1 Corinthians 9:27, commentary and pictures

Paul borrows the footraces familiar at Corinth, where runners trained severely and denied appetite yet only one could win a perishable wreath, to set forth the Christian race for an incorruptible crown of immortality that all may win with certainty if they run lawfully. To keep the body under is to beat back its desires, impulses and passions by severe discipline, constant restraint and denial of hurtful indulgence. To bring it into subjection is to place appetite, members and every power under the controlling influence of the Spirit of God, so that the passions are governed by the will, the will by God, and sanctified reason directs the life. Even one who has preached to others, received great light and handled sacred things may himself be rejected, disqualified from the prize and lost unless the truth taught is lived and the life brought into conformity with it. This mastery is not gained by self-dependence but by the Spirit of God joined with human effort, requiring temperance in all things, guarding of appetite, self-denial, persevering effort and daily watchfulness and prayer, made possible through Christ who broke the power of appetite.

Race Setting and Prize

Paul reaches for the footraces and public athletic games familiar at Corinth, including famous contests and wrestling matches that picture spiritual warfare, to set forth the Christian work. Those games were run under strict rules that allowed no appeal, so a competitor who took unlawful advantage lost the prize. The same figure teaches that success in the Lord's work requires thorough preparation and discipline of both mind and body.

Earthly runners submitted to severe and even painful training, sometimes for ten whole months or longer under different masters, with physical exercise to give strength and vigor to the body. They practiced thorough temperance and severest discipline, exercising every nerve and muscle, restricting habits, denying luxuries and appetite, and refraining from food that would weaken any organ. Their food was simple, spare, coarse and carefully selected to leave the system undisturbed and to give activity, health, strength and endurance to the muscles under the greatest tax upon strength, while their clothing left every organ and muscle untrammeled. All this was done to keep nerves, muscles, brain and every part in the very best and most healthful condition to run.

The earthly prize was perishable, a laurel crown or wreath of flowers and token of honor sought as a special honor, yet valueless in itself. In that race all ran but only one received the prize, so even the best effort and bravest endurance ran at venture and with uncertainty, at hazard of losing at last when another ran a little ahead. Ancient athletes spared no toil and even risked life for that uncertain crown.

The Christian race is for an incorruptible crown, immortality, eternal life, the crown of life that fadeth not away, and a life measuring with the life of God. In this heavenly race there is room for all to obtain the prize, and all may run and all may receive it with certainty and without risk or uncertainty, none failing who runs well according to the light shining upon him and does his very best. Paul therefore runs not uncertainly and fights not as one beating the air, but with purpose and with the immortal inheritance and eternal weight of glory kept in view. That prize is to be often surveyed, admired, dwelt upon and longed for, with the eye directed upward to the crown of immortality and fixed upon Jesus and the Pattern of His humble, self-denying life constantly before the mind.

Because heavenly things are of far more value than earthly honor, the discipline, preparation, earnestness, self-denying effort and temperance required are as much greater and more thorough, with effort proportionate to that exceeding value. As runners for a corruptible crown were temperate in all things, Christians striving for an incorruptible crown must do as much and be far more temperate, willingly suffering inconveniences, keeping strict guard over appetite, and faithfully complying with the conditions and rules laid down by the Lord. The road is not smooth and easy but rugged and filled with obstacles to be surmounted only by diligent, persevering toil of both mind and muscles, for spiritual combatants cannot be languid, lifeless, indolent or in selfish ease and hope to win.

Bodily Subjection Explained

To keep the body under is literally to beat back the desires, impulses and passions of the body by severe discipline, placing the self under strict training and constant restraint rather than running uncertainly or at random. It means denying hurtful indulgence and self-gratification, refusing to pet self, complain or murmur, and regulating life by knowledge so that physical, mental and moral powers are kept in the most perfect condition for the approval of God. Self must die, be bruised, warred against and brought into subjection in and through Jesus without failure or negligence, the life conformed to Christ the Pattern with character refined, softened, humble, truthful, honest, faithful and correct, giving a right example especially to children. Words, conduct, passions and refusal of self-gratification must show a living connection with God, for the struggle against evil continues through life and requires constant self-guarding and striving toward righteousness by faith through willing obedience to God's law.

To bring it into subjection is to bring appetite, words, practices, passions, members and every power under the controlling influence of the Spirit of God and sanctified intellect. Minds and bodies must be subordinated to God, with natural habits and appetites made subservient to the higher wants of the soul, because He has bought the person and claims a throne in each heart. This requires denying self, refusing self-indulgence, and meeting every temptation and suggestion to gratify inclination and passion with firm resolution and overcoming it. What is preached must be carried out in daily life, when sitting at another's table and when conversing with others, as a representative of Jesus Christ, so that truth grasped by the intellect takes possession of the inner sanctuary of the soul and is seen in right principles practiced. It is work required of everyone in cooperation with Christ and the ministering angels, for failure to govern the body leads to losing everlasting life, and what is eaten and drunk matters because it affects others, especially family influence and the formation of children's characters.

The order appointed is that the higher powers rule the lower in progressive conquest over evils within, with only conquerors entering the heavenly gates. The passions are to be governed by the will, and the will to be governed by God, while reason sanctified by divine grace and enlightened conscience directs the life. Appetites and passions must be brought under the control of enlightened conscience as a duty owed to God and to neighbors to obey the laws that govern health and life. The body is to be brought into subjection to the noble powers of the mind and kept in harmonious action, growing from fuller understanding of the body as the wonderful work of God's hand, formed in the image of the divine and given into human charge to be kept clean, pure and healthy. This keeping under is self-denial and lifting the cross against every passion striving for victory, guarding and conquering evils in the spirit and refusing to imitate the world, with natural and cultivated tendencies that strive for supremacy overcome before they strengthen into habit.

This mastery is not safely achieved by dependence on self or by halfway work, for no human heart remains strong without divine grace. The Holy Spirit must renew and sanctify until the impression is fixed, and victory comes by the Spirit of God combining with human effort, for all power is of God yet He does not work without human cooperation. Believers must strive against evil with zeal and self-denial, cooperating with divine help rather than relying only on human strength. Even inherited and cultivated tendencies striving for supremacy can be overcome, and obedience brings the blessing of physical and mental vigor and moral power to engage in warfare against Satan, so that in the name of Christ who conquered appetite believers may be more than conquerors.

Paul himself practiced this discipline with purposeful, constant battle to stay converted by dependence on God's power through faith. He disciplined his body, guarded against appetites, passions and evil propensities, kept watch over his conduct, and lived in daily communion with God to subdue evil propensities and control unruly appetites and passions with firm resistance. He lived in constant dread and trembling over his own weakness lest those tendencies overcome him, showing humility that proves self-confidence, self-sufficiency and exaltation lead to stumbling, falling and disgraceful failure unless the heart holds fast to God and God holds fast to him. Extraordinary spiritual privilege, visions and honor from God did not make him self-confident, for preaching to others did not make him safe from falling away, and constant watchfulness, humility and dependence on God were still necessary lest after preaching he fail to receive the incorruptible reward and be rejected.

Keeping under includes spiritual exercise in the training of mind and heart. That training is even more essential than physical training. By it spiritual strength is gained and weak points of character are made strong.

Warning Against Disqualification

To be a castaway is to be rejected and disqualified, to fail of the prize and of everlasting life, and to be lost to perdition. Paul kept his body under rigid discipline and control for this very reason, lest after preaching to others he himself should be disqualified. His watchfulness shows that the race for eternal life is no trifling matter but striving for the crown, and every believer is to make his resolve to hold the body in control his own. Uncontrolled appetite leads toward perdition, so the body must be brought under through severe discipline.

Even one who has preached to others may himself be rejected and lost without personal faithfulness and self-control. Visions, talents, great light, handling sacred things, high profession, and honor from God do not exempt anyone, as Paul's own example proves, for he remained watchful and self-denying despite extraordinary spiritual privilege. A minister's sacred work does not make his sin less sinful if he indulges bodily passions instead of bringing them into subjection. Those who enter the spiritual contest must do so with full effort and integrity, without selfishness or unfairness, and those who do their best in it will not fail.

Preaching ably, receiving praise from others, professing truth, observing the Sabbath, and holding intellectual knowledge of salvation do not secure the preacher. He must live the truths he teaches, bring his life to conform to Scripture, perfect Christian character, and bring purity and truth into practice. A preacher may handle sacred things without being holy in heart, and may fail of everlasting life through self-confidence, recklessness, defects of character, and neglect of closeness to God. His life should reflect Christ, die to self, and help others walk toward heaven rather than fall into sin for lack of self-control.

Those given great light who do not walk in it and live by it face judgment, darkness corresponding to the light despised, danger of apostasy, sifting among professed believers, and rejection when every case is decided for eternity at the Lord's coming. In that sifting among those who claim to be children of God, those found unjust among the just will be added to the ranks of apostasy and counted as castaways. Only those whose works match the light given them will be counted on the Lord's side. Safety is only in following the Light of the world, bringing purity and truth into practice, and pleading with earnest prayer that those who preach to others shall not themselves be cast away, for God never forsakes people until they forsake Him, while internal corruption grieves His Spirit and brings His denunciations as upon Jerusalem of old.

To lose eternal life after preaching the solemn truth to others is to lose everything, a loss that is cause for anguish. For such a one Christ would have died in vain, and his soul lost despite great light, opportunities, privileges, counsels and warnings. This danger is to be weighed while it is not too late for wrongs to be righted, by disregarding no voice that says this is the way, walk in it, and by rendering earnest, sincere service with a meek and lowly heart that reflects light to others. A minister must not mix serving tables and the absorbing cares of temporal life with ministering, for Satan uses that mixture to destroy influence and the soul.

The warning therefore calls for knowing and guarding weak points, studying self, trying every motive, and aiming in preaching not to exhibit self but to exhibit Christ. It requires daily and hourly self-examination in the light of God's Word, meditation on the Word, watchfulness, and prayer, even seeking God earnestly through night hours for help and strength to be an overcomer. The preacher must keep heart and conduct under watch, submit to being gauged to live according to Scripture, exercise self-control, and resist temptation by guarding where he is weak so that weak points become strong. He is to have far less of self and far more of Jesus, living in entire dependence on Christ rather than on self.

Temperance in Daily Living

To strive for mastery is to be temperate in all things, with principle ruling instead of appetite or fancy, refusing to make food an idol and rejecting every indulgence that harms health and weakens mind and morals. Keeping the body under and bringing it into subjection means bringing appetite, lustful passion and habit under control in eating, drinking, dressing and every part of life, as the athlete denied himself to run well. Even one who has preached to others may become a castaway without this personal faithfulness, for preaching does not exempt from the need to preserve strength and serve faithfully by self-control. Gluttony and self-indulgence weaken the body and cloud the mind, so if the danger was real for Paul, there is still greater reason for others to use physical and mental powers for God.

Bodily discipline guards appetite by avoiding overeating even of wholesome food, hurried eating, mixing many kinds of food, eating at all hours, and eating unwholesome food, guarding the door of the stomach and eating abstemiously and simply. Like racers for the laurel crown who used a careful, simple, carefully selected diet to put muscles, brain and every part in the best condition to run, Christians so run for an incorruptible crown with elasticity of body and certainty of success. Those connected with an important work need clear minds in crisis, gained by denying self as the racer did, leaving the system undisturbed and giving activity, health, strength and endurance for the greatest tax upon strength. Abused digestion brings conflict in the stomach, confuses the brain, covers the mind with gloom, makes labor weak and inefficient, and bars divine enlightenment, while victory over appetite keeps the mind able to discern spiritual things and receive precious truth. This self-denial before unbelievers gives influence by example, correcting wrong habits by lived obedience to right principles rather than by attacking defects.

Total abstinence is required from alcohol, stimulating drinks, tobacco, opium and every deleterious substance, with restraint of tea, coffee, wine, beer, brandy and flesh meat. Moderate use within bounds does not suffice, because the habit indulged becomes second nature, confuses reason, destroys self-control, and is both moral sin and physical disease. Temperance must be added to knowledge as a round of the ladder to heaven, with constant restraint, denial of hurtful indulgences, and regulation by knowledge in food, raiment, work, regular hours and healthful exercise, keeping nerves, muscles and organs in full healthful tone as racers kept spare coarse diet and denial of luxuries. A plain simple but liberal diet of fruits, vegetables and grains is best for those preparing for God's work, while eating meat to gratify appetite stimulates unholy passions, fills the mind with unhallowed emotions, beclouds spiritual eyesight, corrupts taste and judgment, and brings disregard of God's law. Cure requires full cooperation, aroused moral powers, and looking to Jesus in trust for grace to overcome unnatural craving, presenting the body purchased at infinite price as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God.

Excess or objectionable food, luxurious food, unnatural stimulants and indulged lust cloud the moral sense, becloud the brain, weaken nerve and spiritual power, strengthen animal propensities, and largely destroy power to discern sacred things. Eating too much or food of objectionable quality easily leads into dissipation and into foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition. Continual indulgence in hurtful lust produces a diseased body and disordered intellect that make sanctification of body and spirit impossible, and the heart cannot maintain consecration while lustful appetite is indulged nor can God be glorified while the laws of life are violated. Temperance gives instead clearness to appreciate truth, physical and mental strength to appreciate elevated truth, and vigor for warfare against Satan.

Health reform stands on its right basis as part of present truth, as closely joined to it as the arm to the body, preparing a people to be perfect before God with clear sanctified judgment to discern and reform defects of moral character. For those living in the last days the charge is urgent to walk in the light on health, speak and act intelligently about eating and drinking, present mind, soul, body and strength as a living sacrifice, reckon self dead to sin and yield members as instruments of righteousness lest after preaching to others one becomes a castaway. This is a matter of educating the mind and awakening moral responsibility to practice reform intelligently and arouse moral sensibility, without making articles of diet a test, setting the standard of self-control and purity for church officers as for deacons so for elders. Resisting appetite, remaining firm in the right path and trusting God rather than yielding to discouragement keeps appetite under the will and subject to worthy purpose.

Keeping the body in good working order requires periods of rest and daily physical exercise and useful labor such as cultivating a garden, which is as much God's work as holding meetings, with ministers taking time every day for muscular exercise for great benefit. Nerve and brain must be preserved from overtaxation, physical habits regulated with careful preparation and self-control, and neglect, excess or carelessness avoided lest the body be weakened and defeat follow. The body is to be brought into subjection to the noble powers of the mind and kept in harmonious action, understood as the wonderful work of God's hand formed in the divine image and given in charge to be kept. The obligation is to present clean, pure, healthy bodies to God.

What is eaten and drunk affects family, church, prayer and children, so parents must place temperance on an elevated platform in the family circle and in the church as a living working element reforming habits, dispositions and characters, teaching by example and instruction from babyhood. Fathers and mothers are called to abstain not only from intoxicating beverages but from tea, coffee and flesh meat, and the subject must not be met with silence, while ministers must join this work rather than oppose it and meet its standard of accountability. Giving in to natural appetites or corrupt passions harms the body, clouds happiness and can damage family life, but living in harmony with God's laws brings health, peace and happiness, with strength given for self-control and marriage restraining lower passions in pure elevated love. Eating, drinking and all other actions are to honor God and cleanse flesh and spirit in perfecting holiness, since bodies belong to Christ by purchase and failure to govern them risks everlasting life and the crown of immortality.

Persevering Spiritual Victory

Winning the prize requires stern, earnest work, persistent energy, patient industry, unwearied effort and untiring zeal, laying aside every weight and the sin that easily besets and running with patience, striving lawfully, growing daily in piety and moral excellence and pressing toward perfection in Christ. No one can be languid, lifeless, indolent or in selfish ease and hope to win, for indifference and waiting for another to act will disappoint, and each must faithfully take personal part in the struggle, remain watchful against Satan, and strive to retain or regain heavenly grace when lost through lack of vigilance. The race is not run for reward or ease in this life, but with eyes kept on the prize at its end through hardships and obstacles, with the crown of life that fadeth not away and the eternal weight of glory kept in view, surveyed, admired, dwelt upon and longed for until no effort or self-denial or self-sacrifice seems severe, with eyes fixed on Jesus and thoughts much on heaven and the immortal inheritance, meditating, praying, believing with all the heart and pressing on faithful to the end as overcomers. One weight to be laid aside is indulgence of appetite, for intemperance has cursed the world almost from its birth, as shown when Noah's son was so debased by wine that he lost all sense of propriety and brought a curse never lifted from his descendants. Through appetite Satan controls the whole being, and thousands become physical, mental and moral wrecks by self-indulgence and lose eternal life, so every appetite must be brought under control of the Spirit of God, for only those who thus subdue the body receive power to run the race set before them and avoid becoming castaways after preaching to others.

The same discipline requires laying aside all selfishness and growing in grace by active, unselfish labor to help and bless others as Christ enjoined, since strength comes by exercise and passively accepting blessings without working for Christ brings spiritual degeneration and decay and loss of strength already had. Self-denial is necessary both to enter Christ's service and to continue in it, for serving God requires bringing the body under control so that physical vigor and mental effort are not weakened by harmful habits. Willful indulgence in wrong habits that injure health is incompatible with consecration to God and must be resolutely avoided, lest after preaching to others one becomes a castaway. This guarding against ruin by being overcome with temptation applies in every station of life, including ministers and others in positions of trust and those with wealth, influence and talent, who need self-control in all things including abstaining from harmful indulgences that damage physical, mental and moral power, with the close connection of body and mind requiring both to be kept in the best condition, including by resisting indulgence of appetite.

Victory comes through Christ, who endured a fast of forty days and conquered appetite on man's behalf to break its power and make overcoming possible, so that in His name believers may be more than conquerors on their own account. As ancient runners were temperate to win a prize, Christians must be far more temperate because they run for a heavenly crown, putting forth every effort to overcome evil, especially appetite, fighting valiantly in the battle before them in order to receive the promise of sitting with Christ in His throne. Keeping the body under means bringing all appetites and passions under control of enlightened conscience as duty owed to God and neighbor by obeying the laws governing health and life, which brings blessing of physical and mental vigor and gives moral power to engage in warfare against Satan, since luxurious food and unnatural stimulants strengthen animal propensities and hinder moral development while obedience supports vigor, and continual hurtful indulgence produces diseased body and disordered intellect that make sanctification impossible. The struggle is open to all who choose to engage in it, and weak mortals with limited brain and capability can improve every capability by clinging to Christ and working together with God in building character for time and eternity, fitting and joining every power and refusing anything that would weaken any bodily organ or mental capability, for He supplies living grace like the leaves of the tree of life bringing healing power in body and mind and strengthening capability to glorify God, sustaining with comfort and joy through a whole lifetime and giving strength for labor even in old age.

Unlike ancient athletes who spared no toil, bravely endured training, exercised every physical power, risked life and suffered for an uncertain perishable laurel that only the winner received, God sets before Christians a more encouraging and noble prospect, for they do not run on uncertainty or fight as one beating the air, and do not practice self-denial and endure strict spiritual discipline at hazard of losing at last and missing the victor's crown. By looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith they are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord and secure a certain imperishable crown, attaining by strict self-denial and discipline and exercise of every power that perfection of Christian character fit for the society of the saints in light, a call addressed to all and especially to those long in the faith to arise in the strength of God, know in whom they believe that He is able to do all things for them, and commit keeping of the soul to Him as a faithful Creator.

Subduing the body requires a living connection with Heaven, for wrestling with appetite and passion unaided by divine power fails and no one can overcome without God's help. Victory requires making Christ the stronghold, seeking divine grace in prayer three times a day as Daniel did, thereby gaining the energy, strength and power of an inner life, becoming more than conqueror through Him, bearing fruit unto godliness, loathing vice, working away from earthliness, cheap conversation and everything sensual, aiming for nobility of soul and a pure unspotted character and name, with the name kept pure from anything dishonest or unrighteous and written in the Lamb's book of life. It requires purifying the fountain so the stream will be pure, bringing disobedient thoughts into obedience to Christ, and making special earnest effort to keep the grace of God, since truth is of heavenly origin and opposed to the heart's natural disposition and will not grow without careful culture where the seed did not fall on the best soil, demanding earnest and diligent toil day by day and hour by hour in a vigorous process of self-denial and sanctification within, with outward works testifying that Jesus abides in the heart by faith. Sanctification thus expands the mind and inspires search for truth as for hidden treasure, and knowledge of God's will advances sanctification, calling students to believe in Jesus as Saviour and believe He is ready to help by grace when sought in sincerity, to fight the good fight of faith as wrestlers for the crown of life and strive earnestly to reach heaven because there is a crown to be won.

Striving is urgent because Satan's grasp is upon men and if they do not wrench themselves from him they will be palsied and ruined, with the foe on the right hand and on the left, before and behind, to be trampled underfoot, and if the crown is not won everything in this life and the future life is lost, so the striving must be done in the strength of the risen Saviour. It calls for trembling over self, refusing to move except as God directs by His Holy Spirit, seeking not one's own will but God's will, and doing in the short time left only the work that will do most good to others and glorify God. It requires praying even through night hours that responsible work be done unselfishly and faithfully so God will approve, asking what will glorify God, whether the work will bear His inspection, whether every high look is removed and whether the heart is in harmony with the humble Jesus of Calvary, weeping and praying and working while testing motives and feelings in the light of eternity and putting away self-exaltation, because exalting self and taking the highest seat will bring humbling from God very trying to human nature. Being saved at last is only through the matchless love of the Redeemer who endured self-denial and self-sacrifice, so that all human doing is little and leaves one an unprofitable servant; it also requires gaining a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin by beholding Jesus and being changed into His image, resisting the devil and drawing nigh to God, expecting unceasing temptation to debasing sins that wreck mind and character like a vessel adrift, eat away affection, break down barriers of the soul and overwhelm with fatal perplexity, staying on guard every moment, saying Get thee behind me Satan, turning from and passing by the path of the wicked without self-righteousness over the overcome, and staying fully on God's side to rescue souls from death and hide a multitude of sins.

The discipline perfects Christian character and keeps the spirit pure as a sanctuary for God, keeping sin from reigning in the mortal body to obey its lusts by reckoning self dead to sin and alive to God and yielding members as instruments of righteousness, devoting heart and mind and soul to God and the good of others. It means heeding light and instruction in the Word of God about eating and drinking and acting intelligently, presenting mind, soul, body and strength as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God to answer the purpose of creation, proving the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, while neglect brings feebleness upon self. Perfection of Christian character depends on keeping the body in healthful condition by holding it under strict control and bringing appetite into subjection, for the heart cannot maintain consecration to God while lustful appetite is indulged, and God cannot be glorified while living in violation of the laws of life. Christians must therefore discipline and govern bodily appetites and passions so the body does not rule them through sin, keeping the spirit pure and the body healthy to serve God faithfully and be a benefit to others, lest even one who has preached to others become a castaway, a charge urgent for those living in the last days of this world's history. This self-control resists vice and sensual temptation, overcomes hereditary and cultivated tendencies, and fits for holiness, purity and the society of the saints in light.

Each must fight the good fight for himself by strict self-denial and discipline with no halfway work, for preaching to others does not exempt anyone, and earnest training of character must keep confidence in Christ firm to the end lest the promised reward be missed. A minister must discipline and govern himself, bringing bodily desires under control so conduct does not disqualify him after preaching, putting the words into practice, running to obtain an incorruptible crown by temperance in all things and strict subjection of body and appetites, holding self-control with a firm hand through training and discipline, with purified, refined, jealously guarded mind, regarding God's work as sacred stewardship done in righteousness. Without that control the natural carnal mind gains ascendancy and the body makes unreasonable claims, and many professing to obey truth yield as servants to those imperative unreasonable demands instead of obtaining decided victories; gospel workers must therefore live by strict principles of temperance, and those whose influence, actions or sarcastic remarks have opposed health reform and encouraged harmful habits must make thorough change and join medical missionary work, for they will answer for their influence in the final judgment. The struggle is not equally hard for all because of differing traits and circumstances, and no one can overcome for another, yet Jesus and angels help those who persevere.