that we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Conclusion: That the crowded Isthmian festival was held each alternate year at the very gates of Corinth and almost under the shadow of its Acropolis, must have given to the metaphor of verse 24 special force in the minds of the Corinthians. And, possibly, Paul was himself present at a festival during (Act_18:11) his eighteen months sojourn at Corinth, using perhaps the opportunity to summon the assembled strangers to a nobler contest. (Prof. Beet.)

The Christian race

In a race generally there are multitudes to compete, but out of those multitudes bow few win! The same fact in the Christian race can be accounted for on two grounds:--

I. The lack of earnestness. Consider this in--

1. Its sources.

(1) Lack of knowledge, or confusion of thought. Because of such passages as Rom_6:23; Tit_3:5-7; Joh_3:16, &c., some do not see what there is for the believer to strive after. As though merely being a child were enough; as though it were not possible for a father to give his children special marks of his love. How pleased father will be when he sees how much we have done. Are not children, when speaking in this way, really labouring for just the kind of prize held out here? the expressed approbation (Mat_25:21) of the righteous judge (2Ti_4:8).

(2) Lack of appreciation. All who see the nature of this gracious reward do not also see its great value. Besides, how dim and distant! Like Esaus despised birthright, how intangible the whole promise!

2. In its results. Those who have never succeeded in grasping this prize with their hearts, naturally never do so with their hands. Such halfhearted competitors have lost the race even before they begin. Never starting, how are they to arrive? In such an undertaking as this, would it not be more than a miracle if they did?

II. Lack of suitable training. Consider--

1. What training Signifies. Living by rule. To be temperate (verse 25) is to rule oneself. It is to keep under the body, &c. (verse 27). It is to deny ourselves everything that would in any way impede us in running our race (Heb_12:1). Hence we see--

2. What the lack of it does. It secures failure.

(1) On account of the greatness of the enterprise. What we are striving for is nothing less than the mastery. In such an enterprise, if we do not rule our desires, our desires will rule us--and ruin us too. In such a work we not only need no self-inflicted hindrance, we need all the help we can get.

(2) On account of the insufficiency of our strength. Even those who are strong, if out of condition, are unequal to their task. Much more we, who are weak.

Conclusion: To stir us up, consider in the case of failure

1. How much is lost. How can we hope that we are true Christians if we do not even study to show ourselves approved unto God? There are those who have just enough religion to make them miserable.

2. How little is gained, viz., too little to be described. The man who misses the approbation of Christ obtains no other in its stead, not even his own. How many centuries have passed since the question of Mat_16:26 was first asked? How much nearer are we, even now, to finding a reply? (W. S. Lewis, M. A.)

The Christian athlete

I. His exercises. The Christian life may be compared to--

1. A race.

2. A combat.

II. The conditions of success in these exercises.

1. Personal mastery.

2. Moderation.

3. Distinctness of aim.

4. Concentration of purpose.

5. Activity.

6. Courage.

7. Perseverance.

III. The reward of success.

1. Its intrinsic value.

2. Its permanence.

Application: This reward should make us--

1. Burn with ambition.

2. Watchful

3. Enduring and contented. (W. Stevens.)

The spiritual racer

I. The race. Christian life is a race. It is no haphazard thing; it is marked off and measured; it has a starting-point and a goal.

1. The race begins at the Cross. The Christian, at his conversion, enters the racecourse, and his name is recorded and published.

2. The race ends at death. The most hopeful beginning may have a hopeless ending. A good start is of immense value; but it is not he that maketh a fine start, but he that endureth unto the end, that shalt be saved. It does not take very long for the racer to lose all the advantage of a good start: and a life, though nobly run, if it fail in the home stretches, will be sure to miss the crown.

II. The racers are all who have forsaken sin, accepted Christ, and publicly entered the path of obedience. The Bible does not speak of invisible racers, but of those who are compassed about by a great cloud of witnesses. Those Grecian athletes were in training long before the day of conflict came. But the Christians training begins with the race. He trains in the race, and thus gains agility and skill through the turmoil of the contest. The racers--

1. Strip for the race. Lay aside every weight. Nothing that hinders must be left on.

2. Make progress. Run. Think how ridiculous a lounger would have appeared, hanging around the ancient stadium, professing to be a racer, but never getting out of sight of the starting-point. Dash into the race, or leave the ground.

3. Persevere. A race. Not a little jet of speed, because one feels like it, or down street for fun. Christianity demands not only prompt action, but continuity of effort. If religion were only a thing of frames and feelings, some would soon fly to the goal, especially if the feeling held out.

4. Concentrate effort. Run a race. Christianity harmonises all mans powers, and, with a noble obliviousness to surrounding attractions, hurls the whole man into the race.

5. Are watchful. So run that ye may obtain. Christian activity is not a blind, haphazard thing. We are to keep our eyes about us, lest we stumble.

III. The reward. In the stadium, the prize, like all earthly honours, was perishable. But the Christian prize is an incorruptible crown. Proud moment, that, when the successful racer had the chaplet placed upon his brow, amid the applause of thousands. Grander moment for the Christian athlete, when amid the shouts of rejoicing myriads, the pierced hands of Jesus place upon his head the crown of glory, with the blessed words of approval: Well done, &c. (T. Kelly.)

The great race

I. The duty enjoined--running. The word implies--immediate attention--strong exertion. Not that easy, quiet religion which takes salvation as a matter of course, and regards condemnation as out of date. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, &c.

II. The manner of discharging this duty.

1. Previous preparation.

(1) Moderation.

(2) The removal of every weight.

(3) Once more: we should take care in what manner.

(4) Being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

2. An actual exercise. Running implies--

(1) Going forward.

(2) In a direct line.

(3) Without halting.

(4) Without looking back.

(5) Lawfully (2Ti_2:5), i.e.,

(a) In dependence on Christ--

(b) With a view to the glory of Christ.

3. Patient endurance. Blessed are they which endure to the end, for they shall be saved.

III. The object at which we are to aim. Everlasting life--to be found in Christ--to know Christ, whom to know is everlasting life. (Bishop Montagu Villiers.)

The great race

I. The prize competed for. An object in life is necessary to every one. Without it our energies are like the shafts and wheels of a machine, when there is no steam in the boiler. Put before a man the prospect of a fortune, and how cheerfully will he devote himself to his business. An objectless man can only be indolent and wretched. How these conditions remain when we rise to the higher ranges of life. There is an object in religion. Nowhere is a higher incentive needed or furnished.

1. This is not happiness. There are many whose creed is--Be good that you may be happy. But the principle is wrong. It is not for that a good man runs. He knows that happiness is like a little bird which will sit on your shoulder and sing for you all day, if you do not turn to look at it. But the moment you begin to look at it, it takes its flight. Hugo says truly--Being in possession of the false aim in life, happiness, we forget the true aim, duty!

2. It is not heaven. That is, undoubtedly, a home of the soul. But Christ never urged men to believe in Him in order that they might get it. The assurance of it is a very different thing from making it the reason of a good life. If the only reason one has for serving God is that he may receive his pitiful denarius at the end of the day, he will find that he has been running a race for a corruptible, not an incorruptible end. His heaven will be no heaven, since his heart will still be full of that self-seeking in whose train follows a hell of discontent and misery. Out of the heart the love of Christ must thrust the selfishness which makes not only present self-good, but eternal self-good, the aim of religion.

3. The thing for which we run is a kingdom of heaven which is within us--a Christlike character. The good man runs the race that he may be perfect and entire in goodness, lacking nothing. Heaven will at last fall to his lot, but to get it is not his ambition. He aims at a life made holy by the pursuit of righteousness.

II. Certain conditions accepted.

1. The back must resolutely be turned on wrongdoing. No one can lawfully enter on the contest for holiness with any love of sin in the heart. The merchant who conducts his business upon dishonest principles, cannot at the same time be a disciple. He is not running lawfully, and will never win the prize.

2. A strong faith in Christ who takes away the sin of which we have repented. Many hold that for a good life one has only to recognise the voice of conscience, and to follow its directions. But let us not be deceived. History can tell us something of the fruits of this so-called independent morality. The teaching of Socrates and Plato wrought no radical reformation in Athenian morals. The precepts of Seneca could not save his pupil Nero from the depths of brutality and shame. The moral philosophy of Hume culminated in the French Revolution. It is impossible to rise above the low levels of a sinful self without a high faith in Him who is the power of God unto salvation. Argument is not needed to enforce this. It is prescribed by the eternal Judge.

3. Open confession of our fidelity to. Christ. We cannot, lawfully, run the race in secret. Here is the plain word of the Master. He requires us to enter into open fellowship with His cause on the earth.

4. Great and continued effort. It is not an easy thing to do right. In this contest, every energy of the soul is called into play. Amateur Christianity may do for show, but it tells for nothing in the great sum of life. This is the vice of our age. We are enthusiastic about everything but religion. (H. R. Harris.)

The race of life

1. The style of Paul is peculiar in its directness. We may hesitate to illustrate religious truth by sports as now conducted. The Greek games, however, were not of a mercenary character. No entrance fee was demanded, no betting, and no disreputable people were allowed.

2. Physical culture was more esteemed than now. We often have well-trained minds in thin, sapless bodies. Our schoolrooms rob vitality. In Greece the instruction was given outdoors. Manly struggles ennobled the physical nature.

3. Picture to yourselves the temple of Neptune, the stadium, and the circling seats where sat the beauty and the wealth of Greece, a great cloud of witnesses applauding the efforts of the racers. Here is the starting-post and there the goal, with a tripod holding a garland of pine. Now the judge is seated, and the herald cries out that no unclean, no criminal or foreigner, shall draw near. The signal is given and the race begins.

4. We are all runners. Life is earnest. It may be a triumph or a disastrous failure. What is required:--

I. Temperance. This word is belittled if referred to mere abstinence from drink. It means self-mastery. The whole nature must be under constraint and restraint, lest we slip and fall.

II. Watchfulness. Temptations creep upon us stealthily. Wealth, pleasure, ambition, and cupidity have their golden apples. Unless we keep our eye on the goal we are lost.

III. The laying aside of every weight. The Pilgrim lost his load at the Cross. We must drop there everything which hinders. Men of this world make every sacrifice to gain money or power. Politicians run with zeal. They do it for a corruptible crown. (D. M. Reeves, D. D.)

Earnest counsels on the race of life

I. Trifle not--the business is earnest.

II. Delay not--the opportunity is short.

III. Err not--the path is narrow.

IV. Divide not your attention--the work is difficult.

V. Relax not your efforts--he only that endureth shall be saved.

VI. Faint not--the prize is glorious. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The Christian race

You are called, every one of you, for the kingdom of God; but it depends upon yourself whether you will work this salvation out. Life is a race, in which many will run but will not gain a prize. What is the meaning of the simile?

I. Run with all your speed. There are some who labour from morning to night to win the treasures of this life, who are slothful in the work of saving their souls. And if they could gain the whole world and lose their own souls, what is the profit? Run with all your speed, for the way is long to the kingdom of God. The wise men from the East, when they saw the star, followed it through all the dangers and difficulties of a long journey. The attaining of eternal life, i.e., so to live that eternal life may be in us here, is the greatest work that we can do. The prodigal who departed from his fathers house into a far country, has to go back step by step as far as he departed. Surely this work is not the work of a day but of a life; and life is short for so great a work, and life is fleeting and uncertain. We cannot promise ourselves to-morrow; tomorrow is Gods, to-day is ours.

II. Run with all your strength. If you see a man set about doing a task, you can see by the way he goes about it whether his heart is in it or not. Men who decide to get rich or to make a name will overcome every obstacle. But such men are often cowardly and slack in the work of their salvation. And yet we are warned that no man can serve two masters. There must be no half-heartedness in the work of our salvation, and there can be no neutrality. He who is not for Me is against Me.

III. With self-denial and temperance. Our Lord has said, If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, &c. The thing most necessary to you, you must cast off, if it cause you to sin. Remember that out of the seven deadly sins four are spiritual--pride, jealousy, anger, and strife. Such sins you must cast out. St. Paul says, I keep under my body, &c. And if he had need to say that, how much need we? Venial sins are still important sins, and grow into great sins. And therefore, as St. Paul says here, Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Men who desire to exhibit great feats of endurance have to mortify and control themselves in everything; and we cannot live with a little hardness for our eternal reward.

IV. Run with all your hearts. There are two failures in this race--the one is to have too much hope in salvation. Some are as presumptuous as if they had received a revelation that they must be saved. The other is in not having confident hope. We must have confidence in God, and in experience. St. Paul says, I know whom I have believed, &c. If a man is running for his life, as long as he has a hope of escape he will continue running; but the moment he despairs he slackens his efforts. A man who is swimming for his life will strike out strongly if he can hope, but the instant he despairs he sinks. So with those who lose their confidence in God, who are overcome by servile fear. Why are we to trust in God? Because--

1. God is Love.

2. You have His promises. He has promised you that if you believe in Him He will give you life eternal, What more do you need?

Conclusion:

1. Take care you are in the right way. St. Augustine said, You are making great strides, indeed, but you are out of the right way. If we are out of the way, every step we take we are going from the kingdom. Our Lord says, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

2. Having begun to run, do not let your heart do what Lots wife did. Do not look back on the world which you have given up. (Cardinal Manning.)

The Christian race

I. Its nature--So run. It implies--

1. Piety towards God. The love of God must be the all-constraining principle, the Spirit of God the Guide, and the Word of God the constant companion of every candidate.

2. Equity towards all their fellow-creatures. They will, by Gods grace, endeavour to render to all their dues, and it will be their daily habit to do unto others as they would others should do unto them.

3. Sobriety as to ourselves. It is not enough to abstain from drunkenness, &c., but the candidates Christian course must be temperate in all things, even in lawful matters, keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection. He is to use this world as not abusing it, and to let his moderation be known unto all men, because the Lord is at hand.

II. The manner. So run.

1. Lawfully.

2. With the understanding. We must, ere the resolution be formed, sit down and count the cost.

3. Looking forward to Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith.

4. Penitently--i.e., godly sorrow for and hatred to sin.

5. Prayerfully.

6. Cheerfully.

7. Believingly (Heb_11:1).

8. Continually. The Christian, unlike the Olympic race, which was celebrated but once in five years, is to be run every day of our lives.

9. Perseveringly. Nothing honourable and desirable is obtained, even in this world, without this.

III. The resign. That ye may obtain. (T. Sedger, M. A.)

The Christian race

I. The christian life is compared to a race. There was a peculiar propriety in the selection of such an image when writing to a people who held the Isthmian games in such reverence, that no national calamity was ever known to hinder their performance. The city was sacked on one occasion, but the games went on. Public events were dated from the time of their celebration. The design of the apostle was to show that the advantage was always on the side of him who, instead of the pine leaves, was running for the crown of life.

1. There were points where the comparison held. The racer must keep to the rules of the course, and confine himself within the limits of the stadium. Speed will stand him in no stead without this: and though he may reach the goal, he will not receive the prize. And it is so with the Christian racer. He is not at liberty to choose his ground, to invent a short road, or to seek an easy road there; he must keep in the way of Gods commandments. The law of the Lord is perfect, and it is equally dishonoured, whether we multiply religious works and let these stand in lieu of the heart, or whether, under the plea of cultivating the heart, we neglect some plainly commanded duties. One man finds it easier to pray for an hour than to control his temper; another to cultivate a highly emotional religion than to part with his money. The gospel crown must be won in the gospel way.

2. There are points in which the parallel fails.

(1) In an earthly race, however many may start, only one can win, whereas in the Christian race all may win. He who is faithful over a little shall be as certainly rewarded as he who is faithful over much; each shall receive a crown as large as he can wear.

(2) In earthly competitions there must be jealousy and strife; the gain of one competitor is the loss of another, and each one feels it is his interest as far as he lawfully may, to keep all rivals back. But the Christian racer, instead of hindering a weak brother, would help him; he rejoices in the feeling that he has so many companions, and would carry all the world along with him if he could.

II. What is implied in the comparison.

1. The necessity of vigour, singleness of heart, steadiness of purpose, and determination; the concentration on that work in which we are engaged, of all effort and all hope. Thus the text is a protest against all half-heartedness, all matter-of-course religions, all views of salvation which make it a thing to be done by and by. If you are losers in this race, you lose everything.

2. Deliberation; carefulness, frequent looking both to ourselves and to our way, to see that we are running right. Many have run well who have not run rightly. They took their eye off Christ, and all went wrong with them; they missed the prize through having missed the way.

3. Habitual self-denial (verse 25). The restrictions are not meant to be unnatural, or such as to make life a burden, but mere restraints upon what would be a hurtful excess. We are to be temperate in all things--in our enjoyments, our griefs, our worldly ambitions, our most lawful and permitted affections.

4. The absolute necessity of holding on our way unwearied to the end. There is no prize for him who stops half way. If the disciple after taking up his cross grow weary in well doing; if he put his hand to the plough and look back, both labour and crown are lost. Vigour and alacrity in youth, noble self-sacrifice in manhood; the longest and the best running, all will be unavailing, if, like the Galatians, we suffer any influence to drive us back afterwards.

III. The encouragements.

1. Remember all eyes are upon you. The eyes of God are upon you; the eyes of Christ are upon you, rejoicing at each onward and victorious step, and in sorrow rather than in auger turning to look upon you when the voice of the cock-crowing proclaims a shameful fall; the eyes of the holy angels are upon you, watching their opportunities to strengthen you with invisible aids; and the eyes of the malignant powers of darkness are upon you, marking your steps to make you fall; the eyes of glorified spirits are upon you (Heb_12:1).

2. Think of the priceless worth of the prize for which we run. (D. Moore, M. A.)

The Christian life a race

I. The christian life is a race. Rapidity, energy, &c., required (Luk_13:24; Col_1:29; 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_4:7; see Gr., and cf. Luk_22:44). Running often used in illustration of Christian course (Gal_2:2; Php_2:16; Php_3:3; Heb_12:1; and see Son_1:4, and Psa_119:32). Some are walking, crawling, loitering, &c. (1Co_16:13). Is not heaven worth running for? (Mat_11:12). Strive; for many will seek (only) and fail (Luk_13:1-35.).

II. The great difference between the figure and reality. There one receives the prize; here all may, though some come much behind others. Happy those with a finished course, a crown won! Some are lame, halt, feeble, slow, &c. Nevertheless, if in Christ, who is the way, they will yet win, and many first will be last, and last first.

III. How? Mark how these Greeks were trained.

1. What care, pains, self-denial, self-restraint in all things, hours, food, rest, &c. (Rom_8:13). The Corinthians self-indulgent, which St. Paul rebukes (cf. 1Pe_2:11; 1Pe_5:8; and especially 2Ti_2:3-5)

.

2. They were to strive lawfully. So we are under the law to Christ (v. 21).

IV. The prize. Great disparity between the reality and the figure. Astonishing what men will undergo to obtain--what? a little fame, gold, power, or authority. All the prizes of this world like those in Greece, which were wreaths, no sooner clutched than gone. But the Christian prize how glorious. A crown of righteousness (2Ti_4:8); of life (Rev_2:10; Jam_1:12); of glory (1Pe_5:4; cf. Rev_4:4; Rev_4:10; Rev_5:10; Rev_1:6; Rev_7:9). Hold fast that thou hast, &e. What hast thou?--hast thou Christ? Hold Him fast and run. Soon the race will be over (2Ti_4:7-8). Conclusion: Rev_3:21; Rev_2:10. (W. E. Light, M. A.)

The heavenly race

1. There are few things upon record in which the exertion was so violent, and yet so short, as a Greek race. And therefore it stands at least four times in St. Pauls epistles, as the emblem of the brevity and the struggle of the Christian life.

2. We can conceive how the believers career will look when he casts his eye back upon it from eternity. First there came a Divine influence--then a holy ambition--then an earnest determination--then all the happy self-discipline--then the race--severe even unto death: he rushed, passed by, and all is over--and then the rest, and the joy.

3. In that course all of you are occupying now your positions. Your stadium is the little span of your present existence--the spectators are the holy angels, the heralds are the ministers who call you to the contest, and animate you by the way--the umpire is the Lord Jesus, and the crown is life eternal.

4. Already some have run their course, and are not uninterested in those who are filling, after them, the same exciting scene. Others are just offering themselves; while many are midway. But alas I some have never set out, and others who did run well--but, bewitched with the worlds sorcery, they have ceased to run. We shall only be fulfilling our duty, as the heralds, if we set before you--

I. Some of the conditions of the course upon which your admission and your subsequent victory must depend.

1. In those Isthmian games none could join who were not freemen of unspotted character. As soon as the combatants appeared, the crier, having commanded silence, laid his hand on the head of each in succession, demanding of all the assembly, Is there any one here who can accuse this man of being a slave, or of being guilty of any moral wrongs of life? If any stain was found upon his character, he was excluded; but if otherwise, then he was led to the altar of Jupiter, there to make solemn oath that he would conform to all the regulations, and so he proceeded to the brunt.

2. And now what if God should make proclamation that none should be candidates for the crown of life but those who, free from sin, are obedient to His laws? Could you pass the scrutiny? The very scrutiny of which St. Paul speaks in verse 27, castaway meaning not approved in the scrutiny. If there be any secret love of sin, men may reckon you in the number of candidates, but God does not!

II. But suppose that the examination has shown you one who, believing in Christ, is emancipated from sin, and obedient to Gods law. Follow me to the stripping room (Heb_12:1). There are some who are sadly weighted with many things, Hoarding money--personal vanity--worldly amusements--society where God is not--self-indulgence. What are these things but clogs? You cannot run with those things on. Will you cumber your energies when you need to stretch them to the uttermost? In the natural course, men are accurate to the ounce--and will you trifle with those fearful odds? You may set out; but if your heart is not in it, it will only be soon to creep, then to crawl, then to stop, then to lie down, then to go to sleep, and then to die! Go into the stripping room at once, undress yourself, else do not call yourself a runner.

III. But now, entered on the race, Press toward the mark for the prize.

1. The mark was a certain line drawn along tile course, to show the runners exactly where they were to run--so that if you would run lawfully, take care not only that you are going to the right object, but that you are pursuing that object along the right line. The Christians mark, in general words, is the Scriptural method of salvation. This mark stretches itself out all along. Press to it. Every day consult your Bible to find your mark.

2. At the time when St. Paul was writing there was a particular race in which every runner carried a torch; and he won the race who came in first, bringing with him his torch still alight. Some, running very fast, put out their torch; others, running slowly, kept their torch in, but arrived too late. Beware lest a false excitement put out the flame of love! and yet beware, equally, lest over-caution hinder too long! but let zeal and love, patience and speed, go hand in hand, with equal pace--for so heaven is won!

IV. And now I see you in the midst of your career. Every race quickens as it proceeds; and the competition grows greater. You must stretch to the point. The secret of every race, perhaps, is fixedness of eye. Therefore the apostle has given us two directions.

1. Forget the things which are behind--counting our own past attainment nothing.

2. Look unto Jesus. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The heavenly race

I. What are we to run for?

1. Some think they must be religious in order to be respectable. Verily, if this be what you seek after, you shall get it; for the Pharisees who sought the praise of men had their reward. But is it worth the drudgery?

2. Others go a little farther and desire to be considered saints. We have a considerable admixture of persons in our churches who only come for the mere sake of obtaining a religious status. They have their reward, and they shall never have any but what they obtain here.

3. Another set take up with religious life for what they can get by it. I have known tradespeople attend church for the mere sake of getting custom. Loaves and fishes drew some of Christs followers, and they are very attracting baits, even to this day. They have their reward; but at what a price they buy it!

4. Another class take up with religion for the sake of quieting their conscience; and it is astonishing how little of religion will sometimes do that. I have known a man who was drunk in the week, and who got his money dishonestly, and yet he always had an easy conscience by going to church on Sunday.

5. If you run for anything else than salvation, should you win, what you have won is not worth the running for.

II. The rules of the race.

1. Some never will obtain the prize, because they are not even entered. These will tell you, We make no profession. It is quite as well, perhaps, that you do not; because it is better to make no profession at all than to be hypocrites. Yet it is strange that men should be so ready to confess this. People are not so fast about telling their faults: and yet you hear people confess the greatest fault. God has made them, and yet they wont serve Him; Christ hath come into the world to save them, and yet they will not regard Him.

2. There is another class whose names are down, but they never started right. A bad start is a sad thing. There are some who on a sudden leap into religion. They get it quickly, and they keep it for a time, and at last they lose it because they did not get their religion the right way. They have heard that before a man can be saved, it is necessary to feel the weight of sin, make a confession of it, renounce all hope in his own works, and look to Jesus alone. But they look upon all these things as unpleasant preliminaries and therefore, before they have attended to repentance, &c., they make a profession of religion. This is just setting up in business without a stock-in-trade, and there must be a failure.

3. Some cannot win because they carry too much weight. How hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven! Carry the weight of this worlds cares about you, and it will be as much as you can do to stand upright under them, but as to running a race with such burdens, it is just impossible.

4. We have known people who stopped on their way to kick their fellows. Such things sometimes occur in a race. The horse, instead of speeding onwards to the mark, is of an angry disposition, and sets about kicking those that are running beside him--there is not much probability of his coming in first. Now they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. There is one, however, who never gets it, and that is the man who always attends to his fellow-creatures instead of himself. It is a mysterious thing that I never yet saw a man with a hoe on his shoulder, going to hoe his neighbours garden; but every day I meet with persons who are attending to other peoples character. They have so few virtues of their own that they do not like anybody else to have any.

5. Those will not win the race who, although they seem to start very fair, very soon loiter. At the first starting they fly away as if they had wings to their heels; but a little further on it is with difficulty that with whip and spur they are to be kept going at all.

6. Another class start well too, and they run very fast at first, but at last they leap over the rails and go quite out of the course altogether. They are like the dog that returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. The last end of that man shall be worse than the first. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Running in the race

I. The necessity of self-denial.

1. Difficulty of winning the crown. If he who makes every exertion is the only winner, what becomes of the sluggish, selfish soul? All roads downward are easy; all roads upward difficult.

2. Greatness of the loss of the crown. Some will be saved--so as by fire (chap. 3.). Scarcely saved, but the reward lost.

II. Its nature.

1. All sin must be laid aside. Progress is impossible so long as one sin is deliberately indulged or one duty wilfully neglected.

2. All weights must be laid aside (Heb_12:1-3). What is lawful in itself may weigh us down. The true runner will sacrifice everything to progress.

III. Its inducement. Throughout the moral universe there runs a law of compensation. Self-denial is but a postponement of pleasure to the future.

1. Sacrifice is reward by self-mastery. To keep the body under implies the reason and conscience enthroned and regnant, and the Spirit of God ruling over all. That is the ideal estate of man.

2. Progress and coronation. To make advance is reward enough to a true disciple; but to get to the goal and get the prize too--that is heaven.

Conclusion:

1. We must run lawfully, i.e., according to the Scripture rules of the race.

2. We must be temperate in all things.

3. We must run perseveringly; pursuing even when faint.

4. We must run hopefully.

5. We must run purposefully--not as a boxer who beats the air, not as one who runs uncertainly--a definite goal and the eye always on it. (Homiletic Monthly.)

Running, the true Christian attitude

Cecil says that some adopt the Indian maxim, that it is better to walk than to run, and better to stand than to walk, and better to sit than to stand, and better to lie than to sit. Such is not the teaching of the gospel. It is a good thing to be walking in the ways of God, but it is better to be running--making real and visible progress, day by day advancing in experience and attainments. David likens the sun to a strong man rejoicing to run a race; not dreading it and shrinking back from it, but delighting in the opportunity of putting forth all his powers. Who so runs, runs well. (The Christian.)

Not all who run win

As victory in the games was the incentive which stimulated the youth of Greece to attain the perfection of physical strength and beauty, so there is laid before us an incentive which is sufficient to carry us forward to perfect moral attainment. The brightest jewel in the incorruptible crown is the joy of having become all God made us to be. But there are men who when opportunity is given them to win true glory turn away to salaries and profits, to meat, drink, and frivolity. The incorruptible crown is held over their head; but so intent are they on the muck-rake, they do not even see it. To those who would win it Paul gives these directions:--

I. Be temperate (verse 25).

1. Contentedly and without a murmur the racer submits to the ten months training without which he may as well not compete. The little indulgences of others he must forego. His chances are gone if in any point he relaxes the discipline. So if the Christian indulges in the pleasures of life as freely as other men, he proves that he has no higher aim than they and can of course win no higher prize.

2. Temperance is complete and continuous self-rule. No spasmodic efforts and partial abstinences will ever bring a man victorious to the goal. One days debauch was enough to undo the result of weeks in the case of the athlete; and one lapse into worldliness undoes what years of self-restraint have won. One indiscretion on the part of the convalescent will undo what the care of months has slowly achieved. One fraud spoils the character for honesty which years of upright living have earned.

II. Be decided. I run, says Paul, not as uncertainly, not as a man who does not know where he is going or has not made up his mind to go there. We have all some kind of idea about what God offers and calls us to. But this idea must be clear if we are to make for it straight. No man can run straight to a mere will-o-the-wisp, or who first means to go to one station and then changes his mind. Paul had made up his mind not to pursue comfort, learning, money, &c., but the kingdom of God. He knew where he was going and to what all his efforts tended. What then do the traces of our past life show?

III. Be in earnest. So fight I, not as one that beateth the air, not as one amusing himself with idle flourishes, but as one who has a real enemy to encounter.

1. How much of mere parade and sham-fighting is there in the Christian army! We seem to be doing everything that a good soldier of Jesus Christ need do save the one thing: we slay no enemy. We are well trained: we could instruct others; we spend much time on exercises which are calculated to make an impression on sin; but where are our slain foes?

2. Even where there is some reality in the contest we may still be beating the air. Many persons who level blows at their sins do not after all strike them. Spiritual energy is put forth; but it is not brought into contact with the sin to be destroyed. Pauls language suggests that the reason may be that there remains in the heart some reluctance quite to kill and put an end to sin. We pray God, for example, to preserve us from the evils of praise or of success; and yet we continue to court them. Therefore our warfare against sin becomes unreal.

3. The result is detrimental. Sin is like something floating in the air or the water: the very effort we make to grasp and crush it displaces it, and it floats mockingly before us untouched. Or it is like an agile antagonist who springs back from our blow, so that the force we have expended merely racks and strains our own sinews and does him no injury. So when we spend much effort in conquering sin and find it as lively as ever, the spirit is strained and hurt. It is less able than before to resist sin, less believing, less hopeful, and scoffs at fresh resolves and endeavours. Finally, Paul tells us that the enemy against which he directed his well-planted blows was his own body. Every mans body is his enemy when, instead of being his servant, it becomes his master. When the body mutinies and refuses to obey the will, it becomes our most dangerous enemy. The word Paul uses is the word used of the most damaging blow one boxer could give another. It was probably by sheer strength of will and by the grace of Christ that Paul subdued his body. Many in all ages have striven to subdue it by fasting, &c., and of these practices we have no right to speak scornfully until we can say that by other means we have reduced the body to its proper position as the servant of the spirit. There is a fair and reasonable degree in which a marl may and ought to cherish his own flesh, but there is also needful a disregard to many of its claims and a hard-hearted obduracy to its complaints. In an age when Spartan simplicity of life is almost Unknown, it is very easy to sow to the flesh almost without knowing it until we find ourselves reaping corruption. (M. Dods, D. D.)

How to win the crown

I. Make up your mind to run. Decision: This must be settled once for all: Put my name down, I will run. St. Paul says, So have I; I therefore so run. Have you?

II. Put yourself in training. Discipline: For even Christ pleased not Himself.

III. Strain every nerve. Earnestness: See them, each one alert, waiting for the signal--then, away, each one with desperate eagerness seeking to cover the course. So run that ye may obtain. Strenuous effort is needed. Look at rowers in a boat-race, or players in a football match. Are we to be put to shame by these?

IV. Aim at the winning-post. Singleness of mind: Straight for the mark! No step can he afford to take outside the line which leads right to it.

V. Hit straight and hard! Reality: It is no sham-fight. He cannot afford to hit wildly, as one beating the air. Our own besetting sin must be found out. We must learn, what the tempter knows so well, where our weak place is. There we must meet the enemy.

VI. Never give in. Persistence: Keep at it to the end. (T. Puddicombe.)

The Christian race

I. How we ought to conduct ourselves in the Christian life, or, to preserve the metaphor, how we ought to run so as to obtain.

1. We ought to make ourselves well acquainted with the nature of the Christian life, with its duties and advantages, its difficulties and its dangers. This knowledge lies at the foundation of all spiritual improvement. The history of Christianity abounds with examples of the dangerous effects of partial and mistaken views of religion. To this source we may trace that system of corruption and superstition which, after the days of the apostles, gradually spread over a great part of the world. To the same source we may trace the overwhelming influence of the papal power, the thunders of excommunication, and the horrors of the Inquisition, the practice of retiring from the world to a life of monastic seclusion, together with many of those wars, persecutions, and massacres, which in the Middle Ages deluged with blood the nations of Europe. A plan of mercy has been devised and executed for the salvation of man. This plan, together with the means by which we become interested in it, has been fully unfolded in the gospel. But if we are ignorant of those means, we cannot possibly avail ourselves of them. Hence the necessity of being acquainted with the Scriptures. They contain a full revelation of the Divine will. In them the path of duty is clearly pointed out, and they unfold the mystery which had been hid for ages, but which was at last made known by Jesus Christ.

2. Having become acquainted with the nature of tile Christian life, we ought also carefully to avoid everything that may obstruct or retard us in our spiritual course. Christians ought to guard against the beginnings of sin, and shun every appearance of evil. They ought to subdue every evil passion, and to mortify every unhallowed lust. Without doing this, it is in vain to think of making progress in religious attainments. Every commandment of the law is enjoined by the same authority, and therefore whoever habitually violates any one of them, may be justly reputed a transgressor of the whole.

3. But Christians ought not merely to abstain from sin, they ought to discharge the duties of the Christian life with patience, with ardour, and with perseverance.

(1) They ought to discharge them with patience. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Patience is opposed to a hasty, fretful, and discontented temper, and consists in a disposition to bear the severest trials without murmuring, and to fulfil the part assigned to us, notwithstanding all the difficulties with which we may have to struggle.

(2) We ought to discharge the duties of the Christian life with ardour. This temper of mind is directly opposite to that lukewarmness, and difference about religion, which the Scriptures so much condemn. Why are men so ready to lay hold of every little excuse to justify their criminal attachment to the enjoyments of the present life, and their neglect of future blessings? It is because they want that ardour which penetrates the heart of the disciples of Christ, and alone can raise them above the enjoyments of the world.

(3) We ought to persevere in well-doing to the end of our days.

II. Some motives to encourage you to comply with the exhortation in the text.

1. Consider, first, that you have many spectators of your conduct. To be approved of by those whose approbation we esteem; to be respected by those among whom we live; to be extolled by the wise and the good, and to obtain a name among such as have distinguished themselves among men; this conveys to the mind a pleasure, to which no man can be insensible.

2. Consider, next, the example of those who have gone before us. The duties to which we are called have already been performed; the difficulties with which we have to struggle have already been surmounted; and the troubles which we feel have already been borne by many of our brethren.

3. Consider, again, that the discharge of our duty is itself attended with pleasure; that the service which God requires of us is the most conducive to our present peace, as well as to our future happiness.

4. Consider, also, that a crown of glory is reserved for the faithful disciple of Christ. It is not a garland made up of flowers and leaves, which soon wither and decay; it is a crown which will flourish, when the most precious gems on earth are dissolved, when the luminaries of heaven are extinguished, and the moon and the stars fade away in their orbs.

5. We have the promise of Divine aid in every difficulty and in every trial. God sendeth no man a warfare on his own charges. When He calls us to duty, He invariably promises to fit us for the discharge of it. (John Ramsay, M. A.)

I. To give you a general account of the race we have to run. In general, the race we have to run comprehends the whole of that duty we owe to God; namely, obedience to His laws, and submission to His providence; doing what He commands, and patiently enduring whatever He is pleased to appoint.

II. To illustrate the fitness and propriety of this similitude, and to show that the Christian life doth very much resemble a race in several important respects. There is a certain limited way in which the Christian must run, emphatically called the way of Gods commandments. This we must keep with the utmost precision, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left. Mere activity will not avail us: we may be very keen and busy, but if we are not busy according to rule, we only lose our labour: God can never accept it as a service done to Him. Again, as running a race is a swift and constant progression, so ought the life of a Christian to be. There are several important respects in which the Christian race doth widely differ from all others.

1. In other races, though many may start, and hold out to the end, yet none but the foremost receiveth the prize: whereas it is quite otherwise in the Christian race. There may be a great disparity among the candidates, but every one who endureth to the end shall be saved.

2. They who run in the Christian race have no envy, no jealousy, among themselves; far less do they molest and hinder one another: on the contrary, the stronger help forward the weaker, and give them all the assistance in their power.

3. They who run in other races have nothing but labour till they obtain the prize; but in the Christian race, the exercise itself carries part of the reward in its bosom: Wisdoms ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

4. A distinguishing property of the Christian race; namely, the certainty of gaining the prize at last.

III. Let me now exhort you so to run that you may at length obtain. And for this end let us consider--

1. That many eyes are upon us.

2. That many have already run this race who are now in possession of tile glorious prize.

3. The unspeakable worth of the prize to be obtained. (R. Walker.)

Human rivalries

I. Nothing is more undeniably true than that rivalries are among the most fruitful sources of evil in every department of life.

1. People are agitated by heated political contests which, for a time, absorb every other interest.

2. Commercial rivalries. The rivalries of the street, the shop, the drawing-room, when and where do we not hear their echoes?

II. How universal is the training that produces these rivalries. It begins in childhood and runs all through life. How many people are there who covet a thing because it is intrinsically good, compared with those who covet it because it is better than somebody elses. The race of competitive display we see on every side. No place is so sacred as to be free from it.

III. Yet competition, a strife to excel, nay, if you choose, downright rivalry, has a just and rightful place in the plan of human life.

1. It is the equitable thing that the best man should win.

2. But the rivalries of our daily life must be exercised under manly and Christian sanctions.

3. But having said this, let us see to it that no eagerness for victory persuades us for one moment to forget that greater than any other triumph is the triumph of inflexible principle.

4. It is just here that we touch what may be called the heroic side of human rivalries.

5. In the eagerness of business competition, in the race for a prize, whether it he social, or commercial, or political, what a rare field for that magnanimity which will not take an undue advantage of another.

6. And even so, nay, still more, when there comes that harder strain upon the nobility of our nature which comes with our successes. How hard to bear meekly and generously the intoxication of success. (H. C. Potter, D. D.)

Try a run

On one occasion I had taken my boys with me to the top of a mountain 2,500 feet high. The youngest of them got very tired on the way back; I thought he would fairly give in, and that I would have to carry him. As we were crossing the valley we came within sight of home, a mile and a half off. I said, Shall we run and see who will be home first? He put his hand in mine, and we started off with this idea: We will be home before the boys. On we went, leaping over streams, jumping over every boulder, on and on across the fields. Disheartened worker, if you get tired and weary in Gods service, try a run, holding your Fathers hand. (J. Carstairs.)

Parabolic use of the occupations of life

Learn--

I. That the lower occupations of our life serve as a parable of the highest. Probably, few parables of Christian life could have been more clearly understood and keenly appreciated than these national pastimes. Pastimes become parables of Christian life. Yes, and if pastimes, why not all the engagements of life? Assuredly Scripture warrants us letting commerce become such a parable. Buy the truth, &c. Do not agriculture, travel, art, music, &c., stand out to thoughtful eyes as indications of the true merchandise, exploration, painting, harmony, of which all that concern merely the material are but shadows. The things that are seen are temporal, &c.

II. That the highest occupations of life challenge and employ all the best qualities of manhood that are employed in the lower. St. Paul clearly recognised certain moral elements of great worth in those ancient games. There was the perseverance of the runner, the self-mastery of the wrestler; arid such perseverance and self-mastery were to be imitated by men in the highest region of human experiences. So it is in the whole realm of occupation. The industry, persistence, frugality, heroism, &c., we may see in any course of human affairs are to be imitated by us in our concern for, and contact with, the sublimest spiritual realities. Why? This leads us to notice--

III. That there is urgent need for the exercise of these qualities, because in the highest concerns of life the difficulties are greater, the rewards richer, and the failure more terrible than in the lower.

1. The race to be run by the soul who would reach the true goal is longer, has more obstacles, requires more strength than that old race.

2. The rewards are higher for they are incorruptible, perfectly pure and unfading.

3. The failure is more deplorable. To miss the goal is nothing in comparison with becoming a moral castaway. (U. R. Thomas.)

Jacobs ladder, or the way to heaven

1. The apostle saith that you must run. It is not an easy nor a short journey, which a dreamer, a snail, or any careless man may perform and take his ease. A man must always run, from the first day he setteth forth till he come to his journeys end.

2. Christ saith, I am the way, and therefore He bids us to follow Him. He began betime, for at twelve years of age He was about His Fathers business (Luk_2:49). He made speed; for He spake and did more good things in three and thirty years, than could be written! (Joh_21:25). He kept the right way; for none could accuse Him of sin, though they watched Him for that purpose. He continued well; for He died like a lamb, and prayed to His Father, and forgave His enemies. Therefore do you--

I. Begin betime. God requiring the firstborn for His offering, and the first-fruits for His service, requireth the first labours of His servants, because the best season to seek God is to seek Him early. And therefore Wisdom saith, They which seek me early shall find me; but to them which defer, she saith, Ye shall seek me, but ye shall not find me. Therefore the Holy Ghost crieth so often, This is the acceptable time; this is the day of salvation; to-day hear His voice. Who is so young that has not received some talent or other? Therefore the fathers were charged to teach their children the same law which they had themselves (Deu_6:7), and Christ rebuked the disciples which forbade the little children to be brought to Him (Mat_19:14), for, should children honour their father, and not honour God? Manna was gathered in the morning, because when the sun arose it did melt away; so virtue must be gathered betime, for if we stay till business and pleasures come upon us, they will melt it faster than we can gather it. Yea, doth not God require morning as well as evening sacrifice? It is an old saying, repentance is never too late; but it is a true saying, repentance is never too soon; for so soon as ever we sin, we had need to ask forgiveness. Therefore linger not with Lot; for if the angel had not snatched him away, he had perished with Sodom for his delay. They were but foolish virgins, which sought not for oil before the bridegroom came. Samuel began to serve God in his minority (1Sa_2:18). Timothy read the Scripture in his childhood (2Ti_3:15); John grew in spirit as he ripened in years (Luk_1:80).

II. Keep the way. As God taught Israel the way to Canaan, sending a fiery pillar before them, which they followed wheresoever it went; so when He ordained a heaven for men, He appointed a way to come unto it, which way he that misseth shall never come to the end. There be many wrong ways, as there be many errors; there is but one right way, as there is but one truth. And, therefore, Jacob did not see many, but one ladder, which reached to heaven. It is not enough to run, but we must know how we run. Therefore, if ye ask, like the scribe, how ye shall come to heaven, the right way to heaven is the Word, which came from heaven, and the way by which the Word doth set thee into heaven is, to do to others as thou wouldst have others do to thee; to exercise good works, and yet believe that Christs works shall save thee; to pray without doubting, and yet be content that thy prayer be not granted; to keep within thy calling, and do nothing by contention; to bring thy will unto Gods will, and suffer for Christ, because He hath suffered for thee; to apply all things to the glory of God, and of everything to make some use. Thus the Word goeth before us like the fiery pillar, and shows us when we are in, and when we are out.

III. Make haste. For this cause Paul saith, Run, which is the swiftest pace of man; as though he should go faster to heaven than to any place else in the world. His meaning is this, that as a man doth watch, and run, and labour, to be rich quickly, so he should hear, and pray, and study, and use all means, to be wise quickly. Therefore St. James says, Be swift to hear (Jam_1:19). We must be swift to pray, to obey, to do good; for he is not cursed only which doeth not the Lords business, but he which doeth it negligently (Jer_48:10). The hound, which runs but for the hare, runs as fast as possibly he can; the hawk, which flieth but for the partridge, flieth as fast as possibly she can; and shall he which runs for heaven creep more slowly than the dial?

IV. Persevere to the end. For if you begin betimes, and go aright, and make haste, and continue not to the end, your reward is with them of whom Peter saith, Their end is worse than their beginning (2Pe_2:20). Therefore the Holy Ghost cries so often, Be faithful even unto death, Be not weary of well-doing, Take heed lest ye fall. For when thou art weary of thy godliness, God doth not count thee good, but weary of goodness. Therefore Paul saith, Pray continually, as though prayer were nothing without continuance. Some came into the vineyard in the morning, and some at noon; but none received any reward but they which stayed till night. To have the ark but a while doeth more hurt to the Philistines than benefit them; so to serve God but a while doth more damage us than help us. Let the dog turn to the vomit, and the swine to the wallow; but thou, like Abraham, hold on thy sacrifice until evening, even the evening of thy life, and a full measure shall be measured unto thee. When one told Socrates, that he would very fain go to Olympus, but he feared that he should not be able to endure the pains; Socrates answered him, I know that thou usest to walk every day between thy meals, which walk continue forward in thy way to Olympus, and within five or six days thou shalt come thither. How easy was this, and yet he saw it not. So is the way to heaven. If men did bend themselves as much to do good as they beat their brains to do evil, they might go to heaven with less trouble than they go to hell. (H. Smith.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 9:24-25. Know ye not that — In those famous games, which are kept in the isthmus, near your city; they who run in a race — Εν σταδιω, in the stadium, (so the place was called where the athletes contended,) run indeed all — And contend one with another; but one — Only of them all; receiveth the prize — Whereas in the Christian race, the success of one is no hinderance to that of others. How much greater encouragement then have you to run, since you may all receive the prize of your high calling. And every man that striveth for the mastery — That there contendeth; is temperate in all things — To an almost incredible degree; using the most rigorous self-denial in food, sleep, and every other sensual indulgence. It may not be improper to observe here, that “those who taught the gymnastic art, prescribed to their disciples the kind of meat that was proper, the quantity they were to eat, and the hours at which they were to eat: they prescribed to them likewise the hours of their exercise and rest: they forbade them the use of wine and women. So Horace tells us, Article Poetry, line 412: —

Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit, Abstinuit Venere et Baccho.

A youth who hopes the Olympic prize to gain, All arts must try, and every toil sustain; The extremes of heat and cold must often prove, And shun the weakening joys of wine and love. — FRANCIS.

This whole course, which lasted for many years, was called ασκεσις, exercise. Hence the ancient monks, who imitated, and even outstripped, the athletics in their rules of temperance, and in the laboriousness of their exercises, were called ασκηται, ascetics.” Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown — “The crowns for which the Greeks contended in their games, were, for the most part, of the leaves of trees, which, though evergreens, soon withered. In the Olympic games, sacred to Jupiter, the crowns were of the wild olive; in the Pythian, sacred to Apollo, they were of laurel; in the Isthmian, of pines; and in the Nemæan, of smallage, or parsley. The honours, likewise, of which these crowns were the pledges, by length of time lost their agreeableness, and at last perished, being all confined to the present life.” But we are animated by the view of an incorruptible crown; termed a crown of righteousness, 2Ti 4:8; and a crown of life, Jas 1:12; and Rev 2:10. A crown this which never fades, as the word αφθαρτος, here used, implies: that is, there never shall be any period put to the honours and advantages of it. As a reason for what the apostle here says, Dr. Macknight thinks that his enemies, (who, from his not taking a maintenance, inferred that he was no apostle,) “affirmed, that whatever disinterestedness he might pretend, it was not credible that he would undergo such continued labour in preaching, and in complying with the humours of mankind, unless he had reaped some present advantage from his labours. But to show them the futility of their reasoning, he desired them to consider the long course of laborious discipline and exercise which the contenders in the Grecian games submitted to, for so small a prize as a crown of leaves; which, after their utmost pains, they were not sure of obtaining, and which, when obtained, would soon fade, with all its honours and advantages. Whereas, by the labours and sufferings which he underwent as an apostle, he was sure of obtaining an infinitely better crown, which would never fade.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

C. Exhortation to earnest self-denial as the condition of obtaining an incorruptible crown; and a warning against carnal security

1Co_9:24 to 1Co_10:13

24Know ye not that they which run in a race [race-course, σταδίῳ] run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain [really lay hold of it, καταλάβητε]. 25And every man that striveth for the mastery [contends for a prize, ὰγωνιζόμενος is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown [chaplet, στέφανον]; but we an incorruptible. 26I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight 27[box, πυκτὲυω] I, not as one that beateth the air; But I keep under [beat black and blue, ὑπωπιάζω]30 my body, and bring it into subjection [enslave it, δουλαγωγῶ: lest that by any means, when I have preached [been a herald, κηρύξας] to others, I myself should be a castaway [a rejected one, ὰδόκιμος].

1Moreover [For, γὰρ],31 brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2And were all baptized [had themselves baptized, ἐβαπτίσαντο]32 unto Moses in the cloud and 3in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4And did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Bock that followed them [out of a spiritual, following Rock, ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας: and that Rock was Christ.33 5But with many [most, τοἰς πλείοσιν] of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown [strewed about, κατεστρώθησαν] in the wilderness. 6Now these things were our examples [became types for us, τύποι ἡμῶν ἐγενήθησαν] to 7the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted; Neither be [become, γίνεσθε] ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written,34 The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in35 one day three and twenty thousand. 9Neither let us tempt [put to the full test, try fully, ἐκπειράζωμεν] Christ,36 as37 some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10Neither murmur ye, as 11some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all [om. all]38 these things happened unto them for ensamples [typically, τυπικῶς]1Co 39: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come [last of the ages have come, τὰ τέλη τ. αἰώνων κατήντηκεν]40. 12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 13There hath no temptation taken [trial seized upon, πειρασμὸς ἐίληφεν] you but such as is common to man [human, ἀνθρὠπινος]: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with [in the midst of (Tyndale), σύν τῷ π.] the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye41 may be able to bear it.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1Co_9:24-27. [Having in the last verse (23) of the previous selection mentioned, as the second reason for the renunciation of his rights, his desire that he might thereby become partaker of the Gospel with those he labored for, he next proceeds] to bring home to the consciousness of his readers the extent of that self-denial and earnest endeavor which is requisite for the full attainment of the blessing in question. This he does by a reference to the Grecian games which were celebrated in their vicinity, viz., the Isthmian games. [“It must be remembered in reading the Apostle’s allusions, that from the national character and religion of the Greeks, these games derived an importance which raised them above the degrading associations of modern times. How intense an interest these contests still excited may be seen from Suetonius’ graphic description of the agony of Nero in his desire to succeed; an exaggerated instance, doubtless; but yet illustrative of the general feeling. The stadium, or race-course, of which he speaks, was not a mere resort for public amusements but an almost sacred edifice, under the tutelage of the patron deity of the Ionian tribes, and surrounded by the most solemn recollections of Greece, its white marble seats rising like the foundation of a temple in the grassy slope, where its outline may still be traced, under the shadow of the huge Corinthian citadel, which guards the entrance of the Peloponnesus. The race, in which all run; the pugilistic contests, in which they strove not “to beat the air,” were not merely exhibitions of bodily strength, but solemn trials of the excellence of the competitors in the ‘gymnastic art,’ which was to the Greeks one-half of human education. As the friends and relatives watched with breathless interest the issue of the contest, they knew that the victor would be handed down to posterity by having his name sung in those triumphal odes, of which Pindar’s are the extant model, and his likeness placed in the long line of statues which formed the approach to the adjacent temple. The ‘prize’ which he won from the appointed judges, who sat in state at the end of the course, was such as could awaken no mean or mercenary motives; its very simplicity attested its dignity; it was a garland of the Grecian pine, which still, under its classical name, clothes with its light green foliage the plains of the Isthmus, and which was then consecrated to the sea-god, around whose temple its groves were gathered. (See Conybeare and Howson, 20).—The application of the metaphor of the race to the progress of the Christian, here occurs for the first time. Afterwards, compare Php_3:12; Php_3:14; 2Ti_4:7-8 : Heb_12:1. Stanley.].—Know ye not.—[An abrupt and forcible appeal to a familiar fact, analogous to the ease in hand, fraught with obvious lessons]—that those who run in the race-course.—Here is the first illustration—the race (δρόμος)—run all, but one receiveth the prize?—The βραβεῖον is the prize (ᾶθλον) awarded by the arbiter (βραβεύς), [“Lat., bravium, Iren. IV. 7, whence the English, “bravo.” Wordsworth]. The point thus made is stated by Osiander in the practical remarks: “The danger of failing of the end of our faith thro’ a lack of persistent earnestness—the large number of the called, and the few that are chosen; or, as mere running on the course does not ensure the prize, so simple companionship with those who are striving for salvation does not ensure its attainment.”—Hence he briefly and forcibly enjoins.—So run that ye may obtain.—The simplest interpretation here would be to refer οὔτω, so to ἐνα that, in the sense of ῶστε, as: ‘so run as to obtain.’ But it certainly would be more in accordance with usage to make the reference to what precedes: ‘as that one runs who obtains the prize, so run ye in order that ye may obtain.’ [Alford, on the contrary, makes the allusion more general: “after this manner, viz., as they who run all, each endeavoring to be the one who shall receive the prize; for the others strive as earnestly as he.—The οὔτως is presently particularized by one point of the athletes’ preparation being specially alleged for their initiation”]. After “obtain,” the word ‘prize’ must be supplied as the object understood. The use of the καταλαβεῖν suggests the personal effort shown in the matter, literally: ‘that ye may seize, or grasp, the prize;’ as in 1Ti_6:12, ἐπιλαβέσθαι, in distinction from which the simple λαμβάνειν would denote the mere receiving, or accepting the thing presented. The recommendation accordingly is to a course of conduct corresponding to the laudable race of him who wins the victor’s wreath, in order that they may obtain possession of salvation, [may ‘work it out’].—That for this an earnest self-denying course was requisite, he shows from the example of the combatants.—now every one.—[“The δέ, now, specifies, referring back to οὕτως. And the emphasis is on πᾶς, every one, thus showing οὕτως, so, to refer to the πάντες, all, who τρέχουσιν, run.” Alford].—that strives.—The general term, ἀγωνίσεσθαι, includes indeed in itself the idea of running in the race; but here the primal reference is to the preparatory training. [“The article (ὁ αγωνιζόμενος) brings out the man as an enlisted and professed agonistes (or athlete), and regards him in that capacity. Had it been πᾶς δέ ἀγωνιζ̈όμενος, the sense would have been, ‘now every one while contending,’ etc., making the discipline to be merely accidental to his contending—which would not suit the original antitype, where we are enlisted for life.” Alford].—is temperate in all things.—To this there belongs self-control in every particular: abstinere venere et vino, and especially a strict diet, to make one light, nimble and fit for the conflict. [“The discipline lasted for ten months preparatory to the contest, and was at this time so severe, as to be confined to the professional athletes. The diet is thus described by Epictetus: ‘Thou must be orderly, living on spare food; abstain from confections; make a point of exercising at the appointed time, in heat and in cold; nor drink cold water or wine at hazard;—in a word, give thyself up to thy training-master as to a physician, and then enter on the contest.” Stanley].—But as the prize set before the Christian agonistes is nobler than that which awaits the earthly athlete, so much the more ready must the former be to practice that self-denial which is the condition of success.—they indeed.—[μὲν οὖν, connects it with the general train of thought, and μεν gives emphasis.” Jelf, § 730, b.].—[The ellipsis here must be supplied from the previous clause: ‘practice temperance’].—in order that they may receive a corruptible crown.—Such was the prize of the racer in the Isthmian games, a mere garland of pine leaves; [and elsewhere, of olive, parsley or bay leaves].—but we—He here includes himself in their ranks as a fellow-contestant. The ellipsis must be again supplied as above—yet carrying the implication of a higher sort of temperance, even a moral one, according to the nature of the contest entered into.—an incorruptible.—i. e., blessedness and glory eternal as the reward of grace (comp. 2Ti_4:8; Jam_1:12; 1Pe_5:4).—In 1Co_9:26 f., he turns now to speak of himself particularly, showing his own method of training and striving as an example.—I then.—[Ἐγώ is emphatic,—recalls attention from the incidental exhortation and reminiscence of the Christian state to the main subject, viz., his own abstinence from receiving support and its grounds.’ Alford]. τοίνυν, serves to introduce particulars under a general proposition (Passow). So here where Paul comes to present himself as a specimen of the true athlete, who has put himself through a thorough discipline.—so run as not uncertainly—sc., ‘running.’ Ἀδήλως, either, unobserved, unmarked, in contrast with one who distinguishes himself and makes himself noted, or, which corresponds better with the parallel clause, uncertainly, (1Ti_6:17), viz., in reference to the goal, being certain of the issue. “In direct course to the goal.” Meyer. (There are various modifications of this interpretation in relation to the goal itself, or to the reaching it, or to the way thereto, comp. Osiander),—so fight I.—He here passes over to another kind of contest, viz., boxing (πυκτεύω).—as not striking the air.—This refers to those random strokes which instead of hitting the antagonist, spend themselves in the air; and not to the sham fight which is preparatory to the real conflict. He is representing himself as engaged in actual fight, and not in the safe prelude to it, as Chrys., Theoph. and others. The whole verse is a description of one occupied in the very heat of the conflict. In the positive exhibition of his conduct, he abandons the participial construction (as in 1Co_4:14), which a further explanation renders necessary, because he passes out of the metaphor to the literal fact.—but I bruise my body.—Here we have the adversary mentioned on which he was thus planting his effective blows. It was his body (“the body of the flesh,” Col_2:10); the “members,” Rom_7:23, as the seat of sin—that which in its affections and lusts was ever hostile to the inner man—the spirit. His energetic treatment he expresses by a term borrowed from the pugilistic combats: ὐπωωιάζειν, to smite under the eyes, so as to make them black and blue; more generally, to batter, to benumb. According to Osiander, he means by it the mortification of the flesh by privations, labors, sufferings endured in consequence of his devotion to his calling, and, especially, of his renunciation of all right to support. We might also conceive an implication here of ascetic severities, such as fasting and the like,—but not to self-flagellation [the absurd practice of which grew out of an abuse of this expression].—and bring it into subjection.—δουλωγωγεῖν implies a complete conquest, quasi servum trahere—“so as to bring the body under the control of a moral will.” (Meyer, Ed. 3). His motive for this he expresses negatively.—lest somehow, having proclaimed to others.—By κηρύξας, it is questioned whether Paul intended the preaching of the Gospel, which the word elsewhere means in the New Testament; or whether in the prosecution of his metaphor he alludes to the functions of a herald. The latter is the more probable, as the term ἀδόκιμος in the next clause, belongs to the same category. The herald is one who calls the champions into the lists and proclaims the names of the victors. Paul also was a herald, who summoned men to the Christian warfare, announced the terms of the conflict, and was himself also a combatant.—I myself should prove rejected.—ἀδοκιμος [unworthy, disapproved, reprobate]; by this we are not to understand ‘disqualified for the conflict,’ but ‘unsuccessful in the issue.’ [“An examination of the victorious combatants took place after the contest, and if it was found that they had contended unlawfully, or unfairly, they were deprived of the prize and driven with disgrace from the games.” Alford]. Apostolus suo timore nos terruit; quid enim faceit agnus, ubi aries tremuit?42 “If we compare this passage, in which Paul so earnestly suggests the possibility of his own short-coming below the true standard of a Christian life, with 1Co_9:18, from which the Romanists would fain draw their doctrine of an opus supererogativum, implying a distinction between consilia evangelica and precepta (general Christian duties), we shall readily see how far removed Paul was from fancying that he could do aught transcending his moral obligations—a notion which stands in direct conflict with the whole ethical view of the Apostle.” Neander. [“What an argument and what a reproof is this! The reckless and listless Corinthians thought they could safely indulge themselves to the very verge of sin, while this devoted Apostle considered himself as engaged in a life-struggle for his salvation. The same Apostle, however, who evidently acted on the principle that the righteous scarcely are saved, and that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, at other times breaks out in the most joyful assurance of salvation, and was persuaded that nothing in heaven, earth or hell could ever separate him from the love of God. The one State of mind is the necessary condition of the other. It is only those who are conscious of this constant and deadly power of sin, to whom this assurance is given. In the very same breath Paul says, ‘O wretched man that I am!’ and, ‘Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory,’ Rom_7:24-25. It is the indolent and self-indulgent Christian that is always in doubt.” Hodge].

See 1Co_10:1 ff for DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL and HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.

Footnotes:

[42][The Apostle terrifies us with his own fear; for what shall the lamb do when the ram trembles]?

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 Corinthians

HOW THE VICTOR RUNS

1Co 9:24.

‘So run.’ Does that mean ‘Run so that ye obtain?’ Most people, I suppose, superficially reading the words, attach that significance to them, but the ‘so’ here carries a much greater weight of meaning than that. It is a word of comparison. The Apostle would have the Corinthians recall the picture which he has been putting before them-a picture of a scene that was very familiar to them; for, as most of us know, one of the most important of the Grecian games was celebrated at intervals in the immediate neighbourhood of Corinth. Many of the Corinthian converts had, no doubt, seen, or even taken part in them. The previous portion of the verse in which our text occurs appeals to the Corinthians’ familiar knowledge of the arena and the competitors, ‘Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?’ He would have them picture the eager racers, with every muscle strained, and the one victor starting to the front; and then he says, ‘Look at that panting conqueror. That is how you should run. So run-’meaning thereby not, ‘Run so that you may obtain the prize,’ but ‘Run so’ as the victor does, ‘in order that you may obtain.’ So, then, this victor is to be a lesson to us, and we are to take a leaf out of his book. Let us see what he teaches us.

I. The first thing is, the utmost tension and energy and strenuous effort.

It is very remarkable that Paul should pick out these Grecian games as containing for Christian people any lesson, for they were honeycombed, through and through, with idolatry and all sorts of immorality, so that no Jew ventured to go near them, and it was part of the discipline of the early Christian Church that professing Christians should have nothing to do with them in any shape.

And yet here, as in many other parts of his letters, Paul takes these foul things as patterns for Christians. ‘There is a soul of goodness in things evil, if we would observantly distil it out.’ It is very much as if English preachers were to refer their people to a racecourse, and say, ‘Even there you may pick out lessons, and learn something of the way in which Christian people ought to live.’

On the same principle the New Testament deals with that diabolical business of fighting. It is taken as an emblem for the Christian soldier, because, with all its devilishness, there is in it this, at least, that men give themselves up absolutely to the will of their commander, and are ready to fling away their lives if he lifts his finger. That at least is grand and noble, and to be imitated on a higher plane.

In like manner Paul takes these poor racers as teaching us a lesson. Though the thing be all full of sin, we can get one valuable thought out of it, and it is this-If people would work half as hard to gain the highest object that a man can set before him, as hundreds of people are ready to do in order to gain trivial and paltry objects, there would be fewer stunted and half-dead Christians amongst us. ‘That is the way to run,’ says Paul, ‘if you want to obtain.’

Look at the contrast that he hints at, between the prize that stirs these racers’ energies into such tremendous operation and the prize which Christians profess to be pursuing. ‘They do it to obtain a corruptible crown’-a twist of pine branch out of the neighbouring grove, worth half-a-farthing, and a little passing glory not worth much more. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown; we do not do it, though we professedly have an incorruptible one as our aim and object. If we contrast the relative values of the objects that men pursue so eagerly, and the objects of the Christian course, surely we ought to be smitten down with penitent consciousness of our own unworthiness, if not of our own hypocrisy.

It is not even there that the lesson stops, because we Christian people may be patterns and rebukes to ourselves. For, on the one side of our nature we show what we can do when we are really in earnest about getting something; and on the other side we show with how little work we can be contented, when, at bottom, we do not much care whether we get the prize or not. If you and I really believed that that crown of glory which Paul speaks about might be ours, and would be all sufficing for us if it were ours, as truly as we believe that money is a good thing, there would not be such a difference between the way in which we clutch at the one and the apathy which scarcely cares to put out a hand for the other. The things that are seen and temporal do get the larger portion of the energies and thoughts of the average Christian man, and the things that are unseen and eternal get only what is left. Sometimes ninety per cent. of the water of a stream is taken away to drive a milldam or do work, and only ten per cent. can be spared to trickle down the half-dry channel and do nothing but reflect the bright sun and help the little flowers and the grass to grow. So, the larger portion of most lives goes to drive the mill-wheels, and there is very little left, in the case of many of us, in order to help us towards God, and bring us closer into communion with our Lord. ‘Run’ for the crown as eagerly as you ‘run’ for your incomes, or for anything that you really, in your deepest desires, want. Take yourselves for your own patterns and your own rebukes. Your own lives may show you how you can love, hope, work, and deny yourselves when you have sufficient inducement, and their flame should put to shame their frost, for the warmth is directed towards trifles and the coldness towards the crown. If you would run for the incorruptible prize of effort in the fashion in which others and yourselves run for the corruptible, your whole lives would be changed. Why! if Christian people in general really took half-half? ay! a tenth part of-the honest, persistent pains to improve their Christian character, and become more like Jesus Christ, which a violinist will take to master his instrument, there would be a new life for most of our Christian communities. Hours and hours of patient practice are not too much for the one; how many moments do we give to the other? ‘So run, that ye obtain.’

II. The victorious runner sets Christians an example of rigid self-control.

Every man that is striving for the mastery is ‘temperate in all things.’ The discipline for runners and athletes was rigid. They had ten months of spare diet-no wine-hard gymnastic exercises every day, until not an ounce of superfluous flesh was upon their muscles, before they were allowed to run in the arena. And, says Paul, that is the example for us. They practise this rigid discipline and abstinence by way of preparation for the race, and after it was run they might dispense with the training. You and I have to practise rigid abstinence as part of the race, as a continuous necessity. They did not abstain only from bad things, they did not only avoid criminal acts of sensuous indulgence; but they abstained from many perfectly legitimate things. So for us it is not enough to say, ‘I draw the line there, at this or that vice, and I will have nothing to do with these.’ You will never make a growing Christian if abstinence from palpable sins only is your standard. You must ‘lay aside’ every sin, of course, but also ‘every weight’ Many things are ‘weights’ that are not ‘sins’; and if we are to run fast we must run light, and if we are to do any good in this world we have to live by rigid control and abstain from much that is perfectly legitimate, because, if we do not, we shall fail in accomplishing the highest purposes for which we are here. Not only in regard to the gross sensual indulgences which these men had to avoid, but in regard to a great deal of the outgoings of our interests and our hearts, we have to apply the knife very closely and cut to the quick, if we would have leisure and sympathy and affection left for loftier objects. It is a very easy thing to be a Christian in one aspect, inasmuch as a Christian at bottom is a man that is trusting to Jesus Christ, and that is not hard to do. It is a very hard thing to be a Christian in another aspect, because a real Christian is a man who, by reason of his trusting Jesus Christ, has set his heel upon the neck of the animal that is in him, and keeps the flesh well down, and not only the flesh, but the desires of the mind as well as of the flesh, and subordinates them all to the one aim of pleasing Him. ‘No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life’ if his object is to please Him that has called him to be a soldier. Unless we cut off a great many of the thorns, so to speak, by which things catch hold of us as we pass them, we shall not make much advance in the Christian life. Rigid self-control and abstinence from else legitimate things that draw us away from Him are needful, if we are so to run as the poor heathen racer teaches us.

III. The last grace that is suggested here, the last leaf to take out of these racers’ book, is definiteness and concentration of aim.

‘I, therefore,’ says the Apostle, ‘so run not as uncertainly.’ If the runner is now heading that way and now this, making all manner of loops upon his path, of course he will be left hopelessly in the rear. It is the old fable of the Grecian mythology transplanted into Christian soil. The runner who turned aside to pick up the golden apple was disappointed of his hopes of the radiant fair. The ship, at the helm of which is a steersman who has either a feeble hand or does not understand his business, and which therefore keeps yawing from side to side, with the bows pointing now this way and now that, is not holding a course that will make the harbour first in the race. The people that to-day are marching with their faces towards Zion, and to-morrow making a loop-line to the world, will be a long time before they reach their terminus. I believe there are few things more lacking in the average Christian life of to-day than resolute, conscious concentration upon an aim which is clearly and always before us. Do you know what you are aiming at? That is the first question. Have you a distinct theory of life’s purpose that you can put into half a dozen words, or have you not? In the one case, there is some chance of attaining your object; in the other one, none. Alas! we find many Christian people who do not set before themselves, with emphasis and constancy, as their aim the doing of God’s will, and so sometimes they do it, when it happens to be easy, and sometimes, when temptations are strong, they do not. It needs a strong hand on the tiller to keep it steady when the wind is blowing in puffs and gusts, and sometimes the sail bellies full and sometimes it is almost empty. The various strengths of the temptations that blow us out of our course are such that we shall never keep a straight line of direction, which is the shortest line, and the only one on which we shall ‘obtain,’ unless we know very distinctly where we want to go, and have a good strong will that has learned to say ‘No!’ when the temptations come. ‘Whom resist steadfast in the faith.’ ‘I therefore so run, not as uncertainly,’ taking one course one day and another the next.

Now, that definite aim is one that can be equally pursued in all varieties of life. ‘This one thing I do’ said one who did about as many things as most people, but the different kinds of things that Paul did were all, at bottom, one thing. And we, in all the varieties of our circumstances, may keep this one clear aim before us, and whether it be in this way or in that, we may be equally and at all times seeking the better country, and bending all circumstances and all duty to make us more like our Master and bring us closer to Him.

The Psalmist did not offer an impossible prayer when he said: ‘One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple.’ Was David in ‘the house of the Lord’ when he was with his sheep in the wilderness, and when he was in Saul’s palace, and when he was living with wild beasts in dens and caves of the earth, and when he was a fugitive, hunted like a partridge upon the mountains? Was he always in the Lord’s house? Yes! At any rate he could be. All that we do may be doing His will, and over a life, crowded with varying circumstances and yet simplified and made blessed by unvarying obedience, we may write, ‘This one thing I do.’

But we shall not keep this one aim clear before our eyes, unless we habituate ourselves to the contemplation of the end. The runner, according to Paul’s vivid picture in another of his letters, forgets the things that are behind, and stretches out towards the things that are before. And just as a man runs with his body inclining forward, and his eager hand nearer the prize than his body, and his eyesight and his heart travelling ahead of them both to grasp it, so if we want to live with the one worthy aim for ours, and to put all our effort and faith into what deserves it all-the Christian race-we must bring clear before us continually, or at least with the utmost frequency, the prize of our high calling, the crown of righteousness. Then we shall run so that we may, at the last, be able to finish our course with joy, and dying to hope with all humility that there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:24-27 To illustrate how seriously the Corinthians must take the discipline of their salvation, Paul alludes to the familiar Isthmian games, an athletic competition held every two years in Corinth. • All athletes are disciplined: Strict self-discipline is required for athletes competing for a prize. In Paul’s day, athletes endured months of rigorous training before competing. In the same way, strict self-discipline (cp. Gal 5:22-23) is required if a person is to gain the eternal prize of salvation. Christians must submit to the daily discipline of obeying Christ. • a prize that will fade away: Athletic prizes were often wreaths made out of laurel leaves (cp. 2 Tim 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 2:10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 9:24. Οὐκ οἴδατε, know ye not?) The comparison is to a thing very well known to the Corinthians.—[80] εἷς, one) Although we knew, that one alone would be saved, still it would be well worth our while to run. [For what will become of those, who never cease to defend themselves by the inactivity of others. Comp. 1Co 10:5.—V. g.]—οὔτω τρέχετε, ἼΝΑ ΚΑΤΑΛΆΒΗΤΕ, so run that ye may obtain) Paul speaks of himself to the end of the chapter; he does not yet exhort the Corinthians directly; therefore he seems here to introduce into his discourse by a third party[81] that sort of encouragement, which P. Faber, i. 2, Agonist. c. 32, shows that the judges of the combats, the instructors of the young in gymnastics and the spectators were accustomed to give;—also Chrysostom Hom. on the expression εἂν πεινᾷ; and Caesarius, quaest. 29; for the words, he says, they say,[82] are more than once omitted. See ch. 1Co 5:13, 1Co 15:32-33; Eph 6:2; Col 2:21; Psa 137:6; Jer 2:25; Jer 51:9. Therefore this is the sense here; they say, so run, etc.; and this clause belongs to the protasis, which is continued at the beginning of the following verse, οὓτω, so, a particle expressive of praise as well as of exhortation, Php 4:1.—τρέχετε, run) All are urged, as if each, not merely one, was to obtain the prize.—ἳνα, that) to the end that.

[80] πάντες, all) Comp. 1Co 10:1.—V. g.

[81] See Appendix, under the title Sermocinatio. “So run that ye may obtain” is not Paul’s direct exhortation to the Corinthians, but the language of the spectators of the games, etc., to the racers, quoted by Paul as applying to himself. Comp. v. 26.Obliquely reference was meant to the Corinthians.—ED.

[82] Beng. means that Paul’s omitting, in the allusion or quotation, “As the saying is,” does not militate against its being a quotation. For he elsewhere omits this express marking of quotations.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_9:24 ff. Exhortation to his readers to follow his example, clothed in figures borrowed from the relations of athletic competition among the Greeks (comp Php_3:12 ff.).

Doubtless Paul, writing to the Corinthians, was thinking of the Isthmian games, which continued to be held even after the destruction of the city by Mummius (Pausanias, 1Co_2:2). There is no sufficient ground for supposing the Olympic games to be meant, as those in which the foot-race formed a peculiarly prominent feature (Spanheim, Wolf, al[1527]), for running was not excluded at the other places of competition; and it is not necessary to assume that the apostle had a knowledge enabling him to make nice distinctions between the different kinds of contest at the different games.

ΤῸ ΒΡΑΒΕῖΟΝ] ΛΈΓΕΤΑΙ ΔῈ ΟὝΤΩ ΤῸ ΔΙΔΌΜΕΝΟΝ ΓΈΡΑς Τῷ ΝΙΚΉΣΑΝΤΙ ἈΘΛΗΤῇ, ἈΠῸ ΜῈΝ ΤῶΝ ΔΙΔΌΝΤΩΝ ΑὐΤῸ ΒΡΑΒΕΥΤῶΝ ΒΡΑΒΕῖΟΝ, ἈΠῸ ΔῈ ΤῶΝ ἈΘΛΟΎΝΤΩΝ ἎΘΛΟΝ, Scholiast on Pindar, Ol. i. 5. Στέφος δέ ἐστι τοῦ ἀγῶνος (the Isthmian) ΠΊΤΥς (pine), τὸ δὲ ἀνέκαθεν σέλινα (not ivy, but parsley) καὶ αὐτοῦ ἦν ὁ στέφανος, Scholiast on Pindar, Isthm. ὑπόθεσις; comp Plutarch, qu. symp. v. 3, and see Boeckh and Dissen, a[1529] Pind. Ol. xiii. 33; Hermann, gottesdienstl. Alterth. § 50. 27, ed. 2. In the application (ἵνα καταλ.), we are to understand the future Messianic salvation which all may reach. Comp 1Ti_6:12.

ΟὝΤΩ ΤΡΈΧΕΤΕ, ἽΝΑ] should not be rendered, as it is by most expositors, so run, that,which the ἵνα, as a particle expressive of design, makes inadmissible (comp 1Co_9:26-27),but: in such way run (like the one referred to), in order that. This does away, too, with the awkwardness which would otherwise be involved in εἷς with the plural ΚΑΤΑΛΆΒΗΤΕ. Paul exhorts his readers to run in a way as worthy of the prize (so to shape their inner and outer life), as the one who, by decision of the judge, receives the crown for the foot-race, in order that they may attain to it (i.e. the crown of the Messianic salvation). There is no need for the arbitrary insertion of the idea: as is necessary, in order that, etc. (Hofmann).

[1527] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1529] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 9:24-27 . § 30. PAUL’S ASCETICISM. The last words of § 29 indicate that the writer feels his own salvation to be bound up in his mission to his fellowmen. The self-denial practised for the latter of these objects is necessary, in point of fact, for both . His example should teach the Cor [1383] the need of stern self-discipline on their personal account, as well as in the interests of weaker brethren. From 1Co 9:24 onwards to 1Co 10:22 P. pursues this line of warning, addressed to men who were imperilling their own souls by self-indulgence and worldly conformity. Of the danger of missing the prize of life through indiscipline P. is keenly sensible in his own case; he conveys his apprehension under the picture, so familiar to the Cor [1384] , of the Isthmian Games.

[1383] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1384] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

1Co 9:24 . Οὐκ οἴδατε …; cf. 1Co 9:13 , etc. οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες , πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν , εἶς δὲ κ . τ . f1λ .: “Those that run in the stadium, run all (of them), but one receives the prize”. As much as to say, “Entering the race is not winning it; do not be satisfied with running, but make sure of winning So run that you may secure ( the prize )!” The art [1385] is wanting with σταδίῳ , as often after prps., esp. when the noun is quasi-proper; cf. our “at court,” “in church.” The stadion was the race-course, always a fixed length of 600 Gr [1386] , or 6o6¾ Eng. ft.; hence a measure of distance, as in Mat 14:24 a furlong . For the antithesis of πάντες and εἶς , conveying the point of the warning, cf. the emphatic πάντες of 1Co 10:1-4 (see note); also 1Co 6:12 , 1Co 10:23 . οὕτως may point backward to εἶς (“run like that one”: cf. 14, 1Co 2:11 ), or forward to ἴνα ( καταλάβ .) a particle substituted for the regular correlative, ὥστε ( cf. Act 14:1 , Joh 3:16 ), where the result is an aim to be achieved; the latter connexion is more probable, since the following vv. dilate on the conditions of success.

[1385] grammatical article.

[1386] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In a race [εν σταδιω] . Or, better, in a race - course. From isthmi to place or establish. Hence a stated distance; a standard of length. In all other New - Testament passages it is used of a measure of length, and is rendered furlong, representing 606. 75 English feet. From the fact that the race - courses were usually of exactly this length, the word was applied to the race - course itself. The position chosen for the stadium was usually on the side of a hill, which would furnish a natural slope for seats; a corresponding elevation on the opposite side, being formed by a mound of earth, and the seats being supported upon arches. The stadium was oblong in shape, and semicircular at one end; though, after the Roman conquest of Greece, both ends were often made semicircular. A straight wall shut in the area at one end, and here were the entrances and the starting - place for the runners. At the other end was the goal, which, like the starting - point, was marked by a square pillar. Half - way between these was a third pillar. On the first pillar was inscribed excel; on the second, hasten; on the third, turn, since the racers turned round the column to go back to the starting - point. 105 The isthmus of Corinth was the scene of the Isthmian games, one of the four great national festivals of the Greeks. The celebration was a season of great rejoicing and feasting. The contests included horse, foot, and chariot - racing; wrestling, boxing, musical and poetical trials, and later, fights of animals. The victor's prize was a garland of pine leaves, and his victory was generally celebrated in triumphal odes called epinikia, of which specimens remain among the poems of Pindar. 106 At the period of Paul 's epistles the games were still celebrated, and the apostle himself may very probably have been present. 107 At the same time, he would have been familiar with similar scenes in Tarsus, in all the great cities of Asia Minor, especially Ephesus, and even in Jerusalem. Metaphors and allusions founded upon such spectacles abound in Paul s writings. Racers, 1Co 9:24; boxers, 1Co 9:26, 27; gladiators fighting with beasts, 1Co 14:32; the judge awarding the prize, 2Ti 4:8; the goal and the prize, 1Co 9:24; Phi 3:14; the chaplet, 1Co 9:25; 2Ti 2:5; 2Ti 4:8, the training for the contest, 1Ti 4:7, 8; the rules governing it, 2Ti 2:5; the chariot - race, Phi 3:14. These images never occur in the gospels. See on of life, Rev 2:10 Prize [βραβειον] . Only here and Phi 3:14. The kindred verb brabeuw to be umpire, occurs once, Col 3:15. See note.

Obtain [καταλαβητε] . Lit., lay hold of. Rev., attain. See on comprehended, Joh 1:5; come upon you, Joh 12:35; and perceived, Act 4:13. Compare Phi 3:12.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1Co_9:24

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

An exhortation to self-denial and exertion, clothed in figurative language. As the exhortation is addressed principally to the Gentile converts, the imagery used is derived from the public games with which they were so familiar. These games, the Olympian and Isthmian, the latter celebrated every third summer in the neighborhood of Corinth, were the occasions for the concourse of the people from all parts of Greece. The contests in them excited the greatest emulation in all classes of the inhabitants. Even the Roman emperors did not refuse to enter the lists. To be a victor was to be immortalized with such immortality as the breath of man can give. To Greeks, therefore, no allusions could be more intelligible, or more effective, than those to these institutions, which have nothing to answer to them in modern times.

Know ye not. He took for granted they were familiar with the rules of the games to which he referred. That those running in a race; literally in the stadium or circus in which the games were celebrated, so called because it was a stadium (a little more than two hundred yards) in length. All run, but one obtains the prize. It was not enough to start in this race; it was not enough to persevere almost to the end; it was necessary to outrun all competitors and be first at the goal. But one took the prize. So run that ye may obtain. That is, run as that one runs, in order that ye may obtain. The greatest self-denial in preparation, and the greatest effort in the contest, were necessary to success. In the Christian race there are many victors; but the point of the exhortation is, that all should run as the one victor ran in the Grecian games.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He bringeth in another cause of this mischief, to wit, that they were given to gluttony, for there were solemn banquets of sacrifices, and the riot of the Priests was always too much celebrated and kept. Therefore it was hard for them which were accustomed to righteousness, especially when they pretended the liberty of the Gospel, to be restrained from these banquets: but contrarywise, the Apostle calleth them by a pleasant similitude, and also by his own example, to sobriety and mortification of the flesh, showing that they cannot be fit to run or wrestle (as then the games of Isthmians were) which pamper up their bodies, and therefore affirming that they can have no reward, unless they take another course and trade of life.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Know ye not--The Isthmian games, in which the foot race was a leading one, were of course well known, and a subject of patriotic pride to the Corinthians, who lived in the immediate neighborhood. These periodical games were to the Greeks rather a passion than a mere amusement: hence their suitableness as an image of Christian earnestness.

in a race--Greek, "in a race course."

all . . . one--Although we knew that one alone could be saved, still it Would be well worth our while to run [BENGEL]. Even in the Christian race not "all" who enter on the race win (Co1 10:1-5).

So run, that ye may obtain--said parenthetically. These are the words in which the instructors of the young in the exercise schools (gymnasia) and the spectators on the race course exhorted their pupils to stimulate them to put forth all exertions. The gymnasium was a prominent feature in every Greek city. Every candidate had to take an oath that he had been ten months in training, and that he would violate none of the regulations (Ti2 2:5; compare Ti1 4:7-8). He lived on a strict self-denying diet, refraining from wine and pleasant foods, and enduring cold and heat and most laborious discipline. The "prize" awarded by the judge or umpire was a chaplet of green leaves; at the Isthmus, those of the indigenous pine, for which parsley leaves were temporarily substituted (Co1 9:25). The Greek for "obtain" is fully obtain. It is in vain to begin, unless we persevere to the end (Mat 10:22; Mat 24:13; Rev 2:10). The "so" expresses, Run with such perseverance in the heavenly course, as "all" the runners exhibit in the earthly "race" just spoken of: to the end that ye may attain the prize.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. They which run in a race run all] It is sufficiently evident that the apostle alludes to the athletic exercises in the games which were celebrated every fifth year on the isthmus, or narrow neck of land, which joins the Peloponnesus, or Morea, to the main land; and were thence termed the Isthmian games. The exercises were running, wrestling, boxing, throwing the discus or quoit, c. to the three first of these the apostle especially alludes.

But one receiveth the prize?] The apostle places the Christian race in contrast to the Isthmian games; in them, only one received the prize, though all ran; in this, if all run, all will receive the prize; therefore he says, So run that ye may obtain. Be as much in earnest to get to heaven as others are to gain their prize; and, although only one of them can win, all of you may obtain.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Know ye not, that they who run in a race. He has laid down the doctrine, and now, with the view of impressing it upon the minds of the Corinthians, he adds an exhortation. He states briefly, that what they had hitherto attained was nothing, unless they steadfastly persevered, inasmuch as it is not enough to have once entered on the Lord’s way, if they do not strive until they reach the goal, agreeably to that declaration of Christ — He that shall endure unto the end, etc. (Matthew 10:22.) Now he borrows a similitude from the race-course. For as in that case many descend into the arena, but he alone is crowned who has first reached the goal, so there is no reason why any one should feel satisfied with himself on the ground of his having once entered upon the race prescribed in the gospel, unless he persevere in it until death. There is, however, this difference between our contest and theirs, that among them only one is victorious, and obtains the palm — the man who has got before all the others; but our condition is superior in this respect, that there may be many at the same time. For God requires from us nothing more than that we press on vigorously until we reach the goal. Thus one does not hinder another: nay more, those who run in the Christian race are mutually helpful to each other. He expresses the same sentiment in another form in 2 Timothy 2:5,

If any one striveth, he is not crowned, unless he strives lawfully.

So run. Here we have the application of the similitude — that it is not enough to have set out, if we do not continue to run during our whole life. For our life is like a race-course. We must not therefore become wearied after a short time, like one that stops short in the middle of the race-course, but instead of this, death alone must put a period to our running. The particle ὅυτω, (so,) may be taken in two ways. Chrysostom connects it with what goes before, in this manner: as those who run do not stop running until they have reached the goal, so do ye also persevere, and do not stop running so long as you live. It will, however, correspond not inaptly with what follows. “You must not run so as to stop short in the middle of the race-course, but so as to obtain the prize.” As to the term stadium, (race-course,) and the different kinds of races, I say nothing, as these things may be obtained from grammarians, and it is generally known that there were some races on horseback, and others on foot. Nor are these things particularly needed for understanding Paul’s meaning.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(24) Know ye not . . .—The illustration which follows refers to these Isthmian games (so called from their taking place in the isthmus where Corinth stood) with which his readers would be familiar. These, like the other games of Greece—the Olympian, Pythian, and Nemean—included every form of athletic exercise, and stood on an entirely different footing from anything of the kind in modern times. For the Greek, these contests were great national and religious festivals. None but freemen could enter the lists, and they only after they had satisfied the appointed officers that they had for ten months undergone the necessary preliminary training. For thirty days previous to the contest the candidates had to attend the exercises at the gymnasium, and only after the fulfilment of these conditions were they allowed, when the time arrived, to contend in the sight of assembled Greece. Proclamation was made of the name and country of each competitor by a herald. The victor was crowned with a garland of pine leaves or ivy. The family of the conqueror was honoured by his victory, and when he returned to his native town he would enter it through a breach in the walls, the object of this being to symbolise that for a town which was honoured with such a citizen no walls of defence were needful (Plutarch). Pindar, or some other great poet, would immortalise the victorious hero’s name in his verse, and in all future festivals the foremost seats would be occupied by the heroes of former contests.

So run—i.e., run in the way referred to, so that you may gain a prize.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24–27. Exhortation to Self-restraint

24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?] Not that this is the case in the Christian course, but that each should manifest the same eagerness and sustained effort as if the prize could be given to one only. The Corinthians are now exhorted to follow the example of their teacher in all self-mistrust and self-restraint. There can be little doubt that there is an allusion here to the Isthmian games, which took place every three years at a spot on the seacoast about nine miles from Corinth. This was one of those festivals “which exercised so great an influence over the Grecian mind, which were, in fact, to their imaginations what the temple was to the Jews and the triumph to the Romans.” Stanley. At this period, he remarks, the Olympic games, the chief national institution of the Greeks (see Art. “Olympia” in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities), had possibly lost some of their interest, while the Isthmus had been the centre of the last expiring struggle of Greek independence, and was destined to be the place where, a few years after the date of this Epistle, Nero stood to announce that the province of Achaia had received the honour of Roman citizenship.

in a race] Literally, in the stadium, or race-course. See Art. “Stadium” in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities. This was a fixed course, oblong in shape, with one end semicircular, fitted round with seats, that the spectators might see all that went on. It was “not a mere resort for public amusement, but an almost sacred edifice, under the tutelage of the patron deity of the Ionian tribes, and surrounded by the most solemn recollections of Greece; its white marble seats rising like a temple in the grassy slope, where its outlines may still be traced, under the shadow of the huge Corinthian citadel, which guards the entrance to the Peloponnesus, and overlooking the blue waters of the Saronic Gulf with Athens glittering in the distance.” Stanley.

prize] Greek, βραβεῖον, from whence, through the late Latin word bravium, comes our English brave. See note on next verse.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And every man that striveth for the mastery,.... Either in running a race, or in wrestling; for the word here used agrees with both, and both are in the context referred to, nor has the apostle as yet done with his allusion to running in a race;

is temperate in all things; contains himself from venery, abstains from certain sorts of food, which tend to hinder the agility, or weaken the strength of the body; and indulges not himself in sloth and idleness, but exercises himself in various manners, that he may be prepared for running or wrestling: the apostle's view in this, seems to be to strengthen some exhortations he had already given, to abstain from fornication, and the immoderate use of venery; to forbear eating things offered to idols, and not give themselves up to luxury and intemperance; for should they be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, they would be very unfit for their Christian race, or for wrestling with principalities and powers, and the discharging of the business of a Christian profession:

now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; they confine themselves to a certain diet and course of living, and abstain from things otherwise desirable to nature; and this they do for the sake of a fading crown, a crown of leaves, made of the boughs and leaves of olives, laurels, pine, &c. or of parsley, green or dried, as before observed (t):

but we an incorruptible; even eternal life; compared to a crown, for the riches, glory, and lustre of it; and as suitable to the character and dignity of saints, who are kings as well as priests unto God: it is called "incorruptible", because it is so in its own nature; nor can it be corrupted by other things, as crowns even of gold may; nor shall any corrupt person wear it; the corruption of nature must be removed from the saints, yea, that frailty and mortality of human nature, which sometimes goes by the name of corruption, must be taken away, ere they can inherit this crown and kingdom; nor will it ever fade away, as the corruptible crowns of the conquerors in these games did, and that in a very short time; but this will last for ever, and always continue in the same glory and lustre.

(t) Vid. Alex. ab Alex, Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 8.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Ver. 24. Know ye not] The apostle argueth from their profane sports, yet approveth them not; as neither doth the Lord patronize usury, Mat 25:27; injustice, Luk 16:1; thefts, 1Th 5:2; dancing, Mat 11:17.

So run that ye may obtain, ] Here is the race, but above the crown, saith Ignatius to Polycarp. (ωδε μεν εστι το σταδιον, εκει δε οι στεφανοι.) Run to get the race, said Mr Bradford to his fellow sufferers, you are almost at your journey’s end. I doubt not but our Father will with us send to you also, as he did to Elias, a fiery chariot to convey us into his kingdom. Let us therefore not be dismayed to leave our cloak behind us, that is, our bodies to ashes. (Acts and Mon.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Know you not? Nothing is more famous in the annals of history than the public games in Greece: it is to these the apostle is here alluding. (Calmet) --- All run indeed, &c. He brings the examples of runners and wrestlers for a prize in the Grecian games, where only one could gain the prize. It is true in our case many obtain the crown for which we strive, but every one is in danger of losing it, and so must use all his endeavours to obtain it. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The apostle presseth all his former discourse by minding them of the difficulty of getting to heaven, and of the obligation that lay upon them to be the first in the spiritual race. To this purpose he fetcheth a similitude from what they saw daily, in the practice of those who frequented those games by which the Romans and Corinthians were wont to divert themselves. They had several, known by the names of the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games, the latter of which were most proper to Greece. At these games there were several that ran races, either on foot or on horseback: and several that wrestled. The reward was a crown, or garland: and for those that ran, we read that the crown or garland was hung up at the end of the race, and those who, running on foot or on horseback, could first lay hold upon it, and take it down, had it, so as though many ran, yet but one had the crown. So, he saith, it is as to getting to heaven; men might think it was a light matter, but they who would have the crown of glory must run for it, and it was a work which required so much striving and labour, that not many would have that crown: which is the same with that which our Saviour saith, Luk 13:24. For many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 2Ti 2:5, If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. Therefore, saith the apostle, make it your business,

so to run, that you may obtain; not only to do things in themselves lawful or good, but which are so clothed with all their circumstances, and in the best manner, for the glory of God, and the good of others.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Know ye not—They had abundant chance to know, from the exhibitions at the Isthmian stadium, near their city.

A race—Here, for the first time in the New Testament, occurs an allusion to the ancient games. They are mentioned neither in the gospels nor in the Old Testament. The solemn Hebrews never practised them; and when introduced, with theatres and other spectacles by the Herodian family, they were the abhorrence of all earnest Jews. In the days of his bigoted Judaism Paul would, probably, never have used them as a religious illustration.

But with the Greeks these games, traceable to an heroic age of gods and demigods, were a part of their religion. They were practised to bring the human form to that same idealized perfection as Grecian genius endeavoured to produce in its statues of heroes and gods. They formed a part of the worship of beauty in the human person, as in all other noble forms. Hence the victor in those games, at which all Greece was ambitious to be present, was a noblest of the race, a masterpiece of humanity. He was gazed at, as he proudly passed, as a model of manhood. He was the pride of his family, and honoured by his state and city among her great generals and statesmen. From the victory he departed crowned with a garland, was escorted home in a triumphal chariot, and, in some instances, instead of being received through the ordinary gate, a breach was made in the city wall, that he might be received with a unique triumph.

When, a short time before the birth of Christ, Rome conquered the known world, she adopted the games, varying their form, and in every respect debasing them. By the Greeks they were idealized, by the Romans brutalized. They were no longer heroic exercises in which the noblest men engaged for self-perfection, but exhibitions of ferocious and bloody contests by professional or compulsory combatants, for the gratification of spectators gazing from their safe and cowardly seats upon scenes of savage bloodshed of which others were the inflictors or victims. There were beast fights; of men with beasts or beasts with beasts. There were gladiatorial fights of men with men. These sanguinary exhibitions were not, like the pugilistic fights of our day, followed solely by the baser classes in violation of law, but by the highest aristocracy, and provided for by either eminent individuals or the state itself. The civilization of the age exerted itself in the invention of new ferocities, or in the increased amount of the exhibition. Sylla, the despot of Rome, sent a hundred lions into the arena to be butchered by as many men. But Pompey had six hundred lions and twenty elephants thus slaughtered. Under the Emperor Titus (surnamed “The Delight of the human race”) five thousand wild and four thousand tame animals, and under Trajan eleven thousand animals, were slain for Roman amusement. Still more ferocious were the gladiatorial fights, in which professional combatants, or captives taken in war, or criminals, were made to slaughter each other. This practice began B.C. 264, and made such progress that Trajan exhibited a bloody fight of ten thousand gladiators on the arena for Roman amusement. These scenes created not bravery in the public heart, but a base and cowardly appetite for blood. They aided in spreading that utter depravity through all classes of society that prepared the empire to sink before the northern barbarians.

With these games in their Grecian form the Corinthians, and St. Paul at Corinth, would be familiar. As he travelled from Athens to Corinth he passed the stadium, or race-course, of the celebrated Isthmian games, so called from the Corinthian Isthmus. In the nature of those games he saw the elements of a vivid physical imagery (especially in the race) for the illustration of the Christian life. Almost every point of the gymnastic contest he has in some part of his writings brought into use. Gal_2:2; Gal_5:7; Php_2:16; Php_3:14; 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_2:5; Heb_12:1; Heb_12:4; Heb_12:12. In the present passage we have the race, the racer, the prize, the temperance, the garland, the herald, the rejected combatant. At 1Co_9:26, by a momentary change, the boxing match is the source of allusion.

Run all—All the competitors.

One—Paul here illustrates by contrast. In the Isthmian race there could be but one victor among all the runners; in the Christian race every candidate that rightly runs may win the garland.

So run—With such applied vigour, with such self-control and concentration, with such increasing persistence, to the end.

Obtain—Win.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 24-27. Exhortation to earnestness as a corollary from the principles here stated.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all? They as Corinthians would well know the full bearing of every illustration derived from the triennial Isthmian games, which were the chief glory of their city, and which at this period had even thrown the Olympic games into the shade. The words "in a race," are rather, in the stadium. The traces of the great Corinthian stadium, where the games were held and the races run, are still visible on the isthmus. This metaphor of "the race," which has pervaded the common language of Christianity, is also found in Heb_12:1; Php_3:14; 2Ti_4:7. The prize. The bracium was the wreath given to the victor by the judges. The Christian prize is that of "the high calling of God in Jesus Christ," towards which St. Paul himself was pressing forward.

Vers. 24-26.

The Christian race.

ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." The Christian life is a race, and we are exhorted to run that the prize may be obtained. "So run." How?

I Run in the PRESCRIBED COURSE. The course is marked out and measured. The starting place is at the foot of the cross, and the goal is planted in the grave.

II Run WITHOUT INCUMBRANCE. "Lay aside every weight," all worldly cares, and inordinate sympathetic embarrassing prejudices, and fettering habits.

III Run WITH ALL POSSIBLE CELERITY. Shake off sloth and languor, stretch every muscle and limb, throw the whole force of your being into the effort.

IV Run WITH UNTIRING PERSISTENCY. Pause not, nor loiter a moment until the end is obtained. "So run, that ye may obtain.

Vers. 24-27.

Self denial urged in view of the heavenly crown.

Power is no self guiding instinct in itself. To be true power, it must be directed by something higher than its own nature. A vast fund of power is laid up within us, and of it two things may be said, viz. the amount of power abstractly considered is far greater than we can use; and, again, our available power must be held under check. As to the former, capacity in every man exceeds ability, and much of our education consists in converting capacity into actual ability. And this latency of power serves another purpose, inasmuch as it is a reserved fund held for an emergency. At times, sudden calls are made on our energies, drafts at sight, which demand extraordinary effort. Feats of physical strength are then performed which are amazing. The same is true of the mind; we witness its faculties, under some tremendous pressure, yielding a wisdom, a patience, a persistency, that surpass all expectation. On the other hand, our available power that can be brought any moment into play must be restrained, or injury results. The harm is manifold. It is pernicious to others. Power antagonizes the power of our fellow men much oftener than it conciliates, and, acting as a repellent instead of an attractive force it destroys unity, which is the great end of all existence, Nor is it less hurtful to the man himself, for, in pushing his power to extremes, he exhausts the very ability concerned in using the power. An undue use of power, therefore, overtaxes others and ourselves. And, accordingly, St. Paul takes both these facts into consideration, advancing from self denial for the sake of others to self denial for his own good, and in this way perfecting the argument. Was he not a philosopher of profound insight in this method of mental procedure? Dismiss, for an instant, the view of him as a Christian apostle, and look at him as an ethical thinker. To induce men to practise the self denial of power, he marshals all the social and sympathetic virtues to its aid; brings pity and compassion as humane instincts to its service, enlists the imagination and its sensibilities as a higher form of emotional energy, and crowns the ascending series of influences by conscience and moral affection in behalf of our fellow men. This is the first training of self denial. Thence it proceeds to its other task. It gathers up its strength and resources, and turns them to its self culture. Was this the method of Stoicism? Was not the method of Stoicism the precise opposite of this? If Seneca had observed this law of culture, would not his exile have presented a very different spectacle? If Marcus Aurelius had trained himself to discern the image of humanity in others, instead of looking into the mirror of Stoicism to see his own image, could he have been guilty, a man of such beautiful and noble virtues, of persecuting Christianity? Return to St. Paul as a Christian apostle. The true philosopher is here, but not complacently studying his own image in the glass that Stoicism held up before its disciples. What he first sees is the Christ of humanity in others, who, in a religious sense, are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. And there is an expression of pain on the brow, and of the sorrow of the heart in his fixed eye, as he realizes that these men are not fully conscious of their relationship to Christ, and therefore very imperfect in their appreciation of others and themselves. But he comprehends them in Christ, and he can bear their infirmities since his love is no mere aesthetic sentiment. Now, then, he can show the extent of that self denial required to attain the reward of the gospel. Of course, this must be done by figurative language, images being the perfection of language and most necessary when spiritual things are to be made clear. Naturally enough, the Grecian games occurred to him; and as the pomp and splendour of these national shows passed before him, was it the gathered multitude, the high enthusiasm, the thrilling suspense, the heart of Achaia throbbing with pride and exultation, that enlisted his interest? What a sense it was to the senses, and even more than to the senses, as Greeks interpreted its meanings! The very landscape lent a charm to the contests, and conspired with the Corinthian citadel, the sloping hills, the marble seats, and the eager crowds, to perpetuate the historic memories of a vanished Greece. Even here, degenerate as the age was, moral elements were at work. A better past had not left itself without a witness in the present. Recollections of ancestry, traditions of virtue and heroism, honourable emulation, an energetic will, hard and continuous discipline for ten months, were associated with the occasion. But St. Paul"s mind was engrossed by the symbolism of the Isthmian games. The metaphor of the racecourse attracts his attention. The preparatory training, the diet, the willing temperance and moderation, the regimen of the athlete, and the studious care to observe the conditions of success, furnish a forcible illustration of what was essential to those who would run the Christian race and win an immortal crown. Between the two there is a resemblance. Between the two there is a vast dissimilarity. "They do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." Once more, St. Paul introduces himself; he is an earnest athlete bent on victory; all his energies are in training and have long been in training; and, changing the figure at this point, the boxer is mentioned: "So fight I, not as one that beateth the air not as one who wastes strength in random strokes, but one whose blows are delivered with skill and an achieving purpose. And now, just as one who has toiled up to some mountain summit brings back to the plain a finer light of beauty in his eye and a larger play of strength in the muscle of the heart, so St. Paul returns from the figurative to the literal with his thought enhanced in vigour. "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection the body," "beat it," and "bring it into bondage." What! is the body a contestant against us? Is it an adversary to be bruised and beaten, made to know its place? So indeed St. Paul argues in respect to his own body, and the fact in his case is the fact in all cases. Ideally, the body is the soul"s helper, furnishing the soul with very many true and lofty ideas, giving it much it could never have if disembodied or in an organization less sensuous, and securing it a grandeur of development not possible otherwise. Practically, the body is so sensitive to itself, so in love with its own enjoyments, so enslaved to its lusts and appetites, that it must be kept under and brought into subjection. The law is very plain. It has to be obeyed in some measure by. every one. If the epicure is nothing but an epicure and always an epicure, nature is soon in violent revolt. To be an epicure, he must have some prudence in his indulgence, and order times and seasons into the service of his pleasures. To be students, poets, artists, philosophers, ay, to be mechanics, tradesmen, farmers, we must put the body under by asserting, in a certain degree, the inherent superiority of the mind. For the most part, however, there are reactions, fearful in some, hazardous to all. Suppose, now, that the gross forms of sensuality or even the fascinating forms of sensuousness, are held under mastery. What then? Is the Divine ideal of the body realized? Nay; the body may be made a most efficient and admirable servant to the business man, to the student, to the artist, to the philosopher, and may answer all the earthly and social ends of the intellect and the natural affections, and yet be an undeveloped human body. Only in conforming to spiritual relations, only in sharing Christ"s humanity, can it be developed. Faith, hope, love, Christian principles, Christian sentiments, Christian impulses, are just as requisite to form and shape the material body to the companionship of the redeemed spirit, as food, air, sleep, are necessary for its physical existence. The argument of St. Paul implies all this, nor could it imply less and be congruous with his purpose and aim. And, therefore, when he says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection," he means to say," I am not making my body less a part of the universe, but more a part thereof, and I am lifting this lower nature towards the higher, and developing my body in the direction of the nature and functions of the resurrection body. L.

Vers. 24, 25.

The Christian race.

Nothing could be more natural, more effective, than an allusion of this kind, occurring as it does in a letter to residents at Corinth. The Isthmian games, celebrated in the neighbourhood of their own city, were to the inhabitants of this famous place a matter of the greatest concern and interest. The gathering of representatives from all parts of Greece to witness the athletic contests which took place in the stadium of the isthmus, gave dignity and solemnity to the occasion. And the honours accorded to the victors were so highly coveted that there could have been but few of the ambitious young men of Achaia, indeed, of the whole of Hellas, who were not fired with a desire to distinguish themselves in these contests. No wonder that Paul should stimulate his own zeal and that of his Christian friends and disciples by reminding himself and them of the efforts and the sacrifices which were willingly undertaken for the sake of a perishable crown.

I THE COURSE. The marble stadium of the isthmus serves as a picture to us of the course to which Christians are summoned. The Christian course is one of faith and obedience, of love and patience, of devotion to God and benevolence toward men.

II THE SPECTATORS. It was the presence of the illustrious from every part of Greece which gave such peculiar dignity to the Olympian and the Isthmian games. In the Christian race, they who run are encompassed by a "great cloud of witnesses" the Church militant and triumphant, the glorious angels, and the Divine Lord himself looking on with the deepest interest, and perhaps justifiable anxiety.

III THE COMBATANTS. We are not to restrict these to apostles, to preachers, to public labourers for Christ. Every disciple is a spiritual athlete, is called upon to run the race, to maintain the struggle, No room in the course for the indolent and inactive.

IV THE DISCIPLINE AND PREPARATION. It is well known that for many months the athletes who aspired to the victor"s wreath were obliged to undergo severe discipline, under the guidance and care of a skilful trainer, who required them to deny themselves many pleasures, to endure much fatigue, hardship, and suffering. Paul reminds us of the necessity of being temperate in all things, of bringing under the body buffeting it with many blows. The Christian life is not one of ease and self indulgence; it is one of strenuous effort and self denial. They who strive for masteries must strive lawfully, must accept and obey the Divine conditions of the course.

V THE EFFORT. The "one" combatant who received the prize did so as the result of great effort, strenuous and persevering. For neither apathy nor weariness were compatible with success. "So run," says the apostle, meaning that we are to imitate, not those who fail, but him who succeeds and conquers. What need, in living unto Christ, is there of diligence, of watchfulness, and above all of endurance!

VI THE PRIZE. At the isthmus this was a chaplet of pine leaves, which soon faded. Yet its possession was coveted, and was counted a reward for the training and the toil. How much more should the Christian be animated by the prospect of an eternal inheritance and an amaranthine crown! T.

Vers. 24-27.

Spiritual athletics.

Paul compares the Christian life to a foot race and to a boxing contest. These were familiar to the Corinthians, being conspicuous features of the celebrated Isthmian games. A wise teacher speaks through things known of things unknown. Christ spoke in parables. Passing events may be made the vehicles of abiding truths. The secular may often illustrate the sacred. There is no loss of dignity or impropriety in such modes of instruction. Some people are shocked by references to everyday life; but such people ought to be shocked. Homely garb sometimes wins the readier admittance. Note some points of resemblance.

I CHRISTIAN LIFE IS A PASSAGE FROM SIN TO HOLINESS, FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN. It is a daily movement. We need beware of stumbling blocks, of straying from the right course, of indulgence which may hinder, of violation of laws, of loitering, since the time is short.

II CHRISTIAN LIFE IS A CONTEST WITH ENEMIES. The "race" does not fully illustrate it. We have opponents, many and resolute. We have a trinity against us as well as for us the world, the flesh, and the devil. We have not only to "run," but to "fight.

III FOR SUCCESS ARE NEEDED:

1. Preparation. For athletic contests how much "training" has to be undergone, often very painful and wearying! Our preparation for Christian life is arduous and long, but it does not commence before we enter upon Christian life, but as we enter, and continues until the close. We "train" as we ran and as we fight.

2. Earnestness. No indifferent competitor was likely to win in ancient races or boxing contests. Indifference kills Christian lift,. The half hearted go not far from the starting point. Many have only enough earnestness to "enter" for the race and fight; as soon as they have "entered," they think all is done.

3. Striving. To be amongst the runners is not enough; we must exert our powers; we must call into activity all our energies. We must not be as those who "beat the air," but as those who boat their enemies. Christian life is real, with issues of infinite importance. It is not for exhibition of skill, but for stern work. "Strive agonize to enter in at the strait gate." Paul would have each Christian to be as the winner, who "spent himself" in snatching the victory (ver. 24). We do not hinder others from attaining, and for this we may be not a little thankful; but we each need to use the utmost effort.

4. Patience. Christian life is not soon over. At first we may do well, but when difficulties arise we shall be tested. Some who run fastest at first run slowest at last. Our all wise Master spoke of "enduring to the end.

5. Watchfulness. Lest we trip. Lest our enemy gets an advantage. The great Preacher"s text was often "Watch!

6. Resolution. If we are to endure to the end, we shall need stern resolve. Fixedness of purpose is an essential for Christian life. We should determine in God"s strength to go on, whatever may lie in our path: to fight on, no matter what enemies confront us. Christian life demands courage and fortitude; we must not be too easily frightened.

7. Concentration. "This one thing I do." The "whole man" must be given to religion. Some professors are "called off" from the race, and lose it. They lower their guard, for their hands must be about earthly things, and then their enemy overthrows them.

8. Continuity. This tries many. If religion were spasmodic, they could be religious. There are many "now and then" Christians. People like to be pious at intervals.

9. Mortification of the flesh. Ancient athletes knew, as their modern brethren do, what this means. The victor was "temperate in all things." A pampered body meant disappointment, disgrace, loss. Paul said, "I keep under I buffet, I bruise my body." Our lower nature must be dealt severely with. Indulgence is disaster; we must practise self control, self denial, sob sacrifice.

10. Confidence, but not excess of confidence. Confidence that will prompt to exertion, not confidence which kills effort. "Lest... I myself should be a castaway.

IV SUCCESS MEETS WITH REWARD. Contrast the crowns of earth with the crown of heaven. Many do so much for a corruptible crown, and we so little for an incorruptible one. A garland of leaves and a day"s popularity: paradise and life eternal.

V MANY SPECTATORS WITNESS THE CONTEST. The eyes of the ungodly are upon us. Fellow Christians watch us closely. The angels behold us, and are "ministering spirits" to us. Perhaps victors of the past, perhaps those who have failed in race and fight, watch us. The King sees us the Judge he who holds "the crown of righteousness" for those whohave "fought a good fight" and "finished the course." "Wherefore seeing,". (Heb_12:1, Heb_12:2) When we think of the race and fight, we should Php_4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. H.

Vers. 24-27.

The race for the prize.

The thought introduced in ver. 23, that Paul"s self denial had a reference to his own salvation as well as the salvation of others, is here carried on and applied generally to all Christians. The imagery is derived from the Isthmian games celebrated in the neighbourhood of Corinth, and therefore well known to his readers. These games occupied a place in the national life of Greece corresponding to that occupied by the great yearly festivals in the life of Israel There is no reference to them in the Gospels, as they were unknown in Palestine, but more than once they are used in the Epistles as a metaphorical representation of the Christian life. (comp. Php_3:14; 2Ti_4:7, 2Ti_4:8; Heb_12:1) Consider

I THE RACE. The stadium presented an animating spectacle. At this end stand the competing athletes, awaiting the signal to start; at the other end is the judge, holding in his hand the prize; whilst all around, rising tier upon tier, are the seats crowded with spectators. The Christian life is a race for the great prize offered by God to the successful runner. At conversion we take our place in the racecourse and have our names proclaimed by the herald. The leading ideas in the figure are:

1. Progress. "Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on," etc.. (Php_3:13)

2. Earnestness. The Christian life is one of strenuous effort every muscle strung, every faculty called into exercise. No place for lukewarmness or indifference here.

3. Concentration. "One thing! do." The runner, with eye on the goal and all else out of view, bends his whole strength to this single effort. Dissipation of energy, the multa rather than the multum, is a source of weakness in spiritual life. "One thing is needful.

4. Endurance. "Let us run with patience". (Heb_12:1) To faint or fall is to lose the prize. The cross must be borne to the end. Nothing but "patient continuance in well doing" will conduct us to the goal. (comp. Jam_1:12)

II CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN THE RACE. To run well we must run as the successful racer. The end in view must be clear: we must know what we are running for ("not uncertainly"). Here specially emphasize the preparatory conditionself restraint. The athlete under training was required to avoid excess in eating and drinking, and every form of fleshly indulgence. The Christian athlete must practise a like temperance if he would run his course with success. In this point of view the body is the antagonist with which we contend, and which must be buffeted and bruised rather than suffered to gain the mastery over us. How many Christians are hindered in their spiritual course by lack of self restraint! The worship of comfort, the love of luxury, not to speak of such indulgences as are clearly sinful, cause many to lag in the race. An intemperate use of, or affection for, things in themselves good, is a most insidious snare in the path of spiritual advancement. Bodily mortification is not spirituality, but it is often helpful towards its attainment. The Christian runner must lay aside every weight as well as every sin. (Heb_12:1)

II THE PRIZE. This consisted of a chaplet of leaves olive, parsley, pine. In addition, the name of the victor was celebrated in a triumphal ode and a statue was erected to his memory. It was a great honour one of the greatest in a land where the gymnastic art was so highly appreciated; and even Roman emperors (Nero, e.g. ) did not hesitate to enter the lists. But at best it was, like all earthly honours, corruptible. These crowns would quickly fade, that applause would soon cease. The prize for which the Christian contends is an incorruptible crown. It is the "crown of righteousness", (2Ti_4:8) the "crown of life" (Jam_1:12; Rev_2:10) the "crown of glory". (1Pe_5:4) To have righteousness and life in perfection is our true glory, and this is the very crown of cur being. A crown composed of such materials cannot fade away. All the trees in that country are evergreen. What an object to fill the eye and fire the soul! A proud moment when the successful runner had the chaplet of leaves put on his brow! A grandee moment for the Christian athlete when the pierced hand of Jesus places on his head the crown of glory! And if men endure so much and strive so earnestly for the corruptible, how much more should we endure and strive in order to obtain the incorruptible!

REMARKS.

1. The human side of the Christian life is strongly emphasized in the figure of the race; but along with this we must take the other side of the truth. Without the grace of God we cannot run. Mark the striking combination in Php_2:12, 13.

2. Notice the apostle"s self distrust. He is not ashamed to confess that he brings his body into subjection, "lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected." Compare such outbursts of confident assurance as Rom_8:38, Rom_8:39, and 2Ti_1:12, and regard the one as the complement of the other. Self diffidence goes hand in hand with genuine assurance. A lesson for all Christians, and especially for all preachers. B.

Vers. 24-27.

Running and fighting.

The crown of eternal life is here set forth as the issue of successful conflict with difficulties and foes. It would seem as if all Divine excellence must needs present itself to our minds as the negation of opposite forms of evil. We cannot think of God but as the "Light" that contends with our darkness, the "Fire" that consumes our corruption. God"s Law is but the Divine restraint of our wayward propensities, the Divine rebuke of our trangressions. The Divine life in the soul is an energy that reveals itself in ceaseless struggle with forces that would otherwise destroy it, a perpetual battle with the powers of death. Heaven is victory, the rising up of the soul out of the region of trial and strife and suffering to its true destiny and inheritance in the glorious presence of God. Look at this passage as suggesting certain conditions of success in this spiritual conflict.

I CONCENTRATION OF THOUGHT ON THE PRIZE AS A MATTER OF INTENSE PERSONAL INTEREST. "All run, but one receiveth," etc. The analogy here instituted is not complete, inasmuch as in the Christian race all who "run with patience" will attain. But it serves to enforce the need of great fixedness of thought and purpose, as if each runner felt that only one could win, and he would be that one. There is nothing narrow, envious, selfish, in this. A great difference ties here between the heavenly and the earthly striving. He must be a man of very elevated spirit who is able to rise entirely above the narrowing influence of secular rivalry. In urging his way to success along the crowded thoroughfares of the world, a man almost inevitably thrusts some one else aside. The gigantic system of commercial competition means this. And it is an important problem of social life to determine how one may claim as he ought that personal inheritance in the world that God has placed within his reach, and yet not fall into the sin of a selfish violation of the rights of others. There is no room, however, for anything of this kind in the spiritual race and warfare. Mutual emulation is mutual profit. The success of each one is to the advantage and the joy of all. Strive to win the heavenly crown as if you alone could wear it, and the more intensely earnest you are in your striving, the more does your example inspire your fellow combatant, the more do you become a fount of healthful influence, a source of enrichment and blessing to all around you.

II SELF RESTRAINT AND SELF DISCIPLINE. The severe physical discipline to which the athletes subjected themselves was gladly borne for the sake of the "corruptible crown" they sought to win. Not that the perishable wreath of wild olive encircling the victor"s brow was in itself the thing he cared for. It was but the symbol of something else. To be conscious of the mastery, to have his name proclaimed by the herald before the assembled multitude as one who had conferred honour and renown on his family, his tribe, his country, that was his reward. So that the very ephemeral character of the crown made it the more striking witness to the nobility of man"s nature, to the truth that he can never find his satisfactions in the region of sense; they belong, after all, to the super sensible, the ideal world. Every form of ambition greater than the apparent object will account for or warrant, is proof of this. The enthusiasm that magnifies its objects beyond their real dimensions, and invests them with a fictitious charm, is always a significant memorial of man"s relation to a higher and a better world. At the same time, this striving for the corruptible crown reminds us how vain often are the rewards of earthly ambition, and how the price men pay often for their successes is a very costly one. They surrender that which is far more precious than the thing they gain. They "spend their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not." In "seeking to save their life, they lose it." The law of the heavenly race is the reverse of this. As the unsubstantial, the delusive, the perishable, is relinquished, the soul wins for itself the "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." You lose the lower life to gain the higher. "Temperate in all things." Let not the word "temperance" have to our minds a limited and exclusive meaning, one which, however important, does not cover the whole field of the Scripture applications. The Christian is called to be temperate alike in all his thoughts, emotions, words, and ways; in his joys and sorrows, his schemes and activities, his personal indulgences and personal mortifications; in his worldly ambitions, and even in the zeal of his religious life. But "the flesh" must needs be the chief occasion for the exercise of this self regulating grace. "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." Nothing could be more expressive of that subjugation of our lower nature by which we can alone win the crown of the spirit. Not that there is any essential virtue in mere physical austerities and mortifications.

Pride may be pampered while the flesh grows lean.

Asceticism is no natural outgrowth of Christianity, but rather of its unnatural alliance with that pagan philosophy which regarded matter and spirit as essentially antagonistic principles. Christ teaches us to honour the body that God"s wonder working hand has framed, and that he makes the temple of his Spirit. But then do we most honour the body when we make it most thoroughly the submissive servant of the soul"s diviner purposes, confronting it, meeting it full in the face, as it were, with the swift violence of our holy purpose, when it dares to obstruct the spirit in its path to the heavenly crown.

III THE CONFIDENCE THAT SPRINGS FROM FAITH. "Not as uncertainly, not as beating the air." Vivid realization, unwavering assurance, this was the secret of Paul"s strength. The prize of his high calling stood out clear and luminous to his view. He had no misgivings as to the reality of it. It filled the whole field of his vision with its glory, and the whole energy of his nature was consecrated to its pursuit. We must rise above the chilling, paralyzing mists of doubt, and see the heavenly crown clearly before us, if we would have there to be any real vigour in our spiritual striving. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. W.

Vers. 24-27.

The laws of the Christian race.

The illustration used in these verses is one which St. Paul frequently employs, and we cannot but think that he must have actually seen some of these games, for the impression made by them on his mind is that which comes from personal observation and impression rather than from knowledge through books. There is special force in his allusions to the games in writing to the Corinthians, because the set of games known as the Isthmian were held in the isthmus on which Corinth stood. For details of the games, reference may be made to the exegetical portion of this Commentary, and to the articles in classical and Biblical cyclopaedias. They cannot be precisely compared with anything that we have in modern times, because they were regarded by the Greeks as great national and religious festivals. Dean Stanley, writing of these Isthmian games, says, "This was one of the festivals which exercised so great an influence over the Grecian mind, which were, in fact, to their imaginations what the temple was to the Jews and the triumph to the Romans." St. Paul refers to the game in order to enforce his exhortation to self restraint, and we may find three great practical laws commended by him.

I THE LAW OF TRAINING. "For thirty days previous to the conflicts the candidates had to attend the exercises of the gymnasium, and only after the fulfilment of these conditions were they allowed, when the time arrived, to contend in the sight of assembled Greece." The training was very severe, conducted upon carefully prescribed rules, and designed to nourish vigorous physical power and precise skill for the kind of contest in which the man was to engage. We are to apply the illustration to moral and religious culture. Observing:

1. How God applies the law of training in the preparation of his servants for their work; as by sending Joseph into bondage; Moses to the Egyptian court and the Horeb desert; David into the wilderness of Judah; our Lord into the scenes of temptation; and St. Paul into Arabia. The providential dealings with men are meant to afford opportunities of training for their life work.

2. How men are required to meet the "law of training" by making personal efforts to secure fitness for the work to which they are called, such training taking the general form of soul culture, and the specific forms of adaptation to work. Anything that is worth our doing is worth our preparing to do well.

II THE LAW OF TEMPERATENESS. (Ver. 25.) We are wont to associate this law only with drinking. It applies to all the passions of the body, indulgences of the appetite, and relationships of the life. The Grecian philosopher says, "Wouldest thou conquer at the games? Thou must be orderly, spare in food, must abstain from confections, exercise at a fixed hour whether in heat or cold, and drink not cold water nor wine." Applied to moral and religious life, the law requires us

(1) to avoid the haste and hurry that plucks from us rest, and quiet, and calmness, and meditative moods;

(2) to keep from those religious excitements which are characteristic of our times, but unfriendly to real spiritual growth;

(3) to take up Christian work with a seriousness that will ensure "patient continuance in well doing;

(4) to keep Christian habits, of reading, visiting, etc., under judicious control, so that we may not be brought under the power of any. Everything is at our service and for our use, within careful limits, and these limits no rules can fix, only our own good judgment decides them.

III THE LAW OF SELF MASTERY. (Ver. 27.) This reminds us that training means trial, and temperateness means severe and painful dealings with sell. "The Christian career is not merely a race, but a conflict; and a conflict, not only with others, but with one"s self. St. Paul had to contend with the fleshly lusts of the body, the love especially of ease, the indisposition to hardship and toil so natural to humanity." The contest of life is between the regenerate will and the enslaved and corrupt body with its inclinations and motions. (see Ro 7) St. Paul says that the renewed will must hold the body in subjection and service. But such complete self mastery is the product of long struggle. He who fully gains it has won the moral race, and may receive the "incorruptible crown. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Know ye not that - In those famous games which are kept at the isthmus, near your city. They who run in the foot race all run, though but one receiveth the prize - How much greater encouragement have you to run; since ye may all receive the prize of your high calling!

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

race

race-course.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The need of self-discipline:

v. 24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain.

v. 25. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

v. 26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air;

v. 27. but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

An attitude and a habit of self-denial such as Paul practiced is not acquired with ease, but it demands the application of the sternest self-discipline, and he illustrates from his own case how a Christian may reach this stage and maintain it. In order to make his meaning clear to the Corinthians, Paul uses the figure of athletic games, with which they were familiar on account of the fact that the Isthmian games were held in the vicinity of their city every three years: Do you not know that they that run in the stadium, in the race-course, indeed all run, but one only receives the prize? So run that you may surely get it. The point of comparison is the assiduous application to the thought of winning, gaining, the prize. The prize at the Isthmian games was only a garland of the Grecian pine, but to the Greeks its value could not have been measured in terms of money. The prize for which the Christians should strive with every nerve and fiber of their being is wonderful beyond compare, and therefore they should remember that entering the race is not equivalent to winning it; they should not be satisfied with merely running, but they should make sure of winning the prize.

The foot-race teaches one lesson, the boxing contest another: Every combatant, every athlete, practices temperance in everything; they, indeed, in order to receive a perishing crown, but we an imperishable. All the athletes of the Greek games, no matter where they were, especially the boxers, indulged in nothing which might tend to weaken their muscles or their power of resistance; they practiced such stern severity that they abstained from even the slightest concession to food or drink that might set them back one day in their training. And all this for a garland that withered away in a short time, for the honor of having their names sung in the odes of the festivals. How much more, then, should the Christians, that have before their eyes the imperishable prize of their heavenly calling, strive with all the power of their sanctified hearts and minds to obtain that glorious reward! Blessedness and glory eternal is the reward of grace, 2Ti 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 5:4.

The apostle holds before the Corinthian Christians his own example: I for my person, therefore, so run, as in no uncertain way; so do I box, not like one that beats the air. As the racer has only one thing in mind, the winning of the race; as he keeps his eyes with unwavering steadiness upon the goal, so the apostle keeps his mind firmly directed to the prize that awaits the faithful Christian when his course is run. As the pugilist does not waste his strength in a futile beating of the air with his fists, but tries to make every blow count, so the apostle, in his battle with Satan, the world, and his own flesh, did not gently stroke the enemy with kid-gloves, but delivered telling blows, knowing that upon his winning the battle depended the certainty of his salvation. For that reason, also, Paul (literally) benumbed his body, he beat it black and blue, he subjected himself to the severest corporal discipline in the pursuit of his goal; he subdued his body to carry out the dictates of his will. That is one of the reasons why this apostle, whose physical constitution seems to have been anything but robust, was able to accomplish so much in the work of the Lord. But he did it lest in preaching to others he himself should prove reprobate, that is, be ruled out, rejected, according to the laws which governed the contest, or, in case he should be admitted to the competition, be unsuccessful in his attempt to gain the prize. "What an argument and what a reproof is this! The reckless and listless Corinthians thought that they could safely indulge themselves to the very verge of sin, while this devoted apostle considered himself as engaged in a life-struggle for his salvation. It is the indolent and self-indulgent Christian that is always in doubt. " (Hodge.)

Summary.The apostle defends his apostle-ship and his right to maintenance by the congregations and shows that his case is an exceptional one for the sake of the Gospel-preaching; he holds before his readers the example of his own self-discipline for emulation.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle, according to his custom in sundry epistles, does in the end of this chapter fall upon the use of terms agonistical, borrowed from the olympic and other Grecian games, celebrated near Corinth, in which the contending parties did put forth all their strength, to out-do one another. These games were running, cuffing, and wrestling: all which the apostle here alludes unto, and first to running: They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run the Christian race, that ye may obtain the prize.

Learn hence, That Christianity is a race which God hath set us, and it is our duty faithfully and perseveringly to run it. In a race, the foundation of it is a prize; in a race there is a considerable distance between one goal and another; in a race-plat for the racers to run in, there are certain laws to run by, and there is a certain judge to determine who wins the crown fairly.

Now this race of Christianity vastly differs from all other races thus: This is a spiritual race, it strains not legs and lungs, but faith and patience. Other races are performed by natural abilities, but this by a supernatural power and strength. Those races might be run without disturbance, but not this. Their reward but a garland of bays, ours a crown of immortality.

But what is it to run this race?

Ans. It supposes a motion, it imports a vehement and intense motion, it implies progress and proficiency; every step brings the racer nearer the goal: and it implies perseverance; the racer must hold it to the last, or he loses his labour and reward: every one that thus runs shall obtain the prize, whereas in other races but one receiveth the prize.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE OLYMPIC RACER AND THE ISTHMIAN GAMES

When I was at Athens I visited the Olympic racecourse, which was a universal sensation a solid thousand years, beginning twenty-five hundred years ago, and discontinued fifteen hundred years ago. When I was there three years ago they were busy rebuilding the amphitheater, and reopened those games and races the following April, after an interregnum of fifteen hundred years. The Isthmian games were at Corinth, so named from the isthmus connecting the Achaia, i. e., Southern Greece, with the mainland and separating the Aegean and Ionian Seas. These races and pugilistic games in their day became the absorbing interest, not only of Greece, but of all nations, who resorted to them from all parts of the earth that they might witness these grand quadrennial celebrations of Grecian heroism, genius, poetry, oratory, philosophy, and the fine arts. In the Pauline epistles we have frequent allusions to these races and games.

24. “Know you not that in the stadium those running indeed all run, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain.” While in those Grecian races only one could obtain the prize, and in our case there is a gracious possibility of every one receiving the boon, yet the sedulous warning of the apostle, “so run that you may obtain,” is demonstrative proof of our liability to fail. Such a failure does not here mean the forfeiture of Heaven, such a conclusion being out of harmony with the metaphor, from the simple fact that it was an especial privilege for Greeks only, and under the most rigid restrictions, to become runners in the stadium and contestants for the prizes in the amphitheater. Hebrews 12 :

“Laying aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ever looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

That race-course is not in the world, but in the kingdom of God, which is entered by regeneration. You see in this Scripture that after they have been received as bona fide contestants, having undergone years of preparatory discipline before the judges will receive them; then, laying aside every weight (which they had carried during their discipline to make them light when divested of it), and the besetting sin, i. e., inbred sin, thus getting sanctified wholly, they enter upon the race to run for the prize awaiting for them at the end. Hence none but regenerated people are candidates for the races, and they must be sanctified wholly in order to run the race. Now you see that these runners do not all receive the prize, there being but one for all the group in any one race. In our case, however, there is a gracious possibility of every one winning the prize, yet you see a fearful liability that we may all fail; hence the admonition, “So run that you may obtain.” What is the obtainment? Only Christ, the author of our faith in conversion, the finisher of our faith in sanctification, and now returning to the earth for His Bride, and the question is, “Who shall have a place in the Bridehood?” — the climax of our achievement in Christ, and the voucher of our glorification, whether by translation or resurrection when He comes.

Php 3:11 :

“In order that I may obtain unto the resurrection which is out from the dead,”

i. e., an especial and extraordinary resurrection, peculiar to the Bridehood of Christ, as in the Philippian letter we see, as in Corinthians and Hebrews and other epistles, running with all his might for the prize set before him.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? [ Phi_3:12-14 ] Even so run; that ye may attain . [In the Greek contests there was but one prize for each group of contestants, and that was awarded to the winner. But the Christian race is not competitive: each may win a prize, but he does so by contending with his own sinful nature. He must run faithfully, earnestly and continuously if he would win in the race against his lower self.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24–27. They which run in a race, run all, etc. He had spoken of self denial in order to secure gospel success. He now enforces the need of sparing no effort, self denial or exertion, to win the crown. The Corinthians were familiar with the races in the stadium. Only one, the foremost, received a prize. Hence the lesson, so run that you may obtain; outstrip all others if possible. The Isthmian games, among the most famous of Greece, were celebrated at Corinth.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul explains that he uses the liberty he has in Christ to discipline himself.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run the race, but that only one receives the prize?

Paul is reminding the Corinthians of what they know so he can add new information. AT: "Let me remind you that although all runners run the race, only one runner receives the prize." (See: Rhetorical Question)

run the race

Paul compares living the Christian life and working for God to running a race and being an athlete. As in a race, the Christian life and work require strict discipline on the part of the runner, and, as in a race, the Christian has a specific goal. (See: Metaphor)

run to win the prize

Paul is speaking of the reward God will give his faithful people as if it were a prize given for an athletic contest. (See: Metaphor)

a wreath that is perishable ... one that is imperishable

A wreath is a bunch of leaves twisted together. Wreaths were given as prizes to athletes who won games and races. Paul speaks of eternal life as if it were a wreath that would never dry up. (See: Metaphor)

I do not run without purpose or box by beating the air

Here "running" and "boxing" are both metaphors for living the Christian life and serving God. This can be stated in positive form. AT: "I know very well why I am running, and I know what I am doing when I box" (See: Metaphor and Double Negatives)

I myself may not be disqualified

This passive sentence can be rephrased to an active form. The judge of a race or competition is a metaphor for God. AT: "the judge will not disqualify me" or "God will not say that I have failed to obey the rules" (See: Active or Passive and Metaphor)

translationWords

know

receive

self-control

perish

body

servant

preach

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

24–27. EXHORTATION TO SELF-RESTRAINT

24. οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι. The Apostle now introduces the figure of a race-course. He does not mean that in the Christian course only one receives the prize, but that each should manifest the same eagerness and sustained effort as if the prize could be given to one only. The Corinthians are now exhorted to follow the example of their teacher in all self-mistrust and self-restraint. There can be little doubt that there is an allusion here to the Isthmian games, which took place every three years at a spot on the sea-coast about nine miles from Corinth. This was one of those festivals ‘which exercised so great an influence over the Grecian mind, which were, in fact, to their imaginations what the Temple was to the Jews and the triumph to the Romans.’ Stanley. At this period, he remarks, the Olympic games, the chief national institution of the Greeks (see Art. ‘Olympia’ in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities), had possibly lost some of their interest, while the Isthmus had been the centre of the last expiring struggle of Greek independence, and was destined to be the place where, a few years after the date of this Epistle, Nero stood to announce that the province of Achaia had received the honour of Roman citizenship.

ἐν σταδἰῳ. See Art. ‘Stadium’ in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities. This was a fixed course, oblong in shape, with one end semicircular, fitted round with seats, that the spectators might see all that went on. It was ‘not a mere resort for public amusement, but an almost sacred edifice, under the tutelage of the patron deity of the Ionian tribes, and surrounded by the most solemn recollections of Greece; its white marble seats rising like a temple in the grassy slope, where its outlines may still be traced, under the shadow of the huge Corinthian citadel, which guards the entrance to the Peloponnesus, and overlooking the blue waters of the Saronic Gulf, with Athens glittering in the distance.’ Stanley.

βραβεῖον. So called because it was given by the βραβεύς or judge. It was a garland of ‘olive, parsley, bay, or pine.’ Stanley. From this word, through the late Latin word bravium, comes our brave.

καταλάβητε. Lit. take a firm grasp of.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24.] The allusion is primarily no doubt to the Isthmian games [‘celebrated under the shadow of the huge Corinthian citadel’ (Stanley)]; but this must not be pressed too closely: the foot-race was far too common an element in athletic contests, for any accurate knowledge of its predominance in some and its insignificance in others of the Grecian games to be here supposed. Still less must it be imagined that those games were to be celebrated in the year of the Epistle being written. The most that can with certainty be said, is that he alludes to a contest which, from the neighbourhood of the Isthmian games, was well known to his readers. See Stanley’s note: who, in following out illustrations of this kind, writes with a vivid graphic power peculiarly his own.

βραβεἶον] Wetst. quotes from the Schol. on Pindar, Olymp. 1, λέγεται δὲ τὸ διδόμενον γέρας τῷ νικήσαντι ἀθλητῇ ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν διδόντων αὐτὸ βραβευτῶν βραβεῖον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἀθλούντων ἆθλον,, and from the Etymol., βραβεῖον λέγεται ὁ παρὰ τῶν βραβευτῶν διδόμενος στέφανος τῷ νικῶντι.

οὕτως τρ.] Thus (after this manner—viz. as they who run all, each endeavouring to be the one who shall receive the prize:—not, as the one who receives it (Meyer, De Wette),—for the others strive as earnestly as he: still less must we take ἵνα καταλάβητε for ὡς καταλαβεῖν, which is barely allowable, and here would not suit the sense; the οὕτως being particularized presently by one point of the athletes’ preparation being specially alleged for their imitation) run (not καὶ ὑμεῖς τρέχετε, because the evident analogy between the race and the Christian conflict is taken for granted. If, as Dr. Peile imagines, a contrast had been intended, between the stadium where one only can receive the prize, and the Christian race where all may, it must have stood οὕτως δὲ ὑμεῖς τρέχετε, ὡς καὶ (πάντας?) καταλαβεῖν. But such contrast would destroy the sense), in order that ye may fully obtain (the prize of your calling, see Php 3:14. On λαμβάνω and καταλαμβάνω see note, ch. 7:31).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. The thought of possible failure, where failure would be so disastrous, suggests an exhortation to great exertion, which is illustrated by the practice of runners and boxers in the Isthmian games. These were held once in three years close to Corinth. See Hastings, DB. art. ‘Games’; Smith, D. of Grk, and Rom. Ant. art. ‘Isthmia’. The reference to the games is certain; such contests were common everywhere. The reference to the Isthmian games is much less certain. See Ramsay, Pauline Studies, p. 332, Pictures of the Apostolic Church, p. 363.

οἱ ἑν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες … βραβεῖον. ‘The runners in a race-course all of them run, but one taketh the prize.’* Does that mean, asks Origen, that only one Christian is saved, while the rest of us are lost? Not so, for all who are in the way of salvation are one, ‘one body.’ It is the Christian Church that runs, and there is a prize for each of its members. But the prize is not in all cases the same: God gives to each according to his merit. The derivation of βραβεῖον (brabeum, brabium, bravium) is unknown. It occurs Php 3:14; Clem. Rom. Cor. 5; Tatian, Ad Graec. 33.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 24. “Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”

In the application, the goal is no more identical with the prize, than in the actual case. The goal is perfect holiness; the prize is glory, the crown of holiness. Of course, in mentioning the fact that out of a number of runners only one reaches the goal first, and obtains the prize, the apostle does not mean, that of the multitude of Christians only one will be saved. What he desires to inculcate by the figure is, that to succeed in the Christian race, one must labour for his salvation with the same energy and the same resolution to reach the goal of holiness, as this one victor to reach the goal of the race. Like him, the Christian must learn to forget everything else, that he may see only the goal to be reached. They are not very many, Paul means, who, while calling themselves Christians, run after this manner! The word οὕτω, so, may be regarded as a particle of inference: “so then run, that ye may obtain.” But it may also be made the antecedent of the conjunction ἵνα: “Run in such a way that...” There is more vivacity in this second meaning of οὕτω. This little word, rightly understood, seems intended to cheer and stimulate the runners. It is objected, that instead of the ἵνα, that, a ὥστε, so that, would have been needed. But the ἵνα brings out better the aspiration of the runner after victory.

When the apostle speaks of this one, does he allude to his own mode of acting? Possibly (1Co 9:26-27). In any case they ought to beware, those Corinthians — fond of their ease and obstinately attached to their rights and liberties—lest they be in the end like those slack runners who lose the prize. To win, it is not enough to run, it is needed to run well (Rückert). This idea is the transition to the following verse.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.