1 Corinthians 9:25, commentary and pictures

Paul draws on the Greek foot-races familiar at Corinth, where competitors submitted to months of severe discipline in diet and habit to win a fading wreath of flowers amid applause. The incorruptible crown they are contrasted with is eternal life itself, immortality, the crown of life and righteousness given by the Judge at the resurrection to those who endure to the end. To obtain it requires being temperate in all things, with appetite, passion and habit brought under enlightened reason and conscience as a first duty to God and fellow men. That temperance is broad and inward, embracing eating, drinking, dressing, labor, rest and recreation, keeping body and mind in the best condition for clear judgment and moral strength, and it comes only as Christ's grace transforms the heart. Unlike the earthly race where only one could win on uncertainty, all may win the heavenly prize who run lawfully and perseveringly by faith in Jesus, keeping the immortal inheritance continually in view and laboring humbly for others.

Ancient Contest Described

Paul reaches for the Greek athletic games and the foot-races familiar at Corinth to teach the fitness required for the work Christians are called to do. As contestants in those ancient games disciplined themselves to win a perishable crown, so those striving for mastery practice self-control in every area for an imperishable reward. Habits, tastes and inclinations must be brought into harmony with the laws of life and health, sustaining physical strength and clear judgment between good and evil. The illustration is to be set with earnest purpose before students, that while competitors did it for a corruptible crown, Christians strive for an incorruptible crown. The athletes' prize was uncertain because only one runner could win, but the Christian race holds out the hope of eternal life to all who run faithfully, and that greater reward calls for discipline and self-denial.

Competitors submitted to severe, strict discipline and thorough preparation, training for ten whole months and sometimes longer under different masters. They exercised every physical power, strained every nerve and muscle, obeyed every rule, and endured painful discipline and even risk of life. Like racers and wrestlers in the public games they practiced continual self-denial, putting aside every indulgence that would weaken physical powers in order to win a valueless laurel from the judge. Spiritual combatants must not be languid, lifeless, indolent or given to selfish ease, but must toil sparing no effort, strictly guarding every word, thought and action, studying the rules laid down in the Word of God and faithfully obeying every injunction and complying with every condition to run lawfully to the end. As competitors seeking earthly honor trained their bodies and practiced self-denial, workers for God must train both mind and body with still greater earnestness and perseverance through obstacles, because heavenly things are more valuable than earthly rewards.

Their discipline regulated habits and diet, for they lived on simple, carefully chosen, spare, plain, coarse food that would keep them healthful and active and give vigor and endurance for the greatest strain. They put aside every indulgence that would weaken physical powers, gave up wine, luxurious food and every weakening indulgence, refused food that would weaken any organ, denied luxuries, and wore clothing that left every organ and muscle untrammeled. They accepted strict training and denied themselves food and drink that could weaken them, exercising constant restraint of appetite to give full, healthful tone to nerves and muscles and keep physical strength for the highest demand. Like athletes who abstained from weakening indulgences and trained rigorously to seek a temporary crown, Christians must practice temperance and refuse unhealthy stimulants and indulgences that weaken body, morals and intellect.

The earthly prize was a corruptible crown, a chaplet or wreath of perishable flowers, a laurel crown with a palm branch. It was bestowed amid the applause of the multitude and regarded as the highest honor to winner, family and city, a special honor cheerfully sought, yet soon fading. It was uncertain because only one competitor could receive it, while all who meet the conditions of the Christian race may win immortal honor. It was sought even at risk of lifelong injury or death, whereas Christians run with confidence for an imperishable crown by following Christ's example and keeping eyes on the prize, with temperance keeping muscles, brain and every part in the very best condition to run successfully and make receipt of the crown more sure.

The corruptible crown also stands for earthly riches, treasure, worldly success and honor, this world's treasure and riches with their short-lived attractions, and successes in the common affairs of this life that quickly pass away. Those who strive for it and obtain it as the whole aim of life never become satisfied and remain unhappy to the end of life, living in rebellion against God. Striving for it is loving money, clinging to it with a miser's grasp, acting like the world, and being deceived and flattered by it, and those who profess to seek the immortal crown while their interest and principal study is to acquire earthly treasures lose their love for heaven and love for Jesus and for the cause of truth and are counted as of the world. Those who mark the life and unhappy end of the strivers for earthly riches become disgusted and alarmed, separate themselves from that unhappy company clamoring for the earthly crown, and seek the true and durable riches instead, turning from eager pursuit of the earthly crown to earnest seeking of the heavenly one until gloom gives way to light, cheerfulness and holy joy. Gaining heaven and Christ's righteousness is worth every sacrifice, so everlasting life must not be traded away cheaply by reaching eagerly for earthly treasure while only languidly seeking the heavenly crown, for those who sow to the flesh by gratifying selfish desires, natural inclinations and passions reap corruption, but those who sow to the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Incorruptible Crown Promised

The incorruptible crown is the imperishable reward for which the Christian runs, namely immortality and eternal life itself. It is the crown of life, the crown of righteousness to be given by the righteous Judge at the Judgment, the crown of glory and immortal glory, an unfading inheritance and treasure in heaven. It is an unfading crown of immortality and a life which measures with the life of God, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory held out before those running the race. It is enduring honor, immortal glory, and life without end, even seeing the King in His beauty and dwelling with Him and being made like Him in rest and eternity of happiness and bliss.

Because that prize is infinitely more valuable than a perishable chaplet, striving for it calls for much more careful effort and much more willing sacrifice, self-denial, thoroughness and zeal. The intensity of effort should be proportionate to the value of the object sought, so those seeking immortality must practice temperance and discipline with far greater earnestness than those who trained for earthly honor. As competitors seeking earthly honor trained body and mind with severe preparation, workers for God must train both mind and body with still greater earnestness and perseverance, because heavenly things are more valuable than earthly rewards. The path requires patient toil through obstacles, pressing on with steady increasing zeal and determination toward the goal rather than by a smooth way.

Unlike earthly contests where the prize was uncertain because only one runner could win, in the heavenly race there is room for all to obtain the prize. None will fail who runs well according to the light shining upon him and keeps his abilities in healthful condition, who runs lawfully and meets the conditions of the race. All who meet the conditions of the Christian warfare can win and wear the crown of immortal glory, and everyone who does his best may receive the incorruptible crown of immortality. By following Christ's example and keeping the eyes on the prize, and by looking to Jesus, believers run with confidence and are changed from glory to glory unto certain victory.

The crown is given at the end of the race, at the resurrection and Judgment when the judgment sits and the books are opened and the verdict of acceptance is pronounced. It is the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give on that day, placed upon the brow in sight of the assembled universe, with palm branches symbolizing triumph and spotless righteousness as Christ's gift. It belongs to overcomers who endure to the end, keep the commandments and do God's will, holding on through sorrows, troubles, opposition and suffering and resisting besetting sins with the Pattern before them. Profession alone is of little value, for deeds and the fruit of the life show whether profession is genuine and each person is judged by those deeds. If a person does not overcome but is overcome, he loses that crown and another gets it, so to lose heaven is to lose everything and to gain heaven is to gain everything.

Temperance in All Things

To gain the imperishable crown requires rigid self-control and self-denial in every area and habit of life, as competitors deny themselves to win a crown that perishes while Christians run for one that never decays. This discipline holds a high standard and calls habits, tastes and inclinations into harmony with the laws of life and health, supporting physical strength and clear judgment between good and evil. Without such self-control in bodily discipline people will be lost, for the verse calls for running with certainty to obtain and fighting with purpose while keeping the body under subjection so as not to be lost after preaching to others. It is a first duty owed to God, to self and to fellow men to obey the laws of health and life, preserving vigor for the warfare against evil. Unlike the earthly contest, the heavenly race is open to all who follow Christ’s example and keep their eyes on the prize, so they may run with confidence.

True temperance means principle, calm intelligent reason and an enlightened conscience rule instead of appetite, fancy, passion or lust. Its rule applies especially in eating, drinking and dressing, where principle must govern rather than personal desire. When appetite governs through harmful indulgence the moral sense is clouded and power to discern sacred things is largely destroyed. Eating too much or eating food of harmful or objectionable quality easily leads into dissipation and into foolish hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition. Safety lies only in firmly denying appetite, refusing spirituous liquor, narcotics and other enslaving indulgences, so that reason governs rather than animal passions.

This temperance is broad, not narrow or arbitrary, forbidding all excess and standing with God’s broad claims and great purpose for humanity. It is required in every part of life and in every phase of family and church life, enabling people to receive the sanctifying influence of truth as a matter of spiritual duty. It applies to people in every station and vocation, including ministers of the gospel, statesmen, authors, men of wealth and talent, men of vast business capacity, and those in positions of honor, trust and usefulness. Such persons are in deadly peril and in danger of ruin to soul and body when they do not see its necessity and indulge habits that confirm them in ruin. Therefore its principles must be brought before the rich and higher classes and taught and practiced plainly, with those who teach others practicing what they teach lest self-indulgence contradict instruction and hinder acceptance.

Temperance in all things is inward and is never produced by pledges, outward restriction or mere control of diet, which cannot cure diseased appetite. It happens only when the grace of Christ is an abiding principle transforming the heart, with the Holy Spirit as divine Teacher renewing and sanctifying the welcomed soul. Victory over self cannot be gained by self-dependence or by halfway work, but only as divine power is joined with earnest human effort, subordinating mind and body and making natural habits and appetites subservient to the higher wants of the soul. Each one must fight his own battle against self and present the body a living sacrifice, resisting harmful indulgence of mind and body while helping others overcome. Indulging natural impulses while professing to serve God is not wholehearted service and misleads others, endangering the worker lest after preaching to others he himself become a castaway.

Disciplining Body and Mind

To run so as to obtain is to keep the body under and bring it into subjection, lest after preaching to others one should be lost. Appetites, passions, desires, impulses, taste and habits must be brought under the control of reason and of God's will and of an enlightened conscience, with obedience to the laws of health and life. Appetite governs the world through pernicious habits, and letting it rule clouds the moral sense and largely destroys power to discern sacred things, while eating too much or eating food of harmful or objectionable quality leads easily into dissipation and into foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition. Simple food plainly prepared helps preserve the brain's ability to discern sacred things and to value the atonement, and those who work together with God must use every jot of influence to spread true temperance principles. This discipline applies to ministers with special force, for they must live by these principles and keep their bodies under control and not risk disqualification after preaching to others.

Striving for mastery means training of mind and heart, which is even more essential than physical training. By this training of heart and mind spiritual strength is gained and weak points of character are made strong. The mind is to be disciplined and educated, and rule over the kingdom within established from youth, with both mind and muscles trained to put forth diligent, persevering effort. As competitors seeking earthly honor submitted to severe discipline and thorough preparation, workers for God must train both mind and body with still greater earnestness and perseverance, because heavenly things are more valuable than earthly rewards. Success comes not by a smooth way but by a rugged path filled with obstacles that can be surmounted only by patient toil through obstacles.

The mastery to be gained is mastery over self, over besetting sin, foolishness, temper, words and arbitrary and exacting ways, over wrong habits and selfish desires. It is gained by cooperating with God and refusing to be ruled by inclination, by daily conversion with the Spirit of God resting upon the soul, by training the mind to dwell upon the sound, sensible truths of the Word so there is strength to act like a Christian when the enemy seeks to take possession of the mind and lead into sin. It is a striving under the striving of the Spirit of God with the heart, by souls thirsting for God in full determination of entire surrender to Him, cultivating higher views and aiming for a loftier standard while carrying through the hellish shadow cast athwart the path, sometimes defeated and sometimes victorious, defeat turned into victory by trusting less to self and pressing onward in the name of Jesus with the heart pointing to Him as the compass to the pole. Angels cooperate with those who so strive, for God works through them to exalt His truth and cause it to receive honored recognition, using them as His instruments not because they are righteous above all men but because He desires to use them. Clinging to selfish ambitions and desires while trying to follow Christ makes the effort purposeless, for the contest calls for wholehearted spiritual effort without selfishness, unfairness, or underhanded conduct, yielding the life to the control of the Spirit and letting Him impress the mind instead of spending time glorifying the enemy and dishonoring God before the world.

Christ, though sinless with no inward corruption to subdue, fasted forty days on behalf of others and held communion with heaven, giving the pattern of self-denial, humility, and nearness to God that enables victory when fasting and trial are required. Through Christ, who conquered appetite and resisted Satan's fiercest temptation, Adam's children may overcome appetite as He overcame. As Adam and Eve fell through intemperate appetite and lost Eden, Christ overcame on behalf of the human race and made it possible through Him to undo that course and regain Eden. Such discipline preserves physical and mental vigor and gives moral strength for the struggle against Satan, and temperance matters to restoration to Eden, for intemperate desire led to its loss and self-control has a greater part in restoration than is realized. The Christian life is a battle before all that must be fought valiantly with every effort put forth to overcome evil and win the incorruptible crown.

Health and Daily Practice

Temperance in all things must govern eating, drinking, and dressing, and it reaches as far as labor, study, sleeping, resting, recreation, preaching, praying, and writing. It calls for discreet use of God's good gifts and wise use of mental and physical powers, with daily exercise of the muscles such as garden cultivation, with periods of rest from taxing labor, and with refusal to overtax and abuse the body. It forbids wasting time, money, and strength on excess in eating, drinking, and dress that lessens vitality and brings suffering and decay, and it forbids indigestion from hurried eating, unwholesome food, overeating even of wholesome food, and eating at all hours regardless of the laws of health. Obedience to the laws of health is part of this first duty owed to God, to self, and to fellow men, keeping the system in good working order so the brain can do its best work and the mind can be open to divine enlightenment.

It requires total abstinence from alcohol, spirituous liquors, beer, wine, and strong drinks, and from tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, narcotics, drugs, and every other stimulant or substance deleterious to health. It requires refusal to be ruled by appetite for flesh meat, rich unhealthful food, spices, grease, and stimulating foods, and abandonment of unnatural habits in favor of what God designed for human use in its natural state as far as possible. Such indulgences confuse reason, destroy self-control, become second nature and physical disease, foster stronger appetites, harm vital forces, weaken nerve and brain power and physical strength, and debase mental and moral powers. Christian parents are therefore to place this temperance on an elevated platform in the family circle and in the church as a living, working element that reforms habits, dispositions, and characters, abstaining not only from all intoxicating beverages but from tea, coffee, and flesh meat.

Applied to eating, it means moral self-government rather than dependence on others to fix limits: choose only what is best, eat temperately without overeating even of wholesome food, avoid too frequent and too rich eating, carefully study quantity, eat three moderate meals, and then leave the matter with a clear conscience before Heaven instead of sorrow and constant thinking about food and drink. Simple food plainly prepared belongs to this discipline, with refusal of food that would weaken any organ and denial of luxuries, after the pattern of spare, coarse, carefully chosen diet that keeps the body healthful and active. Letting appetite rule by indulging harmful habits clouds the moral sense and largely destroys power to discern sacred things, and eating too much or eating food of harmful quality easily leads into dissipation and into foolish hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition.

Such discipline keeps muscles, brain, and every part in the very best condition to run, giving elasticity to run successfully and making receipt of the crown more sure. It brings habits, tastes, and inclinations into harmony with the laws of life and health, supporting physical strength and clear judgment between good and evil, preserving the brain's ability to discern sacred things and value Christ's atonement. It preserves physical and mental vigor and gives moral strength for the warfare against Satan, supports effective labor and speech, and prevents war in the stomach with its confusion and gloom of mind, ill health, and weak and inefficient labor. Indulgence that weakens the mind and prevents the Spirit of God from impressing a sense of duty is therefore incompatible with striving for the everlasting reward.

Practicing true temperance and health reform from an educated intellect and aroused moral sensibility is a duty of conscience and part of present truth, preparing a people to be perfect before God and to be sanctified through the truth by loving purity and holiness and using discreetly the good things God has provided. It belongs to glorifying God in body and spirit, with physical and mental clearness and strength to appreciate the elevated truths of God's Word and to discern with clear and sanctified judgment the imperfections of moral character and reform so as to have friendship with God. Without it sanctification is impossible, and violation of physical law is violation of God's law, while ignorance of health subjects is lamentable because faithfulness to Christ demands knowledge of and obedience to the laws of health in daily habits. Particular foods are not made a test of faith, yet every person is individually accountable to God to take hold of health reform, with temperance regulated by knowledge governing food, raiment, work, regular hours, and healthful exercise to place life and health in right relation.

Physicians must teach strict temperance plainly as a remedy for disease caused by improper eating and drinking, and medical missionaries wear temperance in everything as their badge in restoring outcasts. Parents must teach it by example from babyhood, and ministers and teachers must practice and exemplify it in diet and labor rather than contradict it, keeping a balanced middle path without extremes. Every minister must read and put into practice the warning, counsel, and reproof against going contrary to temperance, disciplined running, and keeping the body in subjection, living by these principles and avoiding selfish indulgence and habits that harm health and hinder effective labor, lest after preaching to others he himself become disqualified and lose his reward.

Earnest Lifelong Striving

Christians are to run with certainty to obtain and fight with purpose and not as beating the air, keeping the incorruptible prize continually in view. The immortal inheritance with Christ is to be often surveyed, admired, valued, longed for and kept in view until no effort seems severe, with eyes fixed on Jesus and the prize He holds forth and thoughts much on heaven. Running so as to obtain requires definite bodily discipline and keeping the body under subjection and in healthful condition, including taking time wherever one is for physical exercise and doing every day some work that exercises the muscles, which ministers especially are to practice. This calls for strict guard over appetite, obedience to the laws of God, keeping the physical, mental and moral powers in the most perfect condition to obtain divine approval, beating back the desires, impulses and passions of the body by severe discipline so as not to run uncertainly or at random without seeing the standard and striving to reach it. Spiritual combatants must not be languid, lifeless, indolent or given to selfish ease, but must strain every nerve and muscle, toiling and sparing no effort, strictly guarding every word, thought and action, studying the rules laid down in the Word of God and faithfully obeying every injunction and complying with every condition to run lawfully to the end, developing heavenly graces and following Christ's humble, self-denying life, and by doing their best while imitating Him they can run with confidence of receiving the prize, since unlike the earthly contest with only one uncertain winner the heavenly race is open to all who follow His example.

Winning requires earnest, sustained, wholehearted effort with steady, increasing zeal, self-denial, sacrifice, energy and earnestness, and perseverance through conflict, trial, opposition and reproach. Habits and passions must be disciplined, appetite brought under reason and God's will, with reason guided by God's word and Spirit governing, and indulgences, amusements, luxuries or ease that weaken spiritual effort refused. Believers must keep exerting effort and press on with increasing zeal and determination toward the goal, persevering in the struggle against evil, valuing the eternal reward of everlasting life, immortal glory and enduring honor above earthly attractions, and accepting eternal vigilance, resisting evil and overcoming obstacles without being turned aside by worldly attractions. Sanctification and conquest over self is the work of a lifetime, not of a day or year, gained inch by inch with continual activity, watchfulness, prayer, study of the Word, and laying aside every weight and besetting sin.

This striving is done not in human strength but by faith in Jesus as personal Saviour, trusting His grace, looking unto Him, breathing the breath of God and receiving His Spirit, beholding Him to be changed into His image, with heaven's resources strengthening each striving soul and the Holy Spirit quickening purposes to fruitfulness. Each one must fight his own battle against self, subordinating mind and body and making natural habits and appetites subservient to the higher wants of the soul, heeding the Holy Spirit as divine Teacher who renews and sanctifies, since no dependence can be placed on self and there can be no halfway work. Gaining a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin through beholding Jesus, believers stay on guard every moment against temptations that debase mind and character and eat away right affections, keep the barriers of the soul unbroken lest Satan come in like a flood with fatal perplexities, say to Satan Get thee behind me, resist the devil and draw nigh to God, turn from the path of those who do wickedly without building up self in self-righteousness over those overcome, and stand fully on the side of God as co-workers with Him to rescue souls from death. Looking unto Jesus they are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord unto certain victory and a lasting crown, not running on uncertainty or fighting as beating the air, for God sets before them a more encouraging, noble and benevolent prospect and does not intend them to endure strict spiritual discipline and self-denial at hazard of losing at last and missing the victor's crown.

The verse warns ministers and all believers to practice what they preach, to guard word, thought and action, and to keep the body under control and bring it into subjection, lest after preaching to others they themselves become castaways and lose the reward. Every minister must read and put these words into practice, finding in them warning, counsel and reproof against going contrary to temperance, disciplined running and keeping the body in subjection, and must live by these principles and not risk disqualification. This requires laying aside selfish ambitions, ease and worldly mastery such as absorbing passion for football, cricket, horse-racing, gambling, amusements and bicycle-race rivalry, and refusing to run uncertainly or at random without seeing the standard. Bodily self-control is part of the holy character needed to meet Christ in peace.

The race is run by humble, prayerful labor for the salvation of others, carrying the warning message to all the world, doing the nearest duty without expecting reward in this life, stripping for the race in meekness, holding fast to pure principles, and helping others win the crown, while following worldly methods cheats the soul of the inheritance. Every step forward with earnest, steady effort and unwavering purpose brings the runner nearer to victory, and no one should hinder another person from running. The Christian race is witnessed by God and the heavenly angels, and each person's reward accords with the persevering energy and faithful earnestness with which he runs, with the lasting crown of immortality set against the praise of people. Active personal effort to do good and save others awakens greater earnestness in securing one's own salvation, with the aim of receiving the Saviour's approval and the crown. Lay members who move into new places to work as missionaries are running this race by standing alone in God, weeping, praying and laboring for fellow men in humility instead of loving the praise of men more than the favor of God, exercising faith to present neighbors before the throne of grace and plead with God to touch their hearts, keeping their eyes fixed on the prize at the end of the race.