Teachings from 1st Corinthians 9:24-end

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Paul's Engaging Explanation

July 1st, 2018 Milk Okay, Paul finished explaining the way he engaged with the world around him last week – which is so wonderfully refreshing and we ended with verse 23 in 1st Corinthians where he wrote

“And this (or these things) I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

This line sets us up for what Paul says next beginning at verse 24. Let’s read:

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 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. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Paul's Analogy of Self-Denial

So back to verse 24 where Paul builds on what he has said thus far, and asks:

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

Paul has been talking about the principle of self-denial in the verses before. He has had the right to live off the proceeds from the church but he has refused on the principle of self-denial for the benefit of the Gospel as a whole. This has required discipline and now he mashes the disciplined race he runs as a believer with the discipline of an athletic competitor.

Which is why he writes: 24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

The Christian Walk and Athletic Discipline

There are several passages where Paul likens the Christian walk with running a race – Galatians 2:2; 5:7; Philippians 2:16; 3:14; 2nd Timothy 4:7.

In the remainder of chapter 9, Paul references the well-known games which were celebrated near Corinth. So, throughout this chapter, his objective had been to show that by declining to receive a support for preaching he could better advance the message of the good news by removing any obstacle to his devotion and sincerity to it.

Of course, such self-denial is intrinsic to a successful athletic career as an athlete must deny herself the luxury of laziness, staying out late, eating what they want, or getting drunk. They are disciplined and discipline requires the denial of things an individual may desire or want.

The word is PRIVATIONS which is synonymous with austerity, and deprivation, and restraint – even scarcity. Here he points out that the same disciplines are implemented by athletes and he seems to be referring to the athletes who participated in the famous athletic games held at Corinth.

In his comparison, he speaks of “racers,” (verse 24,) and by wrestlers and/or boxers (in verse 25).

The games to which Paul appears to alludes were celebrated with extraordinary pomp and splendor, every fourth year, on the Isthmus which joined what we have learned is called “the Peloponnesus” to the mainland.

As an FYI, in Greece four types of games: the Pythian (also called the Delphic); the Isthmian (also called the Corinthian); the Nemean, and the Olympic. At these events of athletic competition, people from all over Greece gathered together and not only competed but celebrated together.

The “Isthmian” (or Corinthian) games were celebrated in the narrow part of the Isthmus of Corinth, to the north of the city, and are probably the games to which the apostle spoke, though all the games (in every place I mentioned) were substantially of the same nature so his words were not lost on others in other areas – nor are they lost on us.

The “Nemean games” were played at Nemaea, a town of Argolis, and were instituted by the Argives in honor of Archemorus, who died by the bite of a serpent, but was renewed by Hercules. Due to the connection to Hercules, we can readily see that these were games of strength and flesh – something the Greeks were quite supportive of.

The victor at these games was first given a crown of olive and then afterwards a crown of green parsley. These games were held every third, or, according to some reports, every fifth year.

The “Pythian games” were celebrated every four years at Delphi, in Phocis, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where was the seat of the celebrated Delphic oracle.

The Olympic games were held ever

Ancient Olympic Games in Greece

In the fourth year in Olympia, a town of Elis, on the southern bank of the Alpheus River, on the western part of the Peloponnesus. According to many sources, these were the most celebrated of any in Greece and they too were said to have been instituted by Hercules, who planted a grove called Altis, which he dedicated to Jupiter. People attended these games from all over, including from distant countries. Because they were held every fourth year in Grecian chronology, a period of four years was called an Olympiad. The games consisted of leaping, running, throwing the discus (or quoit), boxing, wrestling, and sometimes, other events like chariot and/or horse races. It's interesting, but just as gospel knowledge is acquired through study and experience (like secular knowledge is acquired – and which is a fact that many people ignore) walking a victorious Christian walk is achieved the same way winning an athletic competition is had – through self-discipline, privations, suffering, and the denial of the self for a greater end game!

Paul's Insights on Racing and Christianity

So, Paul says:

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

In the Grecian games, fleetness of foot (or swiftness) was regarded as an extraordinary virtue, and as a result, some great pains were taken for people to truly excel at it. Homer tells us that “swiftness was one of the most excellent endowments with which a man can be blessed.” The ability to run fast was so highly prized that somehow some competitors believed that if their spleen was burned because it was viewed as a hindrance to running. It is believed that running was valued most highly because it was so useful in warfare of the day. Of course, the competitors prepared themselves endlessly for the competition with the aim and hope of victory.

The Prize and the Grecian Victor

Paul’s point is that we too, as believers, are also running a race. In his allusion to these games, he adds that even though all run, only one receives the prize – who would be the victor and the victor alone.

In the Olympics, the victor received a wreath of olive, at Delphi, a wreath of apple, of pine at the Isthmian, and of parsley at the Nemean games. These prizes were conferred on champions on the last day of the games, and with great solemnity, pomp, congratulation, and rejoicing. One historian writes of the Grecian Victor: "Every one thronged to see and congratulate them; their relations, friends, and countrymen, shedding tears of tenderness and joy, Lifted them on their shoulders to show them to the crowd, and held them up to the applauses of the whole assembly, who strewed handfuls of flowers over them. Nay, at their return home, they rode in a triumphal chariot; the walls of the city were broken down to give them entrance, and in many cities a subsistence was given them out of the public treasury, and they were exempted from taxes. Cicero says that a victory at the Olympic games was not much less honorable than a triumph at Rome. (Anachar. iii. 469)

Of course, Paul, having witnessed this amidst his travels could readily see a parallel in the lives of the Saints and heaven. And so he adds:

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

When Paul says that “but one receives the prize,” I don’t think he means to say that there will only be one victory in heaven – that is taking his example too literally. His point seems to be that as Christians we too, like the athletes of the Grecian Games, prepare ourselves through self-discipline and practice to run a race that will bring us the prize.

Debating the Christian Prize

What is the prize he alludes to in the Christian realm? Our answer is, and has been, debated by theologians for nearly two thousand years and because of this, I think we need to approach the teaching responsibly, reasonably, and within the context of all of scripture in the New Testament. Here in Utah, we are surrounded by living examples that take on both main views – That the prize is eternal life, and that we must run the race to obtain it, OR that the prize is rewards to those who already have obtained eternal life, and that eternal rewards awaiting every Christian must be hotly pursued. These are the two main views that are bantered around this illustration that Paul gives.

So let me…

Paul's Message to the Corinthians

Re-read the four passages in question and allow that they actually say to set our parameters of understanding.

Paul writes:

24 Know ye not that they (the Olympiads) which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye (Christians) may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for “the mastery” (Whether the striving is in athletics or in the Heavenly) is temperate (typically with regard to restraint in lifestyle, diet, and/or imbibing) in all things. Now they do it (the athletes) to obtain a corruptible crown (like wreaths); but we (do it to obtain) an incorruptible (crown).

Where the legalist religions of our world (Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others) might read these words as running to obtain salvation, running to be able to inherit the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future., we know from other scriptures that this is not the proper context. We are save to the Kingdom of Heaven by grace through faith – and not of works (labors, races run, obtaining prizes). Paul is clear in this message throughout the New Testament.

The Race of the Christian Life

So, I would naturally suggest that Paul is addressing Christians who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Master, and we might suggest that this was the required registration to even enter the race – that a person has been saved. After all, this epistle is to believers, in the church at Corinth – so it is a foregone conclusion that the prize is not salvation. However, Paul, through other parts of scripture and then here as well, alludes to what the prize is – and the need to run the Christian race – which is a race of discipline, privation, and bottom line, suffering. We run to both receive the crown, but Paul adds another reason which he does not allude to in the comparison with athletes.

Read the last two verses with me as he says:

26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Running With Purpose

In discussing the athletic games, Paul simply points out that the athletes prepare themselves to run and they do so as a means to win the prize. But relative to the Christian application of this illustration, he describes more elements involved in our race, saying that (verse 24) we run, that ye may obtain (the prize) (verse 25) which is an incorruptible crown. (verse 26) that he personally runs the Christian race “not uncertainly;” That he fights “not as one that beateth the air” (like boxers do when they are warming up their arms before the competition), But (verse 27 – he says) I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: (verse 28) lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Conclusion: Focus on the Race

So in these verses Paul tells us that we are certainly to run our race, as a means to obtain an incorruptible crown, and that we do not run it without uncertainty, or as a boxer that punches the air, but we keep our body under subjection unless we somehow become what the King James calls “a castaway.” In all of this we learn the following, which is reiterated over and over again in scripture but often goes undiscussed in the faith today.

First point, and as a means to reiterate, we are NOT discussing salvation. Second, we are saying that as a means to receive what scripture calls “a crown” after this life, we run a good race. And third, by running a good race, one that is certain and not full of show (like beating the air) we keep ourselves from becoming “a castaway.” The implications of these insights are far reaching and vital to a sound understanding of the faith lived.

So much focus is placed on being saved – on receiving what God is offering all people as a means to regenerate them by His Spirit, grant them new life, make all things new, and introduce them to God and Christ through spiritual enlightenment that comes from above. With this event comes the certainty of relationship with God (which was lost in the Fall) of an unconditional invitation into the Kingdom of God here (and in the hereafter) and the knowledge that our sins have been forgiven and that deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., hell and the grave have no power over us. It is no wonder new Christians are full of rejoicing and joy that they

Salvation and the Race of Life

Share with everyone – it is truly good news. It is the good news that the Children of Israel experienced when they were emancipated from Egyptian bondage and escaped the harsh treatment of Pharaoh and His soldiers of oppression. It is the joy the alcoholic experiences in being liberated from the withdrawals and addictions that held them bound. It’s the new spiritual communion enjoyed where there was only a dearth before.

This is NOT what Paul is talking about. He is talking about the other side of the coin of salvation – which is walking with God through Christ thereafter. This speaks to the COI once Pharaoh’s armies in the Red Sea, and the people began to eat the same food day in and day out, and go without water at times, and were told to enter into warfare with giants. Rebirth is receiving the letter that says you have qualified to race. Paul is talking about running itself – and what is required to compete successfully for the prize. He is also talking about the fact that some people are actually invited to the race, but instead of preparing themselves for heaven through privations, fall back on the couch of spiritual emptiness, flip on the tele, open a beer, and do nothing to merit heavenly, spiritual victory. In conclusion of this message, Paul suggests that those who take this approach to the regenerated life with God through Christ run the risk of becoming a castaway.

Crowns for Believers

Let us speak to the notion of crowns for believers in the hereafter which are won by running a great race.

2nd Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

1st Peter 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulationA real historical event fulfilled in 70 A.D.—not a future apocalyptic crisis. More ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Revelation 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Firstly, we see the crown is a crown of righteousness, as 2nd Timothy 4:8 says, and just as an aside, I strongly suggest that this crown is actually bestowed by God in and through the type of resurrected body we each respectively receive. Secondly, in the language of these passages given to the Saints in that day (as a means to encourage them to hang on for dear life and not be castaway), we see that the term, “crown,” and the reception of it, is typically tied to enduring suffering and/or difficulty – which is very much a part of athletic competitions.

Remember James:
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Remember, the righteousness, and the suffering is displayed in selfless love – the love of God and the Love for others – not in empty religious expressions.

The Purpose of Mortal Life

It's intriguing but one question that has stumped me for quite some time, which I have been asked dozens of times over the years, is why this Mortal life? Isn’t there a better plan? Why the suffering and difficulty, disease and pain while we are in this flesh? What is the purpose of mortality? In the end, it seems to me that God, in creating us in His image, wants us to choose to be like Him. And He is light, and love, and good, and the like.

As spirit beings, I’m not so sure we could learn to love as He is love, and so creations in His image must first choose to learn to love in order to then possess His love. This choosing to learn to love is available only in a mortal flesh and blood realm, where there exists – from the moment we take our first breath – endless reasons NOT to love. I mean, growing up and surrounded by endless challenges by other people, their ways, their cultures, their habits, their selfishness, their demands, their meanness, even their goodness.

The Foundations of Love in Christianity

And virtues, all human beings are born into a giant petri dish where there is an option to either love as God loves – or to do otherwise. But to learn to love others, which is endless, is really only the second great commandment. The first is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

I’m not so sure a being created in His image would have the opportunity to actually love God with this depth of commitment unless we were separated from His presence by material flesh. And in this state we suffer injustice and unfairness, don’t we. God lets our children die, and our loved ones suffer. He doesn’t seem to really be there for us (especially in the ways we want Him to be) but do we love Him despite these difficulties and trials?

I don’t think there is a better situation, all things considered, for God’s special creations made in His image to learn to love as HE IS love, than exactly what is before us in mortality, where the demand to love Him is constant (and often challenged) and the demand to love our neighbors is the same.

Challenges According to Scripture

The Book of RevelationA symbolic prophecy fulfilled in 70 A.D.—not a prediction of future global events., written to the Saints at the Seven Churches in Asia minor in that day to provide them encouragement and sustenance in VERY TRYING times, has Jesus actually say to them:

Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

In my estimation, the challenges of Adam and Eve, for the Nation of Israel, for the early Saints and for every single Christian today are essentially from the same source: We want to escape suffering, and in so doing we naturally focus on our needs and wants, and not those of God and others.

Where the athlete is self-absorbed and does almost anything legal to win, the race of the Christian is based on opposite grounds – what does God want, what is best for the benefit of my neighbor? And then makes the insufferable choice to respond – knowing that in so doing, God will reward such choices according to His good will.

The Race of Faith

This concept is such an important principle because it wholly supports the New Testament teaching that says, Rebirth and liberation are wonderful but those who have been truly liberated will then run the race set before them – which is the race of love for God and man.

But the winning of crowns is not the only reason we run this selfless Christian race. We run to, shall we say, stay on course. Or as Paul puts it, so as to not be Castoff. Or in the Greek, AD-OK-EE-MOS – which means “rejected.”

First theologically, there is the notion floating about that says once saved always saved. This simple little statement proves the idea such a farce I am without words (which is a rarity). I mean we have Paul himself tell us here that he acts, he races, with proper restraints upon himself, “lest he be rejected.”

So where there is great liberty in the faith of every individual, so much so that Paul wrote:

Rome 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

We know the Apostle John wrote 1st John 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

But conversely, the writer of Hebrews also wrote to the Saints of that day and age:

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace..

Putting it all together, we are free and at liberty to be happy in what we allow by the Spirit, and it is our FAITH that allows us to overcome this world. But when the writer of Hebrews suggests to the believers then to: “exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

We can see two things – one, “that faith comes by the hearing of the Word” (which is why the Writer of Hebrews commends them that they exhort one another daily) and that “sin has the capacity to harden us,” (and therefore remove us,

The Deceitfulness of Sin in Faith and Love

Reject us, cast us off) from the path or course we are on. In the face of this, Paul says that he "keeps under my body, (which in opposition to beating the air like a boxer, Paul says here that he beats his own body, bruising it) into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Which takes us full circle as Paul clearly understands what scripture calls the “deceitfulness of sin” and that it has the capacity to cause us to fail in our walk of faith and love, and to stumble, or quit the progression of such in our lives.

The Role of Faith and the Challenge of Sin

Remember, it is NOT that the sin has not been taken care of or that you are going to suffer for the sins that so easily beset you. Jesus has taken care of the sins of the world. But the deceitfulness of sin, which works directly on faith, which works directly on our ability to love God and Man, which lacking can result in our failure to run at all, which can result in receiving no prize of a better resurrection at all, which will result in being rejected – is a reality.

The writer of Hebrews makes this principle very plain in Hebrews chapter three where he writes:

Hebrews 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of . . . unbelief.

Encouragement and Exhortation

So, we who are seeking to keep ourselves in check, gather together, and exhort each other, knowing the value of a reinforced faith in the running of a good Christian race. Because of the principles at play here I would strongly suggest that if God, and Jesus, and His apostles, relentlessly speak to the ideas that all people do, in fact, reap what they sow, that even though we are most definitely saved by God’s grace through faith, that our faith is both proven and sustained, by a walk that is subjected to the will and ways of the Spirit.

And the fact that these are manifestly New Testament principles, there are, in reality, many mansions in the kingdom to come, and God will reward those who have suffered the demands of their flesh to take a back seat to the demands of the spirit. And that the enemy is always always always . . . unbelief.

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