The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Exhortation to earnestness as a corollary from the principles here stated. read more
1 Corinthians 9:25-26 Kjv
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The race for the prize. The thought introduced in 1 Corinthians 9:23 , 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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:25
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 ( Ephesians 6:12 , 1 Timothy 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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:25
"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... read more
Spence, H. D. M., etc.
The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:26
Not as uncertainly. My eye is fixed on a definite goal ( 2 Timothy 1:12 ). So fight I ( Romans 7:23 ; Ephesians 6:12 ; 2 Timothy 4:7 ); literally, so box 1. Not as one that beateth the air; rather, as not beating the air. Not what the Greeks called "a shadow battle." I strike forthright blows, not feints, or blows at random. read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:24-26
The Christian race. "Know 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... read more