1 Corinthians 9:25 - Exposition

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 prize had to be pure, sober, and enduring, 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" ( 1 Peter 2:4 ); "amaranthine" ( 1 Peter 5:4 ); "a crown of righteousness" ( 2 Timothy 4:8 ); "a crown of life" ( James 1:12 ; Revelation 2:10 ; comp. also 2 Timothy 2:5 ; Revelation 3:11 ).