1 Corinthians 9:25

1Co_9:25

Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Lawful striving

I. The fact that the Christian life is a striving after an end. This text is out of joint with much of the language of the present day. Such as the rest of faith--as if Christian life were inaction. This is not an exceptional experience, or merely true of babes in Christ. The language appears again and again as the constant state of the apostle.

II. The manner of the strife.

1. Lawfully. It must be in harmony with the Divine rule, not with our own impulses.

2. Certainly. Lawfulness secures certainty. Men guided by Christ are not in doubt as to what they ought to do, or as to the result.

III. The object of our striving. I keep under my body. We think there was little need of Paul to do this. His body was indeed subject; he had gone through peril, trial, persecution. He never indulged it.

IV. The motives.

1. Not to be a castaway.

2. To gain a crown. (W. Landell, D. D.)

Temperance helpful to resolution

It is weak to be scared at difficulties, seeing that they generally diminish as they are approached, and oftentimes even entirely vanish. No man can tell what he can do till he tries. It is impossible to calculate the extent of human powers; it can only be ascertained by experiment. What has been accomplished by parties and by solitary individuals in the torrid and frozen regions, under circumstances the most difficult and appalling, should teach us that when we ought to attempt we should never despair. The reason why men oftener succeed in overcoming uncommon difficulties than ordinary ones is, that in the first case they call into action the whole of their resources, and that in the last they act upon calculation, and generally undercalculate. Confidence of success is almost success; and obstacles often fall of themselves before a determination to overcome them. There is something in resolution which has an influence beyond itself, and it marches on like a mighty lord among its slaves; all is prostration where it appears. When bent on good, it is almost the noblest attribute of man; when on evil, the most dangerous. It is by habitual resolution that men succeed to any great extent; impulses are not sufficient. What is done at one moment is undone the next; and a step forward is nothing gained unless it is followed up. Resolution depends mainly on the state of the digestion, which St. Paul remarkably illustrates when he says, Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Temperance

I. As an element of Christian character. There are many elements that constitute this; but there can be no full-rounded Christian life without temperance.

1. Observe the frequent references made to it in Scripture. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal_5:1-26.), and one step in the ladder of Christian graces (2Pe_1:1-21.). In his address to Felix, Paul reasoned of it.

2. The word literally means the power of regulating ones self; hence it is synonymous with self-control; and as self-control is needed only when there is temptation to sinful indulgence, there is contained in it the further idea of self-sacrifice. So it lies at the foundation of the noblest of all lives. This is the principle that made the martyrs.

3. Let it not be supposed that it was unknown prior to the Christian era. It was practised, as we see, by the athletes; so that Christianity simply took hold of an existing principle and applied it to a new case. But formerly its end was selfish and secular; now it is exercised for a worthier end.

4. Self-denial, then, occupies no secondary place. He who is not able to practise it is not worthy to be a follower of Christ. But how can this be unless we possess something of His spirit? The highest type of man is he who is likest to Christ in consecration and self-denying service. This is what we should aim at; it is the perfection of character. Shall Jesus bear the Cross alone, and all the world go free? &c.

II. As a condition of moral conquest.

1. No one ever yet did anything great without making a sacrifice. The prize-wrestler deemed it indispensable to success. He had to forego everything that did not contribute to the end in view. It is the same all through life. Whatever be ones abilities, there is no royal road to proficiency; and of all things, the most difficult to master is ones self. If the prize-fighter, the soldier, the student, the merchant, can be self-denying to gain their ends, why cannot the Christian deny himself to gain his end? Think of the self-denial of Moses, Daniel, tile three Hebrew children. Let their manly example impress on us the duty of total abstinence, when the alternative is sin.

2. Herein lies the guarantee of conquest. Let self be put down and Christ lifted up, and then not only will the life be itself a success, but it will be a power for the moral conquest of the world, for we can influence others only in proportion as we live under the power of the truth ourselves. The world will not readily be impressed with that spirit which makes self-interest its end, nor be struck with the excellence of that religion which makes no sacrifice.

III. As a duty of universal obligation.

1. We owe it to Christ. We owe our salvation to the practice of this principle on His part. Think what He gave up for us.

2. We owe it to ourselves. How many are there who, from protracted pandering to the cravings of their lower nature, have lost the power of self-control!

3. We owe it to our fellow-men. If Christ denied Himself for us, should we not also deny ourselves for the brethren, and, like the noble Apostle of the Gentiles, become all things to all men? (D. Merson, M. A.)

Self-control possible to all

1. Paul, instructed in all the narrowness of his people, escaped entirely from it, and became as unconventional as you can well imagine a man to be. If he went past a heathen temple, he used that as an illustration of Divine truth.

2. The illustration of our text is one drawn from the conflicts where wrestlers or racers contended for the wreath. He declares that men who strove for these things were temperate. Now temperance means self-control, and self-control, self-denial. This was much to say in Corinth.

I. Self-control is the common experience of men, and Christianity appeals to an active possibility, for a purpose far higher than that for which men usually employ self-control.

1. If there is a class who are more than any other given up to the force of animal desires, it is the athletic class. And yet for the (to them) highest pleasure they persuade themselves to practise extraordinary self-control. If I were to preach to them a temperate life, for the sake of spiritual dignity, they would reply, That will do very well for parsons, but it is impossible for men like us. And yet they practise far more than what would be necessary to make them eminent Christians. Did you ever read the history of the training of men for prize-fights? The system of exercises, if exerted in industry, would obtain for them a living during the whole year.

2. If there be anything in this world that men dislike, it is the unintermitted endurance of discomforts and disciplines; and yet how cheerfully do soldiers endure these things under the stimulus of various motives of ambition, patriotism, and esprit de corps. Well, if these men can do it, anybody can. The only question is, Will you?

3. There is no class that submit to so much inconvenience and self-denial as commercial men. The most disagreeable things are done by men, and men of sensitive nerve, if there be money in them. How patiently will they work in the tallow-chandlers shop, or a fish-shop, or in a mine, &c.; nay, cheerfully go to the tropics, and burn in Cuba. Ah! how sublime the life would be of an all-world-disturbing merchant, if only it were for a moral end.

4. Consider how patient men are with their fellow-men. The hardest thing to bear is men. A man that can bear cheerfully his fellow-men has little to learn. When men have no motive, how cross and uncharitable they are. But the moment they have an interest in others, see what perfect Christians they are--in a way! If a man owes you a debt, and you think you can get it by crushing him as a cluster is crushed, you will do it. But sometimes there is no cluster to crush, and then you tend this man, and take care of him. You do a world of work for the sake of helping him to bear clusters that by and by shall be pressed into your cup. Why, if you should take a man on Christian principles, and do as much as that for him, you would be canonised as a saint. And then, for the same reasons, see how men bear with disagreeable men. You have your wares for sale, and anybody that buys is welcome to your shop. And if the price is that you shall be hail fellow well met with him, you swallow down any reluctance, and say, We must not do anything to offend him. During the days when colour was a virtue, in a famous church in New York a distinguished merchant had a coloured man in his pew, whose presence in the congregation had the same effect that a lump of salt would have in a cup of tea. And as they went out of the church, they gathered about the merchant, and said, What possessed you to bring that nigger into your pew? He whispered, He is a great planter, a millionaire. And then they said, Introduce us to him. Then where was their fine taste? When mammon said, Let it go, it was all right. But when Jesus said, Let it go, that was detestable.

5. Nay, more. We see how willingly and cheerfully great men, great natures, for the sake of an ignoble ambition, that is not very high, after all, will sacrifice their lives, their multiform faculties and enjoyments. There are those living that are to be revered for many excellences, who, adopting the apostles form of expression, could say, I count all things but dung, that I may win the Presidency.

II. Now the Lord Jesus, calling us to honour and glory and immortality, says only what the world says of its poor, grovelling, and miserable things--Take up your cross and follow me. Lust says so: why should not love say so? Earthly glory that fades like the laurel wreath says so: why should not that crown of gold that never grows dim say so? When we urge such considerations upon the young, and young men are fired thereby; when truly noble natures hear the call, and accept it, and yield themselves to it, and enter upon a religious life with fervour, and deny themselves in all things in furtherance of its commands, how strangely the world fails to recognise its own redeeming qualities! And how are these men called enthusiasts! Now, enthusiasm in religion is the only good sense. There is not a father who does not say to his child, going out into life, If you are to succeed as a lawyer, my son, you must give yourself to it. And I say to every man that is going out as a Christian, If you are going to succeed as a Christian, you must give yourself to it. (H. W. Beecher.)

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.--

Contrasted aims and parallel methods

Here we get, in a picturesque fashion--

I. The worlds sad folly in its ordinary aims. The wreath was, of course, not what the racer ran for. It was only a symbol, and its entirely valueless character made it all the more valuable. It expressed simply honour and the joy of success. In front of the temple that presided over the games was a long avenue, on either side of which stood ranged the statues of the victors; and the hope that flushed many a mans face was that his image, with his name on its pedestal, should stand there. And where are they all? Their names forgotten, the marble likenesses buried beneath the greensward, over which the shepherd to-day pastures his quiet flocks. And all our pursuits, unless they be linked with eternity and God, are as evanescent and disproportioned as was the wreath for which months of discipline, and moments of almost superhuman effort, were considered but a small price to pay. Business, providing for a family, &c., necessarily demand attention. You may so use them as to secure the remoter aims of growing like your Master and fit for the inheritance, or to construct out of them a barrier between you and your eternal wealth. In the one case you are wise, in the other case your epitaph will be Thou fool! A poet has put in homely words the lesson for us: What good came of it at last? asks the little child, when the old man is telling him of the great victory. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown--two pennyworth of parsley. It is a symbol of what some of you are living for.

II. The Christians wisdom in his aim. But we an incorruptible.

1. The emblem stands for a symbol of dominion, of victory, and of festivity. It is the crown of the king, or the wreath of the victor, or the garlands on the guests at the feast. It is a crown of life. The true life of the spirit which partakes of the immortal life of Jesus is the crown. It is a crown of glory--the radiant lustre of a manifestly God-glorified spirit. The garland that adorns those who sit at the feast is no mere external adornment, but the lustre of a perfect character which is the outcome of a Christ-given life. It is the crown of righteousness. Only pure brows can wear it. It would burn like a circlet of fire if it were placed on other heads. Righteousness is the condition of obtaining it.

2. This, then, is the aim which the apostle asserts to be the aim of every person that has the right to call himself a Christian. There is a sharp test for you. Do you live to win it? Does it gleam before you with a brightness that makes all other and nearer objects insignificant and pale? If you can answer them in the affirmative you are a happy man.

3. And more than that, all these nearer objects will become even more blessed, and your whole life nobler than it otherwise would be. The green of the lower slopes of the Alps never looks so vivid, their flowers never so lovely or so bright as when the eye rises from them to the glaciers. And so all the lower levels of life look fairer, because our eyes pass beyond them and fix on the great white throne that towers above them all.

III. The worlds noble wisdom in the choice of its means,

1. This poor racer had ten months of hard abstinence and exercise before there was even a chance for him to succeed. And then there was a short spurt of tremendous effort before he came in at the goal. These things are conditions of success in the would, and no matter for what the man is doing it, it is better for him to be braced into self-control, and stirred into energetic activity, than to be rotting like a fat weed in the pestilential marshes of self-indulgence, and losing all pith and manhood in tile languid dissolution of indolence.

2. And so one cannot but look with admiration at a great deal of the toil and effort that the world puts forth, even for its own shabby ends. Why, a man will spend twenty times as long in making himself a good conjurer, who can balance feathers and twirl plates upon a table, as some of us ever spent in trying to make ourselves good Christians.

IV. The folly of so many professing Christians in their way of pursuing their aims.

1. A languid runner had no chance, and he knew it. The phrase was almost a contradiction in terms. What about a languid Christian? Is that a more consistent idea? If I let my desire and affections go flowing vagrantly over the whole low plain of material things, they will be like a river that is lost in the swamp. If I set out on the race without having girt up my loins by resolute self-denial, what can I expect but that before I have run half-a-dozen yards my ungirt robes will trip me up or get caught in the thorns and keep me back? No Christian progress is possible to-day, or ever was, or will be, except on the condition--Take up your cross, and deny yourself, and then come after Me. Learn from the world this lesson, that if a man wants to succeed in any course he must shut out other, even legitimate ones.

2. And then the runner that did not put all his powers into the five minutes of his race had no chance of coming in at the goal. And there is no different law in regard to Christian people. Conclusion: God be thanked! We are crowned not because we are good, but because Christ died. But the teaching of my text, that a Christian man must labour to win the prize, is by no means contradictory to, hut complementary and confirmatory of the earlier truth. The laws of the race are--Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved; and the second is, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Heaven--an incentive to diligence

Julius Caesar coming towards Rome with his army, and hearing that the senate and people had fled from it, said, They that will not fight for this city, what city will they fight for? If we will not take pains for the kingdom of heaven, what kingdom will we take pains for? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Concerning the crown

I. The crown. Recall the other places where the same metaphor is employed. It is extremely unlikely that all these instances of the occurrence of the emblem carry with them reference, such as that in my text to the prize at the athletic festivals. For Peter and James, intense Jews as they were, had probably never seen, and possibly never heard of, the struggles at the Isthmus and at Olympus and elsewhere. The book of the Revelation draws its metaphors almost exclusively from the circle of Jewish practices and things. So that we have to look in other directions than the arena or the racecourse to explain these other uses of the image. It is also extremely unlikely that in these other passages the reference is to a crown as the emblem of sovereignty, for that idea is expressed, is a rule, by another word in Scripture, which we have Anglicised as diadem. The crown in all these passages is a garland twisted out of some growth of the field. The crown which is the Christians aim is a state of triumphant repose and of festal enjoyment. There are other aspects of that great and dim future which correspond to other necessities of our nature. That future is other and more than a festival; it is other and more than repose. There are larger fields there for the operation of powers that have been trained and evolved here. The faithfulness of the steward is exchanged, according to Christs great words, for the authority of the ruler over many cities. But still, do we not all know enough of the worry and turbulence and strained effort of the conflict here below, to feel that to some of our deepest and not ignoble needs and desires that image appeals? So the satisfaction of all desires, the accompaniments of a feast in abundance, rejoicing and companionship, and conclusive conquest over all foes, are promised us in this great symbol. The crown is described in three ways. It is the crown of life, of glory, and of righteousness. And I venture to think that these three epithets describe the material, so to speak, of which the wreath is composed. The everlasting flower of life, the radiant, blossoms of glory, the white flower of righteousness; these arc its components. Here we have the promise of life, that fuller life which men want. Here we live a living death; there we shall live indeed; and that will be the crown, not only in regard of physical, but in regard of spiritual, powers and consciousness. But remember that all this full tide of life is Christs gift. All being, from the lowest creature up to the loftiest created spirit, exists by one law, the continual impartation of life from the fountain of life, to it, according to its capacities. I will give him a crown of life. It is a crown of glory, and that means a lustrousness of character imparted by radiation and reflection from the central light of the glory of God. Then shall the righteous blaze out like the sun, in the kingdom of My Father. We all shall be changed into the likeness of the body of His glory. It is a crown of righteousness. Though that phrase may mean the wreath that rewards righteousness, it seems more in accordance with the other similar expressions to which I have referred to regard it, too, as the material of which the crown is composed. It is not enough that there should be festal gladness, not enough that there should be calm repose, not enough that there should be flashing glory, not enough that there should be fulness of life. To accord with the intense moral earnestness of the Christian system there must be, emphatically, in the Christian hope cessation of all sin and investiture with all purity. Thy people shall be all righteous. They shall walk with Me in white. And it sets the very climax and culmination on the other hopes. These, then, are the elements, and on them all is stamped the signature of perpetuity. The crown of life is incorruptible.

II. Now look, secondly, at the discipline by which the crown is won. Observe, first of all, that in more than one Of the passages to which we have already referred, great emphasis is laid upon Christ as giving the crown. That is to say, that blessed future is not won by effort, but is bestowed as a free gift. It is given from the hands which have procured it, and, as I may say, twined it for us. Jesus provides the sole means, by His work, by which any man can enter into that inheritance. It remains for ever the gift of His love. Whilst, then, this must be laid as the basis of all, there must also, with equal earnestness, be set forth the other thought that Christs gift has conditions, which conditions these passages plainly set forth. In the one which I have read as a text we have these conditions declared as being twofold, protracted discipline and continuous effort. James declares that it is given to the man who endures temptation. Peter asserts that it is the reward of self-denying discharge of duty. And the Lord from heaven lays down the condition of faithfulness unto death as the necessary pre-requisite of His gift of the crown of life. Eternal life is the gift of God, on condition of our diligence and earnestness. It is not all the same whether you are a lazy Christian or not.

III. And now, lastly, note the power of the reward as motive for life. Paul says roundly in our text, that the desire to obtain the incorruptible crown is a legitimate spring of Christian action. Now, I do not need to waste your time and my own in defending Christian morality from the fantastic objection that it is low and selfish, because it encourages itself to efforts by the prospect of the crown. If there are any men who are Christians only because of what they hope to gain thereby in another world, they will not get what they hope for; and they would not like it if they did. I do not believe that there are any such people; and sure I am, if there are, that it is not Christianity that has made them so. But a thing that we must not set as the supreme motive, we may rightly accept as a subsidiary encouragement. We are not Christians unless the dominant motive of our lives be the love of the Lord Jesus Christ; and unless we feel a necessity, because of loving Him, to aim to be like Him. But, that being so, who shall hinder me from quickening my flagging energies, and stimulating my torpid faith, and encouraging my cowardice, by the thought that yonder there remain rest, victory, the fulness of life, the flashing of glory, and the purity of perfect righteousness? Now it seems to me that this spring of action is not as strong in the Christians of this day as it used to be, and as it should be. You do not hear much about heaven in ordinary preaching. And I believe, for my part, that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried always with you in your thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present was registered, and would tell on the far side yonder? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

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

1 Corinthians

‘CONCERNING THE CROWN’

1Co 9:25.

One of the most famous of the Greek athletic festivals was held close by Corinth. Its prize was a pine-wreath from the neighbouring sacred grove. The painful abstinence and training of ten months, and the fierce struggle of ten minutes, had for their result a twist of green leaves, that withered in a week, and a little fading fame that was worth scarcely more, and lasted scarcely longer. The struggle and the discipline were noble; the end was contemptible. And so it is with all lives whose aims are lower than the highest. They are greater in the powers they put forth than in the objects they compass, and the question, ‘What is it for?’ is like a douche of cold water from the cart that lays the clouds of dust in the ways.

So, says Paul, praising the effort and contemning the prize, ‘They do it to obtain a corruptible crown.’ And yet there was a soul of goodness in this evil thing. Though these festivals were indissolubly intertwined with idolatry, and besmirched with much sensuous evil, yet he deals with them as he does with war and with slavery; points to the disguised nobility that lay beneath the hideousness, and holds up even these low things as a pattern for Christian men.

But I do not mean here to speak so much about the general bearing of this text as rather to deal with its designation of the aim and reward of Christian energy, that ‘incorruptible crown’ of which my text speaks. And in doing so I desire to take into account likewise other places in Scripture in which the same metaphor occurs.

I. The crown.

Let me recall the other places where the same metaphor is employed. We find the Apostle, in the immediate prospect of death, rising into a calm rapture in which imprisonment and martyrdom lose their terrors, as he thinks of the ‘crown of righteousness’ which the Lord will give to him. The Epistle of James, again, assures the man who endures temptation that ‘the Lord will give him the crown of life which He has promised to all them that love Him.’ The Lord Himself from heaven repeats that promise to the persecuted Church at Smyrna: ‘Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.’ The elders cast their crowns before the feet of Him that sitteth upon the throne. The Apostle Peter, in his letter, stimulates the elders upon earth to faithful discharge of their duty, by the hope that thereby they shall ‘receive a crown of righteousness that fadeth not away.’ So all these instances taken together with this of my text enable us to gather two or three lessons.

It is extremely unlikely that all these instances of the occurrence of the emblem carry with them reference, such as that in my text, to the prize at the athletic festivals. For Peter and James, intense Jews as they were, had probably never seen, and possibly never heard of, the struggles at the Isthmus and at Olympus and elsewhere. The Book of the Revelation draws its metaphors almost exclusively from the circle of Jewish practices and things. So that we have to look in other directions than the arena or the racecourse to explain these other uses of the image. It is also extremely unlikely that in these other passages the reference is to a crown as the emblem of sovereignty, for that idea is expressed, as a rule, by another word in Scripture, which we have Anglicised as ‘diadem.’ The ‘crown’ in all these passages is a garland twisted out of some growth of the field. In ancient usage roses were twined for revellers; pine-shoots or olive branches for the victors in the games; while the laurel was ‘the meed of mighty conquerors’; and plaited oak leaves were laid upon the brows of citizens who had deserved well of their country, and myrtle sprays crowned the fair locks of the bride.

And thus in these directions, and not towards the wrestling ground or the throne of the monarch, must we look for the ideas suggested by the emblem.

Now, if we gather together all these various uses of the word, there emerge two broad ideas, that the ‘crown’ which is the Christian’s aim symbolises a state of triumphant repose and of festal enjoyment. There are other aspects of that great and dim future which correspond to other necessities of our nature, and I suppose some harm has been done and some misconceptions have been induced, and some unreality imported into the idea of the Christian future, by the too exclusive prominence given to these two ideas-victorious rest after the struggle, and abundant satisfaction of all desires. That future is other and more than a festival; it is other and more than repose. There are larger fields there for the operation of powers that have been trained and evolved here. The faithfulness of the steward is exchanged, according to Christ’s great words, for the authority of the ruler over many cities. But still, do we not all know enough of the worry and turbulence and strained effort of the conflict here below, to feel that to some of our deepest and not ignoble needs and desires that image appeals? The helmet that pressed upon the brow even whilst it protected the brain, and wore away the hair even whilst it was a defence, is lifted off, and on unruffled locks the garland is intertwined that speaks victory and befits a festival. One of the old prophets puts the same metaphor in words imperfectly represented by the English translation, when he promises ‘a crown’ or a garland ‘for ashes’-instead of the symbol of mourning, strewed grey and gritty upon the dishevelled hair of the weepers, flowers twined into a wreath-’the oil of joy for mourning,’ and the festival ‘garment of praise’ to dress the once heavy spirit. So the satisfaction of all desires, the accompaniments of a feast, in abundance, rejoicing and companionship, and conclusive conquest over all foes, are promised us in this great symbol.

But let us look at the passages separately, and we shall find that they present the one thought with differences, and that if we combine these, as in a stereoscope, the picture gains solidity.

The crown is described in three ways. It is the crown of ‘life,’ of ‘glory’ and of ‘righteousness.’ And I venture to think that these three epithets describe the material, so to speak, of which the wreath is composed. The everlasting flower of life, the radiant blossoms of glory, the white flower of righteousness; these are its components.

I need not enlarge upon them, nor will your time allow that I should. Here we have the promise of life, that fuller life which men want, ‘the life of which our veins are scant,’ even in the fullest tide and heyday of earthly existence. The promise sets that future over against the present, as if then first should men know what it means to live: so buoyant, elastic, unwearied shall be their energies, so manifold the new outlets for activity, and the new inlets for the surrounding glory and beauty; so incorruptible and glorious shall be their new being. Here we live a living death; there we shall live indeed; and that will be the crown, not only in regard to physical, but in regard to spiritual, powers and consciousness.

But remember that all this full tide of life is Christ’s gift. There is no such thing as natural immortality; there is no such thing as independent life. All Being, from the lowest creature up to the loftiest created spirit, exists by one law, the continual impartation to it of life from the fountain of life, according to its capacities. And unless Jesus Christ, all through the eternal ages of the future, imparted to the happy souls that sit garlanded at His board the life by which they live, the wreaths would wither on their brows, and the brows would melt away, and dissolve from beneath the wreaths. ‘I will give him a crown of life.’

It is a crown of ‘glory,’ and that means a lustrousness of character imparted by radiation and reflection from the central light of the glory of God. ‘Then shall the righteous blaze out like the sun in the Kingdom of My Father.’ Our eyes are dim, but we can at least divine the far-off flashing of that great light, and may ponder upon what hidden depths and miracles of transformed perfectness and unimagined lustre wait for us, dark and limited as we are here, in the assurance that we all shall be changed into the ‘likeness of the body of His glory.’

It is a crown of ‘righteousness.’ Though that phrase may mean the wreath that rewards righteousness, it seems more in accordance with the other similar expressions to which I have referred to regard it, too, as the material of which the crown is composed. It is not enough that there should be festal gladness, not enough that there should be calm repose, not enough that there should be flashing glory, not enough that there should be fulness of life. To accord with the intense moral earnestness of the Christian system there must be, emphatically, in the Christian hope, cessation of all sin and investiture with all purity. The word means the same thing as the ancient promise, ‘Thy people shall be all righteous.’ It means the same thing as the latest promise of the ascended Christ, ‘They shall walk with Me in white.’ And it sets, I was going to say, the very climax and culmination on the other hopes, declaring that absolute, stainless, infallible righteousness which one day shall belong to our weak and sinful spirits.

These, then, are the elements, and on them all is stamped the signature of perpetuity. The victor’s wreath is tossed on the ashen heap, the reveller’s flowers droop as he sits in the heat of the banqueting-hall; the bride’s myrtle blossom fades though she lay it away in a safe place. The crown of life is incorruptible. It is twined of amaranth, ever blossoming into new beauty and never fading.

II. Now look, secondly, at the discipline by which the crown is won.

Observe, first of all, that in more than one of the passages to which we have already referred great emphasis is laid upon Christ as giving the crown. That is to say, that blessed future is not won by effort, but is bestowed as a free gift. It is given from the hands which have procured it, and, as I may say, twined it for us. Unless His brows had been pierced with the crown of thorns, ours would never have worn the garland of victory. Jesus provides the sole means, by His work, by which any man can enter into that inheritance; and Jesus, as the righteous Judge who bestows the rewards, which are likewise the results, of our life here, gives the crown. It remains for ever the gift of His love. ‘The wages of sin is death,’ but we rise above the region of retribution and desert when we pass to the next clause-’the gift of God is eternal life,’ and that ‘through Jesus Christ.’

Whilst, then, this must be laid as the basis of all, there must also, with equal earnestness and clearness, be set forth the other thought that Christ’s gift has conditions, which conditions these passages plainly set forth. In the one, which I have read as a text, we have these conditions declared as being twofold-protracted discipline and continuous effort. The same metaphor employed by the same Apostle, in his last dying utterance, associates his consciousness that he had fought the good fight and run his race, like the pugilists and runners of the arena, with the hope that he shall receive the crown of righteousness. James declares that it is given to the man who endures temptation, not only in the sense of bearing, but of so bearing as not thereby to be injured in Christian character and growth in Christian life. Peter asserts that it is the reward of self-denying discharge of duty. And the Lord from heaven lays down the condition of faithfulness unto death as the necessary pre-requisite of His gift of the crown of life. In two of the passages there is included, though not precisely on the level of these other requirements, the love of Him and the love of ‘His appearing,’ as the necessary qualifications for the gift of the crown.

So, to begin with, unless a man has such a love to Jesus Christ as that he is happy in His presence, and longs to have Him near, as parted loving souls do; and, especially, is looking forward to that great judicial coming, and feeling that there is no tremor in his heart at the prospect of meeting the Judge, but an outgoing of desire and love at the hope of seeing his Saviour and his Friend, what right has he to expect the crown? None. And he will never get it. There is a test for us which may well make some of us ask ourselves, Are we Christians, then, at all?

And then, beyond that, there are all these other conditions which I have pointed out, which may be gathered into one-strenuous discharge of daily duty and continual effort after following in Christ’s footsteps.

This needs to be as fully and emphatically preached as the other doctrine that eternal life is the gift of God. All manner of mischiefs may come, and have come, from either of these twin thoughts, wrenched apart. But let us weave them as closely together as the stems of the flowers that make the garlands are twined, and feel that there is a perfect consistency of both in theory, and that there must be a continual union of both, in our belief and in our practice. Eternal life is the gift of God, on condition of our diligence and earnestness. It is not all the same whether you are a lazy Christian or not. It does make an eternal difference in our condition whether here we ‘run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.’ We have to receive the crown as a gift; we have to wrestle and run, as contending for a prize.

III. And now, lastly, note the power of the reward as motive for life.

Paul says roundly in our text that the desire to obtain the incorruptible crown is a legitimate spring of Christian action. Now, I do not need to waste your time and my own in defending Christian morality from the fantastic objection that it is low and selfish, because it encourages itself to efforts by the prospect of the crown. If there are any men who are Christians-if such a contradiction can be even stated in words-only because of what they hope to gain thereby in another world, they will not get what they hope for; and they would not like it if they did. I do not believe that there are any such; and sure I am, if there are, that it is not Christianity that has made them so. But a thought that we must not take as a supreme motive, we may rightly accept as a subsidiary encouragement. We are not Christians unless the dominant motive of our lives be the love of the Lord Jesus Christ; and unless we feel a necessity, because of loving Him, to aim to be like Him. But, that being so, who shall hinder me from quickening my flagging energies, and stimulating my torpid faith, and encouraging my cowardice, by the thought that yonder there remain rest, victory, the fulness of life, the flashing of glory, and the purity of perfect righteousness? If such hopes are low and selfish as motives, would God that more of us were obedient to such low and selfish motives!

Now it seems to me, that this spring of action is not as strong in the Christians of this day as it used to be, and as it should be. You do not hear much about heaven in ordinary preaching. I do not think it occupies a very large place in the average Christian man’s mind. We have all got such a notion nowadays of the great good that the Gospel does in society and in the present, and some of us have been so frightened by the nonsense that has been talked about the ‘other-worldliness’ of Christianity-as if that was a disgrace to it-that it seems to me that the future of glory and blessedness has very largely faded away, as a motive for Christian men’s energies, like the fresco off a neglected convent wall.

And I want to say, dear brethren, that I believe, for my part, that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried always with you in your thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present was registered, and would tell on the far side yonder?

We do not know much of that future, and these days are intolerant of mere unverifiable hypotheses. But accuracy of knowledge and definiteness of impression do not always go together, nor is there the fulness of the one wanted for the clearness and force of the other. Though the thread which we throw across the abyss is very slender, it is strong enough, like the string of a boy’s kite, to bear the messengers of hope and desire that we may send up by it, and strong enough to bear the gifts of grace that will surely come down along it.

We cannot understand to-day unless we look at it with eternity for a background. The landscape lacks its explanation, until the mists lift and we see the white summits of the Himalayas lying behind and glorifying the low sandy plain. Would your life not be different; would not the things in it that look great be wholesomely dwindled and yet be magnified; would not sorrow be calmed, and life become ‘a solemn scorn of ills,’ and energies be stimulated, and all be different, if you really ‘did it to obtain an incorruptible crown?’

Brethren, let us try to keep more clearly before us, as solemn and blessed encouragement in our lives, these great thoughts. The garland hangs on the goal, but ‘a man is not crowned unless he strive according to the laws’ of the arena. The laws are two-No man can enter for the conflict but by faith in Christ; no man can win in the struggle but by faithful effort. So the first law is, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and the second is, ‘Hold fast that thou hast; let no man take thy crown.’

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

1Co 9:25. Πᾶς, every man) There were many sorts of contests.—δὲ, but) an emphatic addition (ἐπίτασις). The race was among those contests that were of a lighter description; wrestling, to which allusion is presently made, is among those that were more severe.—πάντα, all things) supply κατὰ, as to, throughtout.—ἐγκρατεύεται, is temperate) Those, who were to strive for the mastery, were distinguished by their admirable mode of living. See the same Faber, and the same Chrysostom de Sacred., l. 4, c. 2, at the end.—ἐκεῖνοι) they, who run and wrestle. Christians had abandoned the public games.—φθαρτὸν, corruptible) formed of the wild olive, of the apple tree, of parsley and of the fir tree. Not only the crown, but the remembrance of it perishes.

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

1Co_9:25. Δέ] marks the transition to the course of conduct observed by any competitor for a prize.

The emphasis is on πᾶς. It is from it that the conclusion is then drawn in 1Co_9:26, ἐγὼ τοίνυν.

ὁ ἀγωνιζόμ.] used as a substantive. The statement is as to what every competitor does to prepare himself for his struggle; in all respects he is abstinent (ἐγκρατ., see on 1Co_7:9). The word ἀγωνίζεσθαι denotes every kind of competition, and includes therefore the more specific τρέχειν (comp Herod. v. 22; Xen. Anab. iv. 8. 27: ἀγωνίζεσθαι στάδιον). Regarding the abstinence (especially from wine, sexual intercourse, and all heavy food except a good flesh-diet), by which the competitors had to prepare themselves for the struggle for ten months previously, see Intpp. ad Hor. Art. Poet. 412 ff.; Valckenaer, p. 251; Rosenmüller, Morgenl. VI. p. 97 f.; Hermann, gottesd. Alterth. § 50. 16 f.

πάντα] Accusative of more precise definition. See Lobeck, a[1533] Aj. 1402. Comp 1Co_9:25.

ἘΚΕῖΝΟΙ ΜῈΝ ΟὖΝ Κ.Τ.Λ[1535]] illi quidem igitur, to wit, the competitors proper.

ἡμεῖς] we Christians. The πάντα ἐγκρατεύεσθαι holds of both the ἀγωνιζομένοι, only with the first it is in the sphere of the body; with the second, in the moral domain. That the Christians, as striving in the moral field, actually πάντα ἐγκρατεύονται, is assumed by Paul, speaking from his ideal point of view, as a thing of course.

[1533] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1535] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

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 9:25 . πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος κ . τ . λ .: “But every combatant is temperate in everything they, to be sure, that they may win a perishable garland; but we an imperishable.” The stress in the first clause lies on πᾶς , πάντα no competitor can afford to be self-indulgent in anything; in the second on ἐκεῖνοι , ἡμεῖς if they are so abstinent for so poor a prize, what should we be? For ten months before the contest in the Great Games, the athletes were required, under oath, to follow a prescribed diet ( ἀναγκοφαγία and regimen ( ἄσκησις ): Pausanias . 24. 9; Philostratus De Gymn ., p. 4; Arrian-Epict., iii., xv., 3, xxiii., 2; Xenoph. Symp . viii., 37; Horace, Ars Poet . 412 ff., “Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit, Abstinuit venere et vino.” ἐγκρατεύεται (see 1Co 7:9 ) implies temperance in a positive degree not mere abstinence, but vigorous control of appetite and passion; πάντα is acc [1387] of specification. The “garland” of the victor in the Isthmian Games was of pine-leaves , at an earlier time of parsley , in the Olympian Games of wild-olive ; yet these were the most coveted honours in the whole Greek world. φθαρτὸν and ἄφθαρ τον are again contrasted in 1Co 15:53 .

[1387] accusative case.

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

Useth a most exquisite diet.

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

striveth--in wrestling: a still more severe contest than the foot race.

is temperate--So Paul exercised self-denial, abstaining from claiming sustenance for the sake of the "reward," namely, to "gain the more" (Co1 9:18-19).

corruptible--soon withering, as being only of fir leaves taken from the fir groves which surrounded the Isthmian race course or stadium.

incorruptible-- (Pe1 1:4; Pe1 5:4; Rev 2:10). "Crown" here is not that of a king (which is expressed by a different Greek word, namely, "diadem"), but a wreath or garland.

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 25. Is temperate in all things] All those who contended in these exercises went through a long state and series of painful preparations. To this exact discipline Epictetus refers, cap. 35: Θελεις Ολυμπια νικησαι; Δει σ' ευτακτειν, αναγκοτροφειν, απεχεσθαι, πεμματων, γυμναζεσθαι προς αναγκην εν ὡρα τεταγμενη, εν καυματι, εν ψυχει, μη ψυχρον πινειν, μη οινον ὡς ετυχεν· ἁπλως, ὡς ιατρῳ, παραδεδωκεναι σεαυτον τῳ επιστατη· ειτα εις τον αγωνα παρερχεσθαι· κ. τ. λ. "Do you wish to gain the prize at the Olympic games?-Consider the requisite preparations and the consequences: you must observe a strict regimen; must live on food which you dislike; you must abstain from all delicacies; must exercise yourself at the necessary and prescribed times both in heat and in cold; you must drink nothing cooling; take no wine as formerly; in a word, you must put yourself under the directions of a pugilist, as you would under those of a physician, and afterwards enter the lists. Here you may get your arm broken, your foot put out of joint, be obliged to swallow mouthfuls of dust, to receive many stripes, and after all be conquered." Thus we find that these suffered much hardships in order to conquer, and yet were uncertain of the victory.

Horace speaks of it in nearly the same way:-

Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,

Multa tulit fecitque puer: sudavit et alsit:

Abstinuit Venere et Baccho.

De Arte Poet., ver. 412.

A youth who hopes the Olympic prize to gain,

All arts must try, and every toil sustain;

Th' extremes of heat and cold must often prove;

And shun the weakening joys of wine and love.

Francis.

These quotations show the propriety of the apostle's words: Every man that striveth for the mastery, παςταεγκρατευεται, is temperate, or continent, in all things.

They do it to obtain a corruptible crown] The crown won by the victor in the Olympian games was made of the wild olive; in the Pythian games of laurel; in the Nemean games of parsley; and in the Isthmian games of the pine. These were all corruptible, for they began to wither as soon as they were separated from the trees, or plucked out of the earth. In opposition to these, the apostle says, he contended for an incorruptible crown, the heavenly inheritance. He sought not worldly honour; but that honour which comes from God.

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

25. Now every one that striveth. As he had exhorted to perseverance, it remained to state in what way they must persevere. This second thing he now sets before them by a comparison taken from pugilists; not indeed in every particular, but in so far as was required by the subject in hand, within which he confines himself — how far they ought to yield to the weakness of the brethren. Now he argues from the less to the greater, that it is an unseemly thing if we grudge to give up our right, inasmuch as the pugilists eating their coliphium, and that sparingly and not to the full, voluntarily deny themselves every delicacy, in order that they may have more agility for the combat, and they do this, too, for the sake of a corruptible crown But if they value so highly a crown of leaves that quickly fades, what value ought we to set upon a crown of immortality? Let us not, therefore, think it hard to give up a little of our right. It is well known that wrestlers were contented with the most frugal diet, so that their simple fare has become proverbial.

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.

(25) Every man that striveth for the mastery.—Better, Every one that enters into the contest. The Greek word (agonizomenos) is identical with the English “agonise.” Hence the use in devotional works of the phrase “to agonise in prayer,” etc.

Is temperate in all things.—He fulfils not only some, but all of the necessary preliminary conditions. He indulges self in no way.

They do it to obtain a corruptible crown.—There are two striking points of contrast between the earthly race and the spiritual course. There is but one obtains a reward in the earthly contest; none need fail of it in the heavenly race. That reward in the one case is perishable; in the other it is imperishable. If, then—such is St. Paul’s argument—men show such extraordinary devotion and self-sacrifice for a reward which is merely perishable, and which each has only a chance of gaining, what should not be the devotion and self-sacrifice of those for all of whom an imperishable reward is certain!

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

25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things] The temperance of which the Apostle speaks was no light matter. For ten months had the candidates for a prize at these games to abstain from every kind of sensual indulgence, and to undergo the most severe training of the body. See Horace, De Arte Poetica, 412, and Epictetus: “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, drink no cold water, nor wine.”

a corruptible crown] “A garland of olive, parsley, bay, or pine.” Stanley.

but we an incorruptible] Cf. 2Ti_2:5; 2Ti_4:8; Jas_1:12; 1Pe_4:4; Rev_2:10; Rev_3:11. There was no impropriety in this comparison. The Greek games were free from many of the degrading associations which gather round those athletic sports so rapidly gaining ground among ourselves. They had the importance almost of a religious rite, certainly of a national institution, and they were dignified with recitations of their productions by orators and sophists. Herodotus is even said to have recited his history at the Olympic games.

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.

I therefore so run,.... The apostle animates the Corinthians by his own example, telling them that he ran so as he exhorted them; he ran with cheerfulness and swiftness in the way marked out for him, looking to Jesus; continuing steadfast in the profession of his faith, and discharge of his duty as a Christian, and in preaching the Gospel as a minister; and nothing had he more at heart, than to finish his course with joy:

not as uncertainly; as one that knew not, or was in doubt about the way in which he should run, and so ran in and out, sometimes in the way, sometimes out of it; since it was clearly pointed out to him in the word of God: the allusion is to the white line which was drawn from the place the runners set out at to the goal; so that they did not run uncertainly, nor could they be at a loss to steer their course: nor did the apostle run, for what, as the Syriac version renders it, , "is unknown": he knew what he ran for, for the incorruptible crown of glory, he knew the nature of it; nor was he uncertain as to the event and issue of his running; he knew that this crown was laid up safe and secure, that it would be given him, and he should wear it; he had no doubt at all about it; and with this certain knowledge both of the way and prize, and full assurance of faith and hope, he ran:

so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. The allusion is here to fighting with the fist, when, before the combat was entered on, the person used to swagger about, and beat about with his fists, striking the air with them, having no adversary before him; only showing what he could do if he had one, or when he should encounter: so did not the apostle, he did not fight with his own shadow, or a man of straw, or beat the empty air; but gave home blows to real adversaries, Satan, the world, and the flesh; the latter of which is particularly mentioned in the next verse.

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

25 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.

Ver. 25. Is temperate in all things] These luxurious Corinthians were much addicted to their belly; he calls them therefore to temperance. Ill doth it become a servant of the Highest to be a slave to his palate, to have animum in patinis et calicibus, as the Sybarites. A man may eat that on earth that he must digest in hell. (Aug.)

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.

And every man that striveth for the mastery - (ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος ho agōnizomenos). That “agonizes;” that is, that is engaged in the exercise of “wrestling, boxing,” or pitching the bar or quoit; compare the note at Luk 13:24. The sense is, everyone who endeavors to obtain a victory in these athletic exercises.

Is temperate in all things - The word which is rendered “is temperate” (ἐγκρατευεται egkrateuetai) denotes “abstinence” from all that would excite, stimulate, and ultimately enfeeble; from wine, from exciting and luxurious living, and from licentious indulgences. It means that they did all they could to make the body vigorous, active, and supple. They pursued a course of entire temperate living; compare Act 24:25; 1Co 7:9; Gal 5:23; 2Pe 1:6. It relates not only to indulgences unlawful in themselves, but to abstinence from many things that were regarded as “lawful,” but which were believed to render the body weak and effeminate. The phrase “in all things” means that this course of temperance or abstinence was not confined to one thing, or to one class of things, but to every kind of food and drink, and every indulgence that had a tendency to render the body weak and effeminate. The preparations which those who propose to contend in these games made is well known; and is often referred to by the Classic writers. Epictetus, as quoted by Grotius (in loco), thus speaks of these preparations. “Do you wish to gain the prize at the Olympic games? consider the requisite preparations and the consequence You must observe a strict regimen; must live on food which is unpleasant; must abstain from all delicacies; must exercise yourself at the prescribed times in heat and in cold; you must drink nothing cool (ψυχρὸν psuchron); must take no wine as usual; you must put yourself under a “pugilist,” as you would under a physician, and afterward enter the lists.” Epict. chapter 35: Horace has described the preparations necessary in the same way.

Qui studet optatam cursn contingere metam.

Multa tulit fecitque puer; sudavit, et alsit,

Abstinuit venere et Baccho.

De Arte Poet. 412

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.

To obtain a corruptible crown - A garland, diadem, or civic wreath, that must soon fade away. The garland bestowed on the victor was made of olive, pine, apple, laurel, or parsley. That would soon lose its beauty and fade; of course, it could be of little value. Yet we see how eagerly they sought it; how much self-denial those who entered the lists would practice to obtain it; how long they would deny themselves of the common pleasures of life that they might be successful. So much “temperance” would pagans practice to obtain a fading wreath of laurel, pine, or parsley. Hence, learn:

(1) The duty of denying ourselves to obtain a far more valuable reward, the incorruptible crown of heaven.

(2) The duty of all Christians who strive for that crown to be temperate in all things. If the pagans practiced temperance to obtain a fading laurel, should not we to obtain one that never fades?

(3) How much their conduct puts to shame the conduct of many professing Christians and Christian ministers. they set such a value on a civic wreath of pine or laurel, that they were willing to deny themselves, and practice the most rigid abstinence. they knew that indulgence in wine and in luxurious living unsuited them for the struggle and for victory; they knew that it enfeebled their powers, and weakened their frame; and, like people intent on an object dear to them, they abstained wholly from these things, and embraced the principles of “total abstinence.” Yet how many professed Christians, and Christian ministers, though striving for the crown that fadeth not away, indulge in wine, and in the filthy, offensive, and disgusting use of tobacco; and in luxurious living, and in habits of indolence and sloth! How many there are that will not give up these habits, though they know that they are enfeebling, injurious, offensive, and destructive to religious comfort and usefulness. Can a man be truly in earnest in his professed religion; can he be a sincere Christian, who is not willing to abandon anything and everything that will tend to impair the vigor of his mind, and weaken his body, and make him a stumbling-block to others?

(4) The value of “temperance” is here presented in a very striking and impressive view. When even the pagans wished to accomplish anything that demanded skill, strength, power, vigor of body, they saw the necessity of being temperate, and they were so. And this proves what all experiment has proved, that if people wish to accomplish much, they must be temperate. It proves that people can do more without intoxicating drink than they can with it. The example of these Grecian athletes - their wrestlers, boxers, and racers, is “against” all the farmers, and mechanics, and seamen, and day-laborers, and “gentlemen,” and “clergymen,” and “lawyers,” who plead that stimulating drink is necessary to enable them to bear cold and heat, and toil and exposure. A little “experience” from men like the Grecian wrestlers, who had something that they wished to do, is much better than a great deal of philosophy and sophistical reasoning from people who wish to drink, and to find some argument for drinking that shalt be a salve to their consciences. Perhaps the world has furnished no stronger argument in favor of total abstinence than the example of the Grecian “Athletae.” It is certain that their example, the example of people who wished to accomplish much by bodily vigor and health, is an effectual and unbreakable argument against all those who plead that stimulating drinks are desirable or necessary in order to increase the vigor of the bodily frame.

But we - We Christians.

An incorruptible - An incorruptible, an unfading crown. The blessings of heaven that shall be bestowed on the righteous are often represented under the image of a crown or diadem; a crown that is unfading, and eternal; 2Ti 4:8; Jam 1:12; 1Pe 5:4. Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11; Rev 4:4. The doctrine here taught is, the necessity of making an effort to secure eternal life. The apostle never thought of entering heaven by indolence or by inactivity. He urged, by every possible argument, the necessity of making an exertion to secure the rewards of the just. His reasons for this effort are many. Let a few be pondered:

(1) The work of salvation is difficult. The thousand obstacles arising, the love of sin, and the opposition of Satan and of the world, are in the way.

(2) The danger of losing the crown of glory is great. Every moment exposes it to hazard, for at any moment we may die.

(3) The danger is not only great, but it is dreadful. If anything should arouse man, it should be the apprehension of eternal damnation and everlasting wrath.

(4) People in this life, in the games of Greece, in the career of ambition, in the pursuit of pleasure and wealth, make immense efforts to obtain the fading and perishing object of their desires. Why should not a man be willing to make as great efforts at least to secure eternal glory?

(5) The value of the interest at stake. Eternal happiness is before those who will embrace the offers of life. If a man should be influenced by anything to make an effort, should it not be by the prospect of eternal glory? what should influence him if this should not?

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

He refraineth himself, &c. Curbs his inclinations, abstains from debauchery, and any thing that may weaken him, or hinder him from gaining this corruptible crown, how much more ought we to practise self-denials for an eternal crown?

In the fifth verse, where we translate, a woman, a sister, or a sister, a woman: the Protestant translation has a sister, a wife. We have reason to reject this translation, since it is evident by this epistle, that St. Paul at least then had not a wife, chap. vii. ver. 7. 8. And the ancient interpreters expressly examined and rejected this translation. See St. Jerome against Jovian. lib. i. tom. 4. part 2. p. 167. edit. Ben.; St. Augustine, lib. de opere Monach. tom. vi. chap. 4. p. 478. Nov. edit. The Greek word, as every one knows, signifies either a woman or a wife. Nor doth any thing here determine it to signify a wife. He speaks of a woman, or of women that were sisters, that is, Christians; so that a sister expounds what kind of woman it was. Dr. Hammond puts in the margin a sister-woman, as it were to correct the Protestant translation. (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).

This is not all that is required of men that would go to heaven, that they do not make an ill use of their liberty, using it to the dishonour of God, or to the prejudice of others; but look as it is with wrestlers in those games in practice amongst you, they are

temperate in all things; in the use of meats and drinks, or any pleasures, though in themselves lawful, they will so use them, as may best serve their end, upholding the strength of their body for the motion they are to use, and yet not clogging them, or so using them, that they shall indispose them to, or hinder them in, that motion which they are to use. We, that are Christians, and striving for heaven, should also do the like, so behaving ourselves in the use of meats, drinks, apparel, pleasures, as the things, so used by us, may serve us in our business for heaven, and be no clog or hinderance to us. And we have reason so to do, or we shall be shamed by those gamesters; for they in that manner deny, restrain, and govern themselves to get a crown, which, when they have, is a pitiful, corruptible, perishing thing; we do it for a crown that is incorruptible: An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, as the apostle speaketh, 1Pe 1:4.

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

25. Every man that striveth—Every agonistes, or champion.

Is temperate—Is self-controlling. Then, as now, the candidate for the race put himself under a long and severe training, in diet, in potations, in exercise, in order to tone himself up to the highest vigour. Even the professional pugilist of our modern execrable prize-fights will, in order to obtain victory, put himself upon a regimen of strict temperance, making himself an example of physical virtue for better men. He is a practical proof that strict abstinence from intoxicating drinks is ordinarily, a requisite condition to the highest health and vigour. He shows too, that the most profligate of men are amply able to discover and recognise the severest truths, when they have even a sordid interest in knowing them. Would the pugilist be as wise, as keenly searching after the truth, as energetic and as self-denying in pursuing the eternal prize as he is the temporal, he could not fail to win. But Paul uses a Greek word that covers more than bodily temperance. It includes self-denial of every kind, and is used by him in reference to his own self-denials in eating idol sacrifices, (1Co_8:13,) in refusing Churchly maintenance, (1Co_9:15,) and in all the self-mortifying compliances of 1Co_9:19-22. And this reference runs through to the end of the chapter; nay, even to the end of the next chapter. It is a thread of which the reader should not for a moment lose hold who would completely understand St. Paul.

Crown—From the pine groves contiguous to the stadium the Corinthians would gather the branches, and wreath a garland for the brow of the victor, amid the applauding crowds of spectators. It was an evergreen; a not unfitting emblem of that earthly immortality of renown which it indicated that the wearer had attained. But, alas! this emblem of imperishability was itself perishable. The lyrics of the poet Pindar are almost the sole mementos of the victors, but they, too, in time will perish.

The most eminent emblematic garland of victory was the laurel. It was said that Apollo, after having slain the dragon Python at Delphos, wreathed his brows with the laurel, and established his oracle at the Castalian spring issuing from the cave at Delphos. At the Olympic games they used the wild olive; at the Nemean, the parsley.

An incorruptible—Our Christian life is the race, crowned with everlasting triumph at its close. St. Paul, as he drew near his martyrdom, beautifully styles it the crown of righteousness. 2Ti_4:8.

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

That striveth for the mastery; rather, that strives to win in a contest. St. Paul never allows his converts to dream of the indefectibility of grace, and so to slide into antinomian security. He often reminds them of the extreme severity and continuousness of the contest. (Eph_6:12 1Ti_6:12) Is temperate in all things. One good moral result which sprang from the ancient system of athleticism was the self denial and self mastery which it required. The candidate for a prize had to be pure, sober, and enduring (Horace, "Ars Poet.," 412), to obey orders, to eat sparely and simply and to bear effort and fatigue (Epict., "Enchir.," 35) for ten months before the contest. A corruptible crown. A fading garland of Isthmian pine, or Nemean parsley, or Pythian olive, or Olympian bay. An incorruptible; " unwithering"; (1Pe_2:4) "amaranthine"; (1Pe_5:4) "a crown of righteousness"; (2Ti_4:8) "a crown of life". (Jam_1:12; Rev_2:10; comp. also 2Ti_2:5; Rev_3:11)

An incorruptible crown.

There was an ardour of temperament, a resoluteness of purpose, in the constitution and moral life of Paul, which made the imagery of this passage peculiarly congenial to his soul. He was fired with a sacred ambition, and he sought to inspire his hearers and readers with something of his own enthusiasm. His glowing imagination could realize something of the glory gained by the successful athlete who was welcomed with honour in his native state, whose statue was shaped in marble by some illustrious sculptor, and whose praise was embalmed in verse deathless as that of Pindar. How much more must he, with his cleared moral perceptions, his elevated spiritual aims, have sympathized with the prospects which inspired all true Christian athletes, who endured an earthly strife and hoped to gain a heavenly diadem!

I THE GIVER OF THE CROWN. Christ has himself contended, suffered, and overcome; on his head are many crowns. He is the Lord of the course and the conflict. Coming from such hands, the recompense must be infinitely precious. He sweetens the gift he bestows by words of gracious approval. He counts the crowns of his people as his own.

II THE WEARER OF THE CROWN. He who is to partake the throne, the triumph, must first share the strife and bear the cross of Jesus. The crown of thorns comes before the crown of victory and empire. They who shall hereafter triumph are they who now and here strive and suffer, endure and hope. Their contest must be lawfully conducted and strenuously maintained. It is they who are "faithful unto death" to whom is promised the fair crown of life.

III THE VALUE OF THE CROWN. It is a gift, and not a reward to which there is a just claim; there is no case of merit here. At the same time, it is an expression of satisfaction and approval, and coming from Christ has in consequence a peculiar value to his people. The Isthmian wreath was in itself of no worth; its value lay in the witness it bore to the wearer"s prowess. But the Christian"s crown is not only a token of Divine approbation; it is accompanied by substantial recompense, especially by promotion to rule and authority. He who is crowned is made "ruler over many things.

IV THE IMPERISHABLENESS OF THE CROWN. It is not a material crown, like the wreath of fading leaves. It is a crown of righteousness and of life, and is consequently in its nature immortal. It is worn in the land of incorruption and of immortality. It blooms perennially in the atmosphere of heaven.

PRACTICAL LESSONS.

1. Here is an appeal to the aspiring. Why seek earthly distinctions which must pass away, when within your reach is the unfading crown of glory?

2. Here is an inspiration and stimulus to the Christian combatant. Why grow weary in the race, why sink faint hearted in the contest, when there is stretched forth, before and above you, the Divine and imperishable crown of life? T.

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

And every one 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. A corruptible crown - A garland of leaves, which must soon wither. The moderns only have discovered that it is "legal" to do all this and more for an eternal crown than they did for a corruptible!

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

It was a custom amongst those that used at Corinth the fore-mentioned games of running and wrestling, to tie themselves to a strict prescribed diet, both for quality and quantity, by way of preparation. They did not indulge themselves in gluttony, or any sort of excess, but were temperate in all things, that the crown might be won by them; which, alas! was nothing but a garland of leaves or flowers. In imitation of whom, he advised the Corinthians to be very moderate in the use of all worldly things, and to abstain from whatsoever may hinder their running the Christian race, and their receiving the incorruptible crown.

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

25. “And every one striving is temperate as to all things, they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, and we an incorruptible one.” All the contestants in the Olympic and Isthmian races and games spent the preceding four years in the most hygienic living and discipline, necessarily preparatory for the momentous responsibilities awaiting them. Oh, how Christendom needs light and reformation at this point! Millions are failing because they are not “temperate in all things,” which means total abstinence from everything pernicious, and moderate, judicious use of the edibles, potables, et cetera, which are appropriate. Americans, as a rule, are gormandizers, as well as drunkards in many cases. If you would be ready for translation when the Lord appears, which is really the goal in view, you must subordinate the physical to the spiritual, wearing the world as a loose garment and ready to drop it off at a moment’s warning. Abstinence and prayer are the two ropes dropped down from Heaven by which we pull up and get our feet on believing ground, for justification, sanctification and glorification when our Lord appears.

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

And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things . [As Paul denied himself that the gospel might not be hindered, so each athlete, whether he intended to run, wrestle or fight, pursued a course of training and abstinence that was painful, protracted and severe, in order that no fatty tissues or depleted muscles might hinder him in his struggle for victory.] Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible . [For this worthless, withering symbol of victory, men made measureless sacrifice. For the incomparably better and fadeless crown of eternal life, how cheerfully Christians should deny and discipline themselves-- 1Pe_5:4 ]

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.

25. Every man that striveth, etc. Everyone who proposed to strive in the games for the prize pursued a course of self control, and exercised himself very systematically. All this effort was made for a corruptible crown. The prize of the victor in the foot race was a crown woven of the pine leaves which grew then, and still grow, on the isthmus of Corinth. But we an incorruptible. We run for a crown that never fades (1 Peter 5:4).

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.

25. πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος. Every man that striveth in the games. R.V. The words might refer to the race. See Heb 12:1. So Plutarch has ἀγωνίζεσθαι στάδιον. But 1Co 9:26 decides in favour of the R.V. rendering. The temperance of which the Apostle speaks was no light matter. For ten months had the candidates for a prize at these games to abstain from every kind of sensual indulgence, and to undergo the most severe training of the body. See Horace, De Arte Poetica, 412, and the well-known passage in Epictetus Ench. 29 θέλεις Ὀλύμπια νικῆσαι; … δεῖ σ’ εὐτακτεῖν, ἀναγκοφαγεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι πεμμάτων, γυμνάζεσθαι πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἐν ὥρᾳ τεταγμένῃ, ἐν καύματι, ἐν ψύχει, μὴ ψυχρὸν πίνειν, μὴ οἶνον, ὡς ἔτυχεν· ἁπλῶς, ὡς ἰατρῷ παραδεδωκέναι τῷ ἐπιστάτῃ.

ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄφθαρτον. Cf. 2Ti 2:5; 2Ti 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 5:4; Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11. There was no impropriety in this comparison. The Greek games were free from many of the degrading associations which gather round those athletic sports so popular among ourselves. They had the importance almost of a religious rite, certainly of a national institution, and they were dignified with recitations of their productions by orators and sophists. Herodotus is even said to have recited his history at the Olympic games.

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.

25.] The point in the οὕτως, the conduct of the athletes in regard of temperance, which he wishes to bring into especial prominence for their imitation:—as concerning the matter in hand,—his own abstinence from receiving the world’s pelf, in order to save himself and them that heard him.

The δέ specifies, referring back to οὕτως. The emphasis is on πᾶς, thus shewing οὕτως to refer to the πάντες who τρέχουσιν.

ἀγωνιζόμενος is more general than τρέχων,—q. d. ‘Every one who engages, not only in the race, but in any athletic contest,’ and thus strengthening the inference. The art. (ὁ ἀγων.) brings out the man as an enlisted and professed ἀγωνιζόμενος, and regards him in that capacity. Had it been πᾶς δὲ ἀγωνιζ., the sense would have been, ‘Now every one, while contending,’ &c., making the discipline to be merely accidental to his contending—which would not suit the spiritual antitype, where we are enlisted for life.

Examples of the practice of abstinence in athletes may be seen in Wetst. in loc. I will give but two: (1) Hor. de Arte Poet. 412: “Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit: Abstinuit venere et vino.” (2) Epict. c. 35: θέλεις ὀλύμπια νικῆσαι; κἀγὼ νὴ τοὺς θεούς, κομψὸν γάρ ἐστιν. ἀλλὰ σκόπει καὶ τὰ καθηγούμενα καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα, καὶ οὕτως ἅπτου τῶν ἔργων. δεῖ σʼ εὐτακτεῖν, ἀναγποτροφεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι πεμμάτων, γυμνάζεσθαι πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἐν ὥρᾳ τεταγμένῃ, ἐν καύματι, ἐν ψύχει, μὴ ψυχρὸν πίνειν, μὴ οἶνον· ὡς ἔτυχεν ἁπλῶς, ὡς ἰατρῷ παραδεδωκέναι σαυτὸν τῷ ἐπιστάτῃ, εἶτα εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα παρέρχεσθαι.

ἐκεῖνοι] scil. ἐγκρατεύονται.

μὲν οὖν, ‘immo vero’ (reff.).

The School. on Pind. Isthm. ὑπόθεσις, cited by Meyer, says: στέφος δέ ἐστι τοῦ ἀγῶνος πίτυς, τὸ δὲ ἀνέκαθεν σέλινα καὶ αὐτοῦ ἦν ὁ στέφανος.

ἡμεῖς δέ, scil. ἐγκρατευόμεθα ἵνα λάβωμεν στέφανον. He takes for granted the Christian’s temperance in all things, as his normal state.

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

25. οὕτως τρέχετε, ἵνα καταλάβητε. ‘So run, that ye may secure it.’ The οὕτωςmay look back to the successful competitor; ‘run as he does’: or it may simply anticipate the ἵνα.† The change from λαμβάνει to καταλάβητε marks the difference between mere receiving and securing as one’s own possession, and this play on words cannot be reproduced in English. Evans suggests ‘take’ and ‘overtake.’ This would be excellent, if we had οὕτως διώκετε, ἱνα καταλάβητε, for διώκειν and καταλαμβάνειν are common correlatives for ‘pursue’ and ‘overtake.’ But here the idea of one Christian overtaking another is alien to the context, and ‘to overtake a prize’ is not a natural expression. In Php 3:12 we have the same play on words, but there we have διώκω, as also in Rom 9:30.

πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀλωνιζόμενος. It is easy to talk about securing the prize, ‘but every one who enters for a contest, in everything practises self-control’; he goes into strict training, which for a Greek athlete lasted ten months. Ἐγκρατ. occurs 7:9, and nowhere else in N.T. Cf. Hor. Ars Poet. 412 f. AV. puts a colon, RV. a full stop, here, so that what follows is an independent sentence. More probably, ἐκεῖνοι μέν and ἡμεῖς δέ are two classes which make up the whole company of athletes, πᾶς ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος. With WH. put only a comma after ἐγκρατεύεται. Emphasis on πᾶς and πάντα.

φθαρτὸν στέφανον. In the Isthmian games a pine-wreath: cf. 1Pe 5:4; Wisd. 4:2. Philo (De Migr. Abr. 6), “Thou hast proved thyself to me a perfect athlete, and hast been deemed worthy of prizes and wreaths (βραβείων καὶ στεφάνων), while Virtue presides over the games and holds forth to thee rewards of victory.” Even Pindar has not succeeded in making the wreath of glory ἄφθαρτος: the victors in the games are not those who are remembered in history. Non solum corona, sed etiam memoria ejus perit (Beng.). The οὖν is independent of the μέν, which anticipates the following δέ (contrast 5:4, 7); ‘they verily,’ or ‘they of course, in order to receive a perishable crown.’

ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄφθαρτον. The exact expression is not found elsewhere in N.T., but we have ἀμαράντινον τῆς δόξης στέφανον (1Pe 5:4), where ‘made of immortelles’ is perhaps the meaning rather than ‘which fadeth not away’: see Bigg ad loc. But ‘amaranth’ and ‘immortelles’ are flowers that do not fade, so that the meaning is much the same. Elsewhere we have τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς (Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10), ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης στέφανος (2Ti 4:8). In all these places, as here, it is a crown of victory that is meant, rather than a royal crown, διάδημα (Rev 12:3, 19:12; 62:3, 1 Esdr. 4:30, 1Mac. 8:13, 8:32). The contrast between φθαρτός and ἄφθαρτος occurs in 1Pe 1:23. In LXX of Zec 6:14 we have ὁ δὲ στέφανος ἔσται τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν: but more to the point is the description of Virtue in Wisd. 4:2, ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι στεφανηφοροῦσα πομπεύει, τὸν τῶν ἀμιάντων ἄθλων ἀγῶνα νικήσασα. The figure is frequent in 4 Mac.

Lightfoot (St Paul and Seneca) quotes from Seneca (Ep. Mor. lxxviii. 16) a remarkable parallel; “What blows do athletes receive in their face, what blows all over their body. Yet they bear all the torture from thirst of glory. Let us also overcome all things, for our reward is not a crown or a palm branch or the trumpeter proclaiming silence for the announcement of our name, but virtue and strength of mind and peace acquired ever after.”

Epictetus also (Dis. iii. 21) has a fine passage on the qualifications and responsibilities of teachers; “The thing is great, it is mystical, not a common thing, nor is it given to every man. But not even wisdom perhaps is enough to enables a man to take care of youths: a man must have a certain readiness and fitness for this purpose; and above all things he must have God to advise him to occupy this office (vv. 16, 17; 7:40), as God advised Socrates to occupy the place of one who confutes error. Why then do you act at hazard in things of the greatest importance? Leave it to those who are able to do it, and to do it well.” And again (3:22), “He who without God attempts so great a matter, is hateful to God.”

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

Striveth for the mastery [αγωνιζομενος] . Better, Rev., striveth in the games, thus preserving the metaphor. The word was the regular term for contending in the arena or on the stage.

Is temperate [εγκρατευεται] . Only here and ch. 7 9. The candidate for the races was required to be ten months in training, and to practice in the gymnasium immediately before the games, under the direction of judges who had themselves been instructed for ten months in the details of the games. The training was largely dietary. Epictetus says : "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 nor wine at hazard." Horace says : "The youth who would win in the race hath borne and done much; he hath sweat and been cold; he hath abstained from love and wine" (" Ars Poetica, "412). Tertullian, commending the example of the athletes to persecuted Christians, says :" Coguntur, cruciantur, fatigantur. "" They are constrained, harassed, wearied" (" Ad Martyres, " 3). Compare 2Ti 2:5.

Crown [στεφανον] . Chaplet of pine - leaves. See on Rev 4:4.

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

Vv. 25. “Now, whoever strives for the mastery abstains from everything: they to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”

Edwards rightly says: “This verse reminds the Corinthians of two things: first, the difficulty of winning, and next, the infinite value of victory.” The participle every man striving relates, not to the time when the athlete is already in the lists, but to the time when he enrols himself among those who are to take part in the competition. During the ten months before the day of the games, the competitors lived in sustained exercises and with special self-denial, abstaining from everything that could exhaust or weight the body. For the Christian, whose conflict is a matter, not of a day, but of the whole life, abstinence, the condition of progress in sanctification, is consequently an exercise to be renewed daily.

The abstinence of the athletes did not relate only to criminal enjoyments, but also to gratifications in themselves lawful; so the Christian’s self-denial should bear, not only on guilty pleasures, but on every habit, on every enjoyment which, without being vicious, may involve a loss of time or a diminution of moral force.

Should any complain of this condition of final triumph, Paul reminds them that the athletes make such sacrifices with a view to a passing honour, whereas they have in prospect eternal glory. The pine crown which the judge put on the victor’s head in the Isthmian games, while it was the emblem of glory, was at the same time the emblem of the transitory character of that glory. For the spiritual victor there is reserved an unfading crown!

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.

1Co_1:25

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.

Every one who striveth, etc. (πᾶς ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος) every one accustomed to contend, i.e. every professional athlete. The word includes all kinds of contests, whether in running, wrestling or fighting. Is temperate in all things, i.e. controls himself as to all things. He exercises self-denial in diet, in bodily indulgences, and by painful and protracted discipline. The ancient writers abound in rules of abstinence and exercise, to be observed by competitors in preparation for the games. They indeed for a corruptible crown, we for an incorruptible. If the heathen submitted to such severe discipline to gain a wreath of olive or garland of pine leaves, shall not Christians do as much for a crown of righteousness which fadeth not away?

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