Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 9:25
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.
25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things ] The temperance of which the Apostle speaks was no light matter. For ten months had the candidates for a prize at these games to abstain from every kind of sensual indulgence, and to undergo the most severe training of the body. See Horace, De Arte Poetica, 412, and Epictetus: “Wouldest thou conquer at the games? Thou must be orderly, spare in food, must abstain from confections, exercise at a fixed hour, whether in heat or cold, drink no cold water, nor wine.”
a corruptible crown ] “A garland of olive, parsley, bay, or pine.” Stanley.
but we an incorruptible ] Cf. 2Ti 2:5; 2Ti 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 4:4; Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11. There was no impropriety in this comparison. The Greek games were free from many of the degrading associations which gather round those athletic sports so rapidly gaining ground among ourselves. They had the importance almost of a religious rite, certainly of a national institution, and they were dignified with recitations of their productions by orators and sophists. Herodotus is even said to have recited his history at the Olympic games.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And every man that striveth for the mastery – ( ho agonizomenos). That agonizes; that is, that is engaged in the exercise of wrestling, boxing, or pitching the bar or quoit; compare the note at Luk 13:24. The sense is, everyone who endeavors to obtain a victory in these athletic exercises.
Is temperate in all things – The word which is rendered is temperate ( egkrateuetai) denotes abstinence from all that would excite, stimulate, and ultimately enfeeble; from wine, from exciting and luxurious living, and from licentious indulgences. It means that they did all they could to make the body vigorous, active, and supple. They pursued a course of entire temperate living; compare Act 24:25; 1Co 7:9; Gal 5:23; 2Pe 1:6. It relates not only to indulgences unlawful in themselves, but to abstinence from many things that were regarded as lawful, but which were believed to render the body weak and effeminate. The phrase in all things means that this course of temperance or abstinence was not confined to one thing, or to one class of things, but to every kind of food and drink, and every indulgence that had a tendency to render the body weak and effeminate. The preparations which those who propose to contend in these games made is well known; and is often referred to by the Classic writers. Epictetus, as quoted by Grotius (in loco), thus speaks of these preparations. Do you wish to gain the prize at the Olympic games? consider the requisite preparations and the consequence You must observe a strict regimen; must live on food which is unpleasant; must abstain from all delicacies; must exercise yourself at the prescribed times in heat and in cold; you must drink nothing cool ( psuchron); must take no wine as usual; you must put yourself under a pugilist, as you would under a physician, and afterward enter the lists. Epict. chapter 35: Horace has described the preparations necessary in the same way.
Qui studet optatam cursn contingere metam.
Multa tulit fecitque puer; sudavit, et alsit,
Abstinuit venere et Baccho.
De Arte Poet. 412
A youth who hopes the Olympic prize to gain,
All arts must try, and every toil sustain;
The extremes of heat and cold must often prove,
And shun the weakening joys of wine and love.
Francis.
To obtain a corruptible crown – A garland, diadem, or civic wreath, that must soon fade away. The garland bestowed on the victor was made of olive, pine, apple, laurel, or parsley. That would soon lose its beauty and fade; of course, it could be of little value. Yet we see how eagerly they sought it; how much self-denial those who entered the lists would practice to obtain it; how long they would deny themselves of the common pleasures of life that they might be successful. So much temperance would pagans practice to obtain a fading wreath of laurel, pine, or parsley. Hence, learn:
(1) The duty of denying ourselves to obtain a far more valuable reward, the incorruptible crown of heaven.
(2) The duty of all Christians who strive for that crown to be temperate in all things. If the pagans practiced temperance to obtain a fading laurel, should not we to obtain one that never fades?
(3) How much their conduct puts to shame the conduct of many professing Christians and Christian ministers. they set such a value on a civic wreath of pine or laurel, that they were willing to deny themselves, and practice the most rigid abstinence. they knew that indulgence in wine and in luxurious living unsuited them for the struggle and for victory; they knew that it enfeebled their powers, and weakened their frame; and, like people intent on an object dear to them, they abstained wholly from these things, and embraced the principles of total abstinence. Yet how many professed Christians, and Christian ministers, though striving for the crown that fadeth not away, indulge in wine, and in the filthy, offensive, and disgusting use of tobacco; and in luxurious living, and in habits of indolence and sloth! How many there are that will not give up these habits, though they know that they are enfeebling, injurious, offensive, and destructive to religious comfort and usefulness. Can a man be truly in earnest in his professed religion; can he be a sincere Christian, who is not willing to abandon anything and everything that will tend to impair the vigor of his mind, and weaken his body, and make him a stumbling-block to others?
(4) The value of temperance is here presented in a very striking and impressive view. When even the pagans wished to accomplish anything that demanded skill, strength, power, vigor of body, they saw the necessity of being temperate, and they were so. And this proves what all experiment has proved, that if people wish to accomplish much, they must be temperate. It proves that people can do more without intoxicating drink than they can with it. The example of these Grecian athletes – their wrestlers, boxers, and racers, is against all the farmers, and mechanics, and seamen, and day-laborers, and gentlemen, and clergymen, and lawyers, who plead that stimulating drink is necessary to enable them to bear cold and heat, and toil and exposure. A little experience from men like the Grecian wrestlers, who had something that they wished to do, is much better than a great deal of philosophy and sophistical reasoning from people who wish to drink, and to find some argument for drinking that shalt be a salve to their consciences. Perhaps the world has furnished no stronger argument in favor of total abstinence than the example of the Grecian Athletae. It is certain that their example, the example of people who wished to accomplish much by bodily vigor and health, is an effectual and unbreakable argument against all those who plead that stimulating drinks are desirable or necessary in order to increase the vigor of the bodily frame.
But we – We Christians.
An incorruptible – An incorruptible, an unfading crown. The blessings of heaven that shall be bestowed on the righteous are often represented under the image of a crown or diadem; a crown that is unfading, and eternal; 2Ti 4:8; Jam 1:12; 1Pe 5:4. Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11; Rev 4:4. The doctrine here taught is, the necessity of making an effort to secure eternal life. The apostle never thought of entering heaven by indolence or by inactivity. He urged, by every possible argument, the necessity of making an exertion to secure the rewards of the just. His reasons for this effort are many. Let a few be pondered:
(1) The work of salvation is difficult. The thousand obstacles arising, the love of sin, and the opposition of Satan and of the world, are in the way.
(2) The danger of losing the crown of glory is great. Every moment exposes it to hazard, for at any moment we may die.
(3) The danger is not only great, but it is dreadful. If anything should arouse man, it should be the apprehension of eternal damnation and everlasting wrath.
(4) People in this life, in the games of Greece, in the career of ambition, in the pursuit of pleasure and wealth, make immense efforts to obtain the fading and perishing object of their desires. Why should not a man be willing to make as great efforts at least to secure eternal glory?
(5) The value of the interest at stake. Eternal happiness is before those who will embrace the offers of life. If a man should be influenced by anything to make an effort, should it not be by the prospect of eternal glory? what should influence him if this should not?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 9:25
Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Lawful striving
I. The fact that the Christian life is a striving after an end. This text is out of joint with much of the language of the present day. Such as the rest of faith–as if Christian life were inaction. This is not an exceptional experience, or merely true of babes in Christ. The language appears again and again as the constant state of the apostle.
II. The manner of the strife.
1. Lawfully. It must be in harmony with the Divine rule, not with our own impulses.
2. Certainly. Lawfulness secures certainty. Men guided by Christ are not in doubt as to what they ought to do, or as to the result.
III. The object of our striving. I keep under my body. We think there was little need of Paul to do this. His body was indeed subject; he had gone through peril, trial, persecution. He never indulged it.
IV. The motives.
1. Not to be a castaway.
2. To gain a crown. (W. Landell, D. D.)
Temperance helpful to resolution
It is weak to be scared at difficulties, seeing that they generally diminish as they are approached, and oftentimes even entirely vanish. No man can tell what he can do till he tries. It is impossible to calculate the extent of human powers; it can only be ascertained by experiment. What has been accomplished by parties and by solitary individuals in the torrid and frozen regions, under circumstances the most difficult and appalling, should teach us that when we ought to attempt we should never despair. The reason why men oftener succeed in overcoming uncommon difficulties than ordinary ones is, that in the first case they call into action the whole of their resources, and that in the last they act upon calculation, and generally undercalculate. Confidence of success is almost success; and obstacles often fall of themselves before a determination to overcome them. There is something in resolution which has an influence beyond itself, and it marches on like a mighty lord among its slaves; all is prostration where it appears. When bent on good, it is almost the noblest attribute of man; when on evil, the most dangerous. It is by habitual resolution that men succeed to any great extent; impulses are not sufficient. What is done at one moment is undone the next; and a step forward is nothing gained unless it is followed up. Resolution depends mainly on the state of the digestion, which St. Paul remarkably illustrates when he says, Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Temperance
I. As an element of Christian character. There are many elements that constitute this; but there can be no full-rounded Christian life without temperance.
1. Observe the frequent references made to it in Scripture. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:1-26.), and one step in the ladder of Christian graces (2Pe 1:1-21.). In his address to Felix, Paul reasoned of it.
2. The word literally means the power of regulating ones self; hence it is synonymous with self-control; and as self-control is needed only when there is temptation to sinful indulgence, there is contained in it the further idea of self-sacrifice. So it lies at the foundation of the noblest of all lives. This is the principle that made the martyrs.
3. Let it not be supposed that it was unknown prior to the Christian era. It was practised, as we see, by the athletes; so that Christianity simply took hold of an existing principle and applied it to a new case. But formerly its end was selfish and secular; now it is exercised for a worthier end.
4. Self-denial, then, occupies no secondary place. He who is not able to practise it is not worthy to be a follower of Christ. But how can this be unless we possess something of His spirit? The highest type of man is he who is likest to Christ in consecration and self-denying service. This is what we should aim at; it is the perfection of character. Shall Jesus bear the Cross alone, and all the world go free? &c.
II. As a condition of moral conquest.
1. No one ever yet did anything great without making a sacrifice. The prize-wrestler deemed it indispensable to success. He had to forego everything that did not contribute to the end in view. It is the same all through life. Whatever be ones abilities, there is no royal road to proficiency; and of all things, the most difficult to master is ones self. If the prize-fighter, the soldier, the student, the merchant, can be self-denying to gain their ends, why cannot the Christian deny himself to gain his end? Think of the self-denial of Moses, Daniel, tile three Hebrew children. Let their manly example impress on us the duty of total abstinence, when the alternative is sin.
2. Herein lies the guarantee of conquest. Let self be put down and Christ lifted up, and then not only will the life be itself a success, but it will be a power for the moral conquest of the world, for we can influence others only in proportion as we live under the power of the truth ourselves. The world will not readily be impressed with that spirit which makes self-interest its end, nor be struck with the excellence of that religion which makes no sacrifice.
III. As a duty of universal obligation.
1. We owe it to Christ. We owe our salvation to the practice of this principle on His part. Think what He gave up for us.
2. We owe it to ourselves. How many are there who, from protracted pandering to the cravings of their lower nature, have lost the power of self-control!
3. We owe it to our fellow-men. If Christ denied Himself for us, should we not also deny ourselves for the brethren, and, like the noble Apostle of the Gentiles, become all things to all men? (D. Merson, M. A.)
Self-control possible to all
1. Paul, instructed in all the narrowness of his people, escaped entirely from it, and became as unconventional as you can well imagine a man to be. If he went past a heathen temple, he used that as an illustration of Divine truth.
2. The illustration of our text is one drawn from the conflicts where wrestlers or racers contended for the wreath. He declares that men who strove for these things were temperate. Now temperance means self-control, and self-control, self-denial. This was much to say in Corinth.
I. Self-control is the common experience of men, and Christianity appeals to an active possibility, for a purpose far higher than that for which men usually employ self-control.
1. If there is a class who are more than any other given up to the force of animal desires, it is the athletic class. And yet for the (to them) highest pleasure they persuade themselves to practise extraordinary self-control. If I were to preach to them a temperate life, for the sake of spiritual dignity, they would reply, That will do very well for parsons, but it is impossible for men like us. And yet they practise far more than what would be necessary to make them eminent Christians. Did you ever read the history of the training of men for prize-fights? The system of exercises, if exerted in industry, would obtain for them a living during the whole year.
2. If there be anything in this world that men dislike, it is the unintermitted endurance of discomforts and disciplines; and yet how cheerfully do soldiers endure these things under the stimulus of various motives of ambition, patriotism, and esprit de corps. Well, if these men can do it, anybody can. The only question is, Will you?
3. There is no class that submit to so much inconvenience and self-denial as commercial men. The most disagreeable things are done by men, and men of sensitive nerve, if there be money in them. How patiently will they work in the tallow-chandlers shop, or a fish-shop, or in a mine, &c.; nay, cheerfully go to the tropics, and burn in Cuba. Ah! how sublime the life would be of an all-world-disturbing merchant, if only it were for a moral end.
4. Consider how patient men are with their fellow-men. The hardest thing to bear is men. A man that can bear cheerfully his fellow-men has little to learn. When men have no motive, how cross and uncharitable they are. But the moment they have an interest in others, see what perfect Christians they are–in a way! If a man owes you a debt, and you think you can get it by crushing him as a cluster is crushed, you will do it. But sometimes there is no cluster to crush, and then you tend this man, and take care of him. You do a world of work for the sake of helping him to bear clusters that by and by shall be pressed into your cup. Why, if you should take a man on Christian principles, and do as much as that for him, you would be canonised as a saint. And then, for the same reasons, see how men bear with disagreeable men. You have your wares for sale, and anybody that buys is welcome to your shop. And if the price is that you shall be hail fellow well met with him, you swallow down any reluctance, and say, We must not do anything to offend him. During the days when colour was a virtue, in a famous church in New York a distinguished merchant had a coloured man in his pew, whose presence in the congregation had the same effect that a lump of salt would have in a cup of tea. And as they went out of the church, they gathered about the merchant, and said, What possessed you to bring that nigger into your pew? He whispered, He is a great planter, a millionaire. And then they said, Introduce us to him. Then where was their fine taste? When mammon said, Let it go, it was all right. But when Jesus said, Let it go, that was detestable.
5. Nay, more. We see how willingly and cheerfully great men, great natures, for the sake of an ignoble ambition, that is not very high, after all, will sacrifice their lives, their multiform faculties and enjoyments. There are those living that are to be revered for many excellences, who, adopting the apostles form of expression, could say, I count all things but dung, that I may win the Presidency.
II. Now the Lord Jesus, calling us to honour and glory and immortality, says only what the world says of its poor, grovelling, and miserable things–Take up your cross and follow me. Lust says so: why should not love say so? Earthly glory that fades like the laurel wreath says so: why should not that crown of gold that never grows dim say so? When we urge such considerations upon the young, and young men are fired thereby; when truly noble natures hear the call, and accept it, and yield themselves to it, and enter upon a religious life with fervour, and deny themselves in all things in furtherance of its commands, how strangely the world fails to recognise its own redeeming qualities! And how are these men called enthusiasts! Now, enthusiasm in religion is the only good sense. There is not a father who does not say to his child, going out into life, If you are to succeed as a lawyer, my son, you must give yourself to it. And I say to every man that is going out as a Christian, If you are going to succeed as a Christian, you must give yourself to it. (H. W. Beecher.)
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.—
Contrasted aims and parallel methods
Here we get, in a picturesque fashion–
I. The worlds sad folly in its ordinary aims. The wreath was, of course, not what the racer ran for. It was only a symbol, and its entirely valueless character made it all the more valuable. It expressed simply honour and the joy of success. In front of the temple that presided over the games was a long avenue, on either side of which stood ranged the statues of the victors; and the hope that flushed many a mans face was that his image, with his name on its pedestal, should stand there. And where are they all? Their names forgotten, the marble likenesses buried beneath the greensward, over which the shepherd to-day pastures his quiet flocks. And all our pursuits, unless they be linked with eternity and God, are as evanescent and disproportioned as was the wreath for which months of discipline, and moments of almost superhuman effort, were considered but a small price to pay. Business, providing for a family, &c., necessarily demand attention. You may so use them as to secure the remoter aims of growing like your Master and fit for the inheritance, or to construct out of them a barrier between you and your eternal wealth. In the one case you are wise, in the other case your epitaph will be Thou fool! A poet has put in homely words the lesson for us: What good came of it at last? asks the little child, when the old man is telling him of the great victory. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown–two pennyworth of parsley. It is a symbol of what some of you are living for.
II. The Christians wisdom in his aim. But we an incorruptible.
1. The emblem stands for a symbol of dominion, of victory, and of festivity. It is the crown of the king, or the wreath of the victor, or the garlands on the guests at the feast. It is a crown of life. The true life of the spirit which partakes of the immortal life of Jesus is the crown. It is a crown of glory–the radiant lustre of a manifestly God-glorified spirit. The garland that adorns those who sit at the feast is no mere external adornment, but the lustre of a perfect character which is the outcome of a Christ-given life. It is the crown of righteousness. Only pure brows can wear it. It would burn like a circlet of fire if it were placed on other heads. Righteousness is the condition of obtaining it.
2. This, then, is the aim which the apostle asserts to be the aim of every person that has the right to call himself a Christian. There is a sharp test for you. Do you live to win it? Does it gleam before you with a brightness that makes all other and nearer objects insignificant and pale? If you can answer them in the affirmative you are a happy man.
3. And more than that, all these nearer objects will become even more blessed, and your whole life nobler than it otherwise would be. The green of the lower slopes of the Alps never looks so vivid, their flowers never so lovely or so bright as when the eye rises from them to the glaciers. And so all the lower levels of life look fairer, because our eyes pass beyond them and fix on the great white throne that towers above them all.
III. The worlds noble wisdom in the choice of its means,
1. This poor racer had ten months of hard abstinence and exercise before there was even a chance for him to succeed. And then there was a short spurt of tremendous effort before he came in at the goal. These things are conditions of success in the would, and no matter for what the man is doing it, it is better for him to be braced into self-control, and stirred into energetic activity, than to be rotting like a fat weed in the pestilential marshes of self-indulgence, and losing all pith and manhood in tile languid dissolution of indolence.
2. And so one cannot but look with admiration at a great deal of the toil and effort that the world puts forth, even for its own shabby ends. Why, a man will spend twenty times as long in making himself a good conjurer, who can balance feathers and twirl plates upon a table, as some of us ever spent in trying to make ourselves good Christians.
IV. The folly of so many professing Christians in their way of pursuing their aims.
1. A languid runner had no chance, and he knew it. The phrase was almost a contradiction in terms. What about a languid Christian? Is that a more consistent idea? If I let my desire and affections go flowing vagrantly over the whole low plain of material things, they will be like a river that is lost in the swamp. If I set out on the race without having girt up my loins by resolute self-denial, what can I expect but that before I have run half-a-dozen yards my ungirt robes will trip me up or get caught in the thorns and keep me back? No Christian progress is possible to-day, or ever was, or will be, except on the condition–Take up your cross, and deny yourself, and then come after Me. Learn from the world this lesson, that if a man wants to succeed in any course he must shut out other, even legitimate ones.
2. And then the runner that did not put all his powers into the five minutes of his race had no chance of coming in at the goal. And there is no different law in regard to Christian people. Conclusion: God be thanked! We are crowned not because we are good, but because Christ died. But the teaching of my text, that a Christian man must labour to win the prize, is by no means contradictory to, hut complementary and confirmatory of the earlier truth. The laws of the race are–Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved; and the second is, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Heaven–an incentive to diligence
Julius Caesar coming towards Rome with his army, and hearing that the senate and people had fled from it, said, They that will not fight for this city, what city will they fight for? If we will not take pains for the kingdom of heaven, what kingdom will we take pains for? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Concerning the crown
I. The crown. Recall the other places where the same metaphor is employed. It is extremely unlikely that all these instances of the occurrence of the emblem carry with them reference, such as that in my text to the prize at the athletic festivals. For Peter and James, intense Jews as they were, had probably never seen, and possibly never heard of, the struggles at the Isthmus and at Olympus and elsewhere. The book of the Revelation draws its metaphors almost exclusively from the circle of Jewish practices and things. So that we have to look in other directions than the arena or the racecourse to explain these other uses of the image. It is also extremely unlikely that in these other passages the reference is to a crown as the emblem of sovereignty, for that idea is expressed, is a rule, by another word in Scripture, which we have Anglicised as diadem. The crown in all these passages is a garland twisted out of some growth of the field. The crown which is the Christians aim is a state of triumphant repose and of festal enjoyment. There are other aspects of that great and dim future which correspond to other necessities of our nature. That future is other and more than a festival; it is other and more than repose. There are larger fields there for the operation of powers that have been trained and evolved here. The faithfulness of the steward is exchanged, according to Christs great words, for the authority of the ruler over many cities. But still, do we not all know enough of the worry and turbulence and strained effort of the conflict here below, to feel that to some of our deepest and not ignoble needs and desires that image appeals? So the satisfaction of all desires, the accompaniments of a feast in abundance, rejoicing and companionship, and conclusive conquest over all foes, are promised us in this great symbol. The crown is described in three ways. It is the crown of life, of glory, and of righteousness. And I venture to think that these three epithets describe the material, so to speak, of which the wreath is composed. The everlasting flower of life, the radiant, blossoms of glory, the white flower of righteousness; these arc its components. Here we have the promise of life, that fuller life which men want. Here we live a living death; there we shall live indeed; and that will be the crown, not only in regard of physical, but in regard of spiritual, powers and consciousness. But remember that all this full tide of life is Christs gift. All being, from the lowest creature up to the loftiest created spirit, exists by one law, the continual impartation of life from the fountain of life, to it, according to its capacities. I will give him a crown of life. It is a crown of glory, and that means a lustrousness of character imparted by radiation and reflection from the central light of the glory of God. Then shall the righteous blaze out like the sun, in the kingdom of My Father. We all shall be changed into the likeness of the body of His glory. It is a crown of righteousness. Though that phrase may mean the wreath that rewards righteousness, it seems more in accordance with the other similar expressions to which I have referred to regard it, too, as the material of which the crown is composed. It is not enough that there should be festal gladness, not enough that there should be calm repose, not enough that there should be flashing glory, not enough that there should be fulness of life. To accord with the intense moral earnestness of the Christian system there must be, emphatically, in the Christian hope cessation of all sin and investiture with all purity. Thy people shall be all righteous. They shall walk with Me in white. And it sets the very climax and culmination on the other hopes. These, then, are the elements, and on them all is stamped the signature of perpetuity. The crown of life is incorruptible.
II. Now look, secondly, at the discipline by which the crown is won. Observe, first of all, that in more than one Of the passages to which we have already referred, great emphasis is laid upon Christ as giving the crown. That is to say, that blessed future is not won by effort, but is bestowed as a free gift. It is given from the hands which have procured it, and, as I may say, twined it for us. Jesus provides the sole means, by His work, by which any man can enter into that inheritance. It remains for ever the gift of His love. Whilst, then, this must be laid as the basis of all, there must also, with equal earnestness, be set forth the other thought that Christs gift has conditions, which conditions these passages plainly set forth. In the one which I have read as a text we have these conditions declared as being twofold, protracted discipline and continuous effort. James declares that it is given to the man who endures temptation. Peter asserts that it is the reward of self-denying discharge of duty. And the Lord from heaven lays down the condition of faithfulness unto death as the necessary pre-requisite of His gift of the crown of life. Eternal life is the gift of God, on condition of our diligence and earnestness. It is not all the same whether you are a lazy Christian or not.
III. And now, lastly, note the power of the reward as motive for life. Paul says roundly in our text, that the desire to obtain the incorruptible crown is a legitimate spring of Christian action. Now, I do not need to waste your time and my own in defending Christian morality from the fantastic objection that it is low and selfish, because it encourages itself to efforts by the prospect of the crown. If there are any men who are Christians only because of what they hope to gain thereby in another world, they will not get what they hope for; and they would not like it if they did. I do not believe that there are any such people; and sure I am, if there are, that it is not Christianity that has made them so. But a thing that we must not set as the supreme motive, we may rightly accept as a subsidiary encouragement. We are not Christians unless the dominant motive of our lives be the love of the Lord Jesus Christ; and unless we feel a necessity, because of loving Him, to aim to be like Him. But, that being so, who shall hinder me from quickening my flagging energies, and stimulating my torpid faith, and encouraging my cowardice, by the thought that yonder there remain rest, victory, the fulness of life, the flashing of glory, and the purity of perfect righteousness? Now it seems to me that this spring of action is not as strong in the Christians of this day as it used to be, and as it should be. You do not hear much about heaven in ordinary preaching. And I believe, for my part, that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried always with you in your thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present was registered, and would tell on the far side yonder? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. Is temperate in all things] All those who contended in these exercises went through a long state and series of painful preparations. To this exact discipline Epictetus refers, cap. 35: ‘ , , , , , , , , , , . . . “Do you wish to gain the prize at the Olympic games?-Consider the requisite preparations and the consequences: you must observe a strict regimen; must live on food which you dislike; you must abstain from all delicacies; must exercise yourself at the necessary and prescribed times both in heat and in cold; you must drink nothing cooling; take no wine as formerly; in a word, you must put yourself under the directions of a pugilist, as you would under those of a physician, and afterwards enter the lists. Here you may get your arm broken, your foot put out of joint, be obliged to swallow mouthfuls of dust, to receive many stripes, and after all be conquered.” Thus we find that these suffered much hardships in order to conquer, and yet were uncertain of the victory.
Horace speaks of it in nearly the same way:-
Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer: sudavit et alsit:
Abstinuit Venere et Baccho.
De Arte Poet., ver. 412.
A youth who hopes the Olympic prize to gain,
All arts must try, and every toil sustain;
Th’ extremes of heat and cold must often prove;
And shun the weakening joys of wine and love.
Francis.
These quotations show the propriety of the apostle’s words: Every man that striveth for the mastery, , is temperate, or continent, in all things.
They do it to obtain a corruptible crown] The crown won by the victor in the Olympian games was made of the wild olive; in the Pythian games of laurel; in the Nemean games of parsley; and in the Isthmian games of the pine. These were all corruptible, for they began to wither as soon as they were separated from the trees, or plucked out of the earth. In opposition to these, the apostle says, he contended for an incorruptible crown, the heavenly inheritance. He sought not worldly honour; but that honour which comes from God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is not all that is required of men that would go to heaven, that they do not make an ill use of their liberty, using it to the dishonour of God, or to the prejudice of others; but look as it is with wrestlers in those games in practice amongst you, they are
temperate in all things; in the use of meats and drinks, or any pleasures, though in themselves lawful, they will so use them, as may best serve their end, upholding the strength of their body for the motion they are to use, and yet not clogging them, or so using them, that they shall indispose them to, or hinder them in, that motion which they are to use. We, that are Christians, and striving for heaven, should also do the like, so behaving ourselves in the use of meats, drinks, apparel, pleasures, as the things, so used by us, may serve us in our business for heaven, and be no clog or hinderance to us. And we have reason so to do, or we shall be shamed by those gamesters; for they in that manner deny, restrain, and govern themselves to get a crown, which, when they have, is a pitiful, corruptible, perishing thing; we do it for a crown that is incorruptible: An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, as the apostle speaketh, 1Pe 1:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. strivethin wrestling: astill more severe contest than the foot race.
is temperateSo Paulexercised self-denial, abstaining from claiming sustenance for thesake of the “reward,” namely, to “gain the more”(1Co 9:18; 1Co 9:19).
corruptiblesoonwithering, as being only of fir leaves taken from the fir groveswhich surrounded the Isthmian race course or stadium.
incorruptible (1Pe 1:4;1Pe 5:4; Rev 2:10).”Crown” here is not that of a king (which is expressed by adifferent Greek word, namely, “diadem”), but awreath or garland.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And every man that striveth for the mastery,…. Either in running a race, or in wrestling; for the word here used agrees with both, and both are in the context referred to, nor has the apostle as yet done with his allusion to running in a race;
is temperate in all things; contains himself from venery, abstains from certain sorts of food, which tend to hinder the agility, or weaken the strength of the body; and indulges not himself in sloth and idleness, but exercises himself in various manners, that he may be prepared for running or wrestling: the apostle’s view in this, seems to be to strengthen some exhortations he had already given, to abstain from fornication, and the immoderate use of venery; to forbear eating things offered to idols, and not give themselves up to luxury and intemperance; for should they be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, they would be very unfit for their Christian race, or for wrestling with principalities and powers, and the discharging of the business of a Christian profession:
now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; they confine themselves to a certain diet and course of living, and abstain from things otherwise desirable to nature; and this they do for the sake of a fading crown, a crown of leaves, made of the boughs and leaves of olives, laurels, pine, c. or of parsley, green or dried, as before observed t:
but we an incorruptible even eternal life; compared to a crown, for the riches, glory, and lustre of it; and as suitable to the character and dignity of saints, who are kings as well as priests unto God: it is called “incorruptible”, because it is so in its own nature; nor can it be corrupted by other things, as crowns even of gold may; nor shall any corrupt person wear it; the corruption of nature must be removed from the saints, yea, that frailty and mortality of human nature, which sometimes goes by the name of corruption, must be taken away, ere they can inherit this crown and kingdom; nor will it ever fade away, as the corruptible crowns of the conquerors in these games did, and that in a very short time; but this will last for ever, and always continue in the same glory and lustre.
t Vid. Alex. ab Alex, Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That striveth in the games ( ). Common verb for contest in the athletic games (), sometimes with the cognate accusative, as in 1Tim 6:12; 2Tim 4:7. Probably Paul often saw these athletic games.
Is temperate in all things ( ). Rare verb, once in Aristotle and in a late Christian inscription, and 1Co 7:9 and here, from , common adjective for one who controls himself. The athlete then and now has to control himself (direct middle) in all things (accusative of general reference). This is stated by Paul as an athletic axiom. Training for ten months was required under the direction of trained judges. Abstinence from wine was required and a rigid diet and regimen of habits.
A corruptible crown ( ). (crown) is from , to put around the head, like the Latin corona, wreath or garland, badge of victory in the games. In the Isthmian games it was of pine leaves, earlier of parsley, in the Olympian games of the wild olive. “Yet these were the most coveted honours in the whole Greek world” (Findlay). For the crown of thorns on Christ’s head see Matt 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2; John 19:5. (diadem) was for kings (Re 12:3). Favourite metaphor in N.T., the crown of righteousness (2Ti 4:8), the crown of life (Jas 1:12), the crown of glory (1Pe 5:4), the crown of rejoicing (1Th 2:9), description of the Philippians (Php 4:1). Note contrast between (verbal adjective from , to corrupt) like the garland of pine leaves, wild olive, or laurel, and (same form with privative) like the crown of victory offered the Christian, the amaranthine (unfading rose) crown of glory (1Pe 5:4).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Striveth for the mastery [] . Better, Rev., striveth in the games, thus preserving the metaphor. The word was the regular term for contending in the arena or on the stage.
Is temperate [] . Only here and ch. 7 9. The candidate for the races was required to be ten months in training, and to practice in the gymnasium immediately before the games, under the direction of judges who had themselves been instructed for ten months in the details of the games. The training was largely dietary. Epictetus says : “Thou must be orderly, living on spare food; abstain from confections; make a point of exercising at the appointed time, in heat and in cold; nor drink cold water nor wine at hazard.” Horace says : “The youth who would win in the race hath borne and done much; he hath sweat and been cold; he hath abstained from love and wine” (” Ars Poetica, “412). Tertullian, commending the example of the athletes to persecuted Christians, says :” Coguntur, cruciantur, fatigantur. “” They are constrained, harassed, wearied” (” Ad Martyres, ” 3). Compare 2Ti 2:5.
Crown [] . Chaplet of pine – leaves. See on Rev 4:4.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) And every man that striveth for the mastery. (pas de ho agonizomenos panta egkrateuetai) “Moreover everyone struggling (seeking to excel) in all things exercises self-control or self-discipline.”
2) Is temperate in all things.” (panta egkrateuetai) “in all kind ‘ of things exercises temperance, discipline, or self-control.” 2Ti 2:5. This striving must be lawfully, or according to the rules – as no game is to be won on broken rules, so the winning of crowns and rewards comes by Christian service, according to the rules of Christ.
3) Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown.” (ekenoi men oun hina phtharton stephonon labosin) “Those (race-track runners) do it in order that they may receive a corruptible, fading, wilting, or decaying crown.” – a temporary, fading glory, 2Co 4:18; 2Co 6:14-17.
4) “But we an incorruptible. (hemeis de apartharton) “But we (all run together as servants of God) in order that we may receive an unfading, undecaying, incorruptible crown.” 1Pe 1:4; Rom 12:1-2; 2Co 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 5:4; Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
25. Now every one that striveth. As he had exhorted to perseverance, it remained to state in what way they must persevere. This second thing he now sets before them by a comparison taken from pugilists; not indeed in every particular, (513) but in so far as was required by the subject in hand, within which he confines himself — how far they ought to yield to the weakness of the brethren. Now he argues from the less to the greater, that it is an unseemly thing if we grudge to give up our right, inasmuch as the pugilists eating their coliphium, (514) and that sparingly and not to the full, voluntarily deny themselves every delicacy, in order that they may have more agility for the combat, and they do this, too, for the sake of a corruptible crown But if they value so highly a crown of leaves that quickly fades, what value ought we to set upon a crown of immortality? Let us not, therefore, think it hard to give up a little of our right. It is well known that wrestlers were contented with the most frugal diet, so that their simple fare has become proverbial.
(513) “ Non pas qu’il vucille appliquer la similitude en tout et par tout;” — “Not that he meant to apply the similitude out and out.”
(514) “ C’estoit vnc sorte de pain propre pour entretenir et augmenter la force, duquel vsoyent ordinairement les lutteurs et telles gens. Les Grecs le nonmoyent coliphium;” — “This was a kind of bread that was fitted to maintain and increase strength, which was commonly made use of by wrestlers, and persons of that sort. The Greeks call it coliphium.” The term coliphium is supposed to be compounded of κῶλον, a limb, and ιφ, strongly — a means of strengthening the limbs It is defined by Tymme, in his Translation of Calvin on the Corinthians, to be “a kinde of breade whereof the Wrastelers did use in tyme past to eate, to be more strong. ” It is made mention of by Juvenal (2. 53.) — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
SELF-MASTERY AND SPIRITUAL SUCCESS
1Co 9:25-27
PAUL was much given to figures of speech brought from the customs in Grecian athletics. There can be little question that his audience, or rather the readers of his letters, were quite familiar with these games, and doubtless much enamored of them. It is a fact worthy of remark that Paul never speaks against them, while his perfect familiarity with their details indicates that he might have been an attendant upon them. In admitting so much one does not even remotely suggest that Paul would commend all that has characterized twentieth century field sports. The simple fact is, that the common Grecian games were civil and humane, as compared with the gross and brutal customs of this hour. Theirs consisted chiefly in running, leaping, wrestling, and throwing the quoit, therefore calculated every one to build up the physical man, without doing so at the expense of the moral. In fact, the Apostle tells us that the competitors on these public occasions were temperate men; and in this his statement is in perfect accord with the words of old Horace which have been thrown into rhyme,
The youth who hopes the Isthmic prize to gain,All arts must try, and every toil sustain;Extremes of cold and heat must often prove,And shun the weakening joys of wine and love.
Those who think that civilization and Christianity are making such strides and that mankind is fast approaching such perfection as to make a millennium a mere prospect, do well never to institute a comparison between ancient and modern athletics. The present football game, played on the fields of our institutions of learning, would suffer in that its brutality would appear all the more prominent when contrasted with the gentility of the Grecian customs, while even the living picture representation of the prize fight upon which thousands of our so-called respectable citizens are gazing at the many theatres, not to speak of its original, would have been revolting in the extreme to these same Corinthians. The Bible favors the athletics that build up bodies, but it knows no sympathy with such customs as mangle and degrade them. Paul believed in such self-mastery as puts the body to best uses, making that which is regarded the lower in man serve the highest possible end. Three suggestions for our consideration from the Apostles speech:
SELF-MASTERY IS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS
Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
He who is going to get on in the world, who is going to push to the front, who is going to make much of life, must be master of himself.
Such self-mastery is essential to money-making. In our judgment, one of the lower ends of living is the end of money-making; and yet, so many people are moved by this consideration that the question is often asked, What is essential to success here? We believe Paul has answered it for such men. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
It is not necessary for a man to be an heir to a fortune in order to attain to financial strength, but it is necessary that he be master of himself. We often hear men say in extenuation of their poverty, Well, one must have money to make money. Girard, Philadelphias early millionaire, said, I began life with a sixpence. His riches refuted any such a claim. James Gordon Bennett, chatting one day with George W. Childs, remarked, How unfortunate it is for a boy to have rich parents? If you and I had been born that way we would not have done anything worth mentioning. The difficulty with most men is not that they have no ability at money-making, but that they fail in self-mastery.
Now, therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Consider your ways.
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with hole (Hag 1:5-6).
This leakage in the pockets of men is largely attributable to ungoverned passions.
Some years ago when Dr. Talmage was interviewed concerning the business depression which characterized the times, he spoke of the politicians cry, Let us restore confidence, and the anvil will ring, and the wheel whirl, and the shuttles flash again, and want will fly before the presence of rewarded industry. But, said the Doctor, we cannot legislate prosperity. We need something beside tariff laws to banish idleness and to fill hungry mouths with bread. It is the whisky bill that brings hunger and brings famine. Over one billion annually was spent in United States for whisky, wines and beer. The flour mills close, but the gin mills are always doing a rushing business. The foundries shut down, but the bars never shut up. Banks stop payment, but the brewery continues. Dry-goods merchants, and hardware merchants and grocers fail for want of trade, but the saloon flourishes. Much of that is true even since the Eighteenth Amendment, and all of it means that when men master themselves there will be plenty of money. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Self-mastery also means mind-building. Here a part of our text is equally appropriate, Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Take all the sinssecret and openthat debilitate the mind, and turn those appointed to be wise unto fools, and they are all in consequence of failure to master ones self. A few days since I looked into the face of a young newspaper reporter, and read there the evident marks of most of the vices that destroy men, and as I followed the curling smoke back to his finger, and regarded for a moment the filthy, debilitating cigarette, it was easy to explain why he would shortly be out of job. Chauncey M. Depew attributed his success to breaking off the habit of smoking, and, as every one knows, the eminently successful thing about Depew is his brilliant mind. Luther Prescott Hubbard, another of New Yorks brainy men, was given to chewing and smoking when a mere lad, but on the advice of a friend, parted once for all with the filthy weed. When, years since, Francis Willard inquired of Thomas Edison why he were a total abstainer, adding, Was it home influence that made you so? the great inventor replied, No, madam; I think it was because I always felt I had a better use for my brains.
But in order to have the best mental development one must not only be a sufficient master of himself to resist the temptation to such sins as injure the intellect, but also to so employ the mind as to make its use the means of its growth. One of the points at which few people are in control of themselves is this of having every faculty of the being so subject to the will as to do its bidding.
Many a young person at school is sufficiently ambitious for an education, but when it comes to the studious habits that make for mental development, the will, which ought to be a tyrant, is a weak master. Slothfulness in study, with its resultant stupidity, is the consequence.
Dr. J. B. Hawthorne told how, when he was a student at Richmond College, there was a young fellow who was of magnificent physical proportions, but was larger still in his laziness. One day as Hawthorne was crossing the campus he came upon this fellow, lying full in the sun, working at the ground with a straw which he held in his hand. Hawthorne, looking over his shoulder said, What are you doing there? The great indolent rolled his eyes up good-naturedly and said, I am trying to tickle this doodle bug out of his hole. Ah, said Hawthorne, it is the doodle-bug business that keeps many a brain from its better development. One needs only to contrast the conduct of such a man with that of an Abraham Lincoln poring over his books till late at night before the flickering light of a pine-knot fire, or a Thurlow Weed doing the same by the light of a camp-fire in a sugar orchard, or a John Scott beginning his studies at 4 A. M. to be found at 11 P. M. tying a cold wet towel about his head that he might a little longer continue awake; or a Henry Wilson, who, coming to his manhood in ignorance, determines even thus late to be a master in the realm of learning, and manages to read a thousand good books before he leaves the farm, to see that the reason why Hawthornes student friend is unknown to the world, while these are among the most honored names. It is the difference between self-mastery upon the part of the latter and the lack of all self-control on the part of the former. For, indeed, the crown that sits upon the intellect is an incorruptible one, and can only sit upon his brow who knows the experience of self-control.
My second suggestion is this:
SELF-MASTERY SHOULD HAVE A SUPERIOR PURPOSE
With Paul, it looked to soul-supremacy. If he kept his body under, it was only that his soul might be on top. It was not that the Apostle believed that the body was without honor, only that he regarded the soul as of greater consequence, and its supremacy the superior thing.
You have heard of the little girl, who, when she returned from church, was asked, What was the text? and answered, I keep my soul on top, and when asked where this strange text should be found, replied, 1Co 9:27 I keep under my body.
While mistaken in the Apostles language, she had caught his idea.
The man who privileges the physical passions to rule him, instead of being ruled by spiritual aspirations, is rapidly moving to his own ruin. Dr. Davidson says, You may have seen in Paris a sculptured representation of Bacchus, the god of drink and of revelry. He is riding on a panther at a furious bound. How suggestive and true! A man begins a career of vice, and thinks he has mounted a well-broken steed, that he has the reins in hand and can keep it in control, and stop it when he please, but lo, * * he finds that he is astride a savage and furious brute that no human power can curb or tame. But Paul realizes that there is a Divine power that can put the passions of the body under, and bring all their powers into captivity to the aspirations of the soul. And this is the truest power indeed, and this is the superior end of living indeed.
For tho the giant ages heave the hill And break the shore, and evermore Make and break, and work their will;Tho world on world in myraid myraids roll Around us, each with different powers And other forms of life than ours,What know we greater than the soul?
Soul-supremacy gives glory to God. Paul knew perfectly that in proportion as he was master of himself, temperate in all things, running well the race that was set before him, fighting successfully the good fight of faith, keeping under his body and bringing it into subjection, he was giving glory to God. The longer one lives, the farther into the Christian experience one goes, the more one realizes that this is the supreme end of living. The Presbyterian catechism is right, The chief end of man is to glorify God. The question is not, What will advance me? The question is not, What will bring me honor? The question is, What will glorify my God? I think the most spiritually-minded man of last century was George Mueller. On one occasion he summed up his idea of Christianity by saying, My whole life is one single service for God. The caring for the bodies of the children is the mere instrumentality. My heart felt, my heart bled for the poor orphan children, and I desired to see them well-housed and fed. But that was not my motive. My heart desired to benefit them with a good education, but that was not my motive; my heart longed for the salvation of their souls, but even that was not my motive. The glory of Godthat it might be seen of the whole world, and the whole Church of God, that yet, in these days, God listens to prayer, and that God is the same in power and love as He ever wasto illustrate that, I have devoted my whole life.
Paul wrote to these same Corinthians, Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and your spirit, which are Gods (1Co 6:20).
SELF-MASTERY IS ESSENTIAL TO GODS SERVICE
It was of Gods service that Paul was speaking here when he said, 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. A castaway is not destroyed; it is simply laid aside and left unused.
Paul was not afraid of losing his soul. People who think that Paul was an Armenian and feared falling from grace, and who base their opinion upon this single text, forget at once the meaning of a castaway, namely, left in disuse, and the many speeches in which the Apostle declares his assurance. It was Paul who wrote to Timothy, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day (2Ti 1:12). It was Paul who wrote to the Romans,
I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39).
Dr. F. B. Meyer tells of Rowland Hill, his great predecessor at Christ Church, London, that when he was an old man of 84, and just before he died, one Sunday night, when the lights had been put out in Surrey Chapel, the verger in attendance heard him go to and fro in the aisles singing to himself,
When I am to die, receive me Ill cry,For Jesus has loved me, I cannot tell why;But this I do find, we two are so joined,Hell not be in Heaven, and leave me behind.
That was Pauls faith.
What Paul did fear was an end of his soul-winning service. Dr. Meyer says, You must know that this man loved to save men. It was the passion of his life. Send him to Philippi, and he will not be there a day before he has turned the devil out of the poor demoniac girl. Let him be put in jail, and before midnight he will have baptized his jailor. Send him to Athens, and though he is all alone, he will gather a congregation upon Mars Hill within a week or two. Put him alongside of Aquila and Priscilla at the bench, and he will make tents and talk to them in such good wise that they will become Christians. Stand him before his judge, and the latter will cry, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Let him go to Rome, tied to a Roman sentry, and he will speak to these men, one after another, in such fashion that the whole Pretorian camp will be infused with the love of God. His passion was to save men. I do not believe that if he were alive today, he would be in a street-car, or a railway-car, or on board a steamer without button-holing some man and speaking to him about his soul and his Saviour. The whole passion of the man was to save some; but he feared that unless he took good care, the hour might come in his life when Christ would say, Thou hast served Me well, but thou shalt serve Me no more. Of late thou hast become indolent, and choked with pride, and I have not secured thy whole obedience. I am now compelled to call upon some soul more alert, more obedient than thee; and that man I will use to do the work that thou mightest have done, but which thou didst fail to accomplish.
When I first entered the ministry, I used to be afraid that men might cast me away, and that if I did not do to suit them, they might set me aside and bring my service to an ignominious close; and as I witnessed this done for a few of my ministerial brethren, it made me all the more afraid. Such an end to ones ministry is sad, if such can bring an end to ones ministry. For myself, I have ceased to fear at that point. I dont believe it is within the power of man to end a brothers ministry, if that ministry be by Divine appointment. More and more I have come to enter into Pauls fears, that, lest after having preached to others, I should prove myself so poor a servant of God, that He would cast me aside and accept another in my stead, who would do that service more fervently, more fearlessly, and with greater love. And to be set aside from Gods service by God Himself, that indeed would be the saddest of all experiences. My heart is never so moved in pity as when I see a man who has once been under the Divine blessing, living in barrenness; and when I see a man who was once used of God in honor of God, side-tracked and left in disuse, because he did not continue to do the Divine bidding. And I say to you, beloved, that if those of us who are saved and destined at last to come into Heaven are not to know the experience of castaways, our crown taken from us, and our powers left unemployed, we must remain faithful to the call of our God to soul-winning service.
Dr. Davidson said, Down at the sea-coast I marked one and another and another little steam vessel prowling about in the offing, ever on the outlook to hail some wanderer of the deep, some ship seeking its way home, that they might tug it safely up channel, and bring it to the quiet haven; and I saw there a picture of what the members of such a church as this should be, ever on the watch for some soul that needs guidance and comfort, ever ready with the loving smile and the helping hand for any lonely and friendless brother!
But I would not conclude this sermon on Self-Mastery without inquiring whether all have surrendered to the Great Master to be saved. I wonder if the young here are redeemed every one. Salvation must precede service. I wonder if any of the old are out of the Ark. If so, why not come in, the young and the old together, that God may receive you, save you, and use you.
On Thursday evening in our prayer-meeting a father and a daughter were received for membership. They came from the Mission work. One evening some time ago God used a sermon of my assistant to touch this little daughters heart. She sought the Lord and found Him willing to forgive; but, on going home, she said to her father, How can I live a Christian life with no one here to help me? You do not love God, and mother is not a Christian. Oh, that I had the assistance of my own! And it broke the fathers heart. He came up to the Mission and told how this statement had touched him, and there together the father and daughter confessed Christ, mingling their tears of penitence, and together they entered the waters of baptism! Beautiful! Christ is Saviour of young and old!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(25) Every man that striveth for the mastery.Better, Every one that enters into the contest. The Greek word (agonizomenos) is identical with the English agonise. Hence the use in devotional works of the phrase to agonise in prayer, etc.
Is temperate in all things.He fulfils not only some, but all of the necessary preliminary conditions. He indulges self in no way.
They do it to obtain a corruptible crown.There are two striking points of contrast between the earthly race and the spiritual course. There is but one obtains a reward in the earthly contest; none need fail of it in the heavenly race. That reward in the one case is perishable; in the other it is imperishable. If, thensuch is St. Pauls argumentmen show such extraordinary devotion and self-sacrifice for a reward which is merely perishable, and which each has only a chance of gaining, what should not be the devotion and self-sacrifice of those for all of whom an imperishable reward is certain!
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Every man that striveth Every agonistes, or champion.
Is temperate Is self-controlling. Then, as now, the candidate for the race put himself under a long and severe training, in diet, in potations, in exercise, in order to tone himself up to the highest vigour. Even the professional pugilist of our modern execrable prize-fights will, in order to obtain victory, put himself upon a regimen of strict temperance, making himself an example of physical virtue for better men. He is a practical proof that strict abstinence from intoxicating drinks is ordinarily, a requisite condition to the highest health and vigour. He shows too, that the most profligate of men are amply able to discover and recognise the severest truths, when they have even a sordid interest in knowing them. Would the pugilist be as wise, as keenly searching after the truth, as energetic and as self-denying in pursuing the eternal prize as he is the temporal, he could not fail to win. But Paul uses a Greek word that covers more than bodily temperance. It includes self-denial of every kind, and is used by him in reference to his own self-denials in eating idol sacrifices, (1Co 8:13,) in refusing Churchly maintenance, (1Co 9:15,) and in all the self-mortifying compliances of 1Co 9:19-22. And this reference runs through to the end of the chapter; nay, even to the end of the next chapter. It is a thread of which the reader should not for a moment lose hold who would completely understand St. Paul.
Crown From the pine groves contiguous to the stadium the Corinthians would gather the branches, and wreath a garland for the brow of the victor, amid the applauding crowds of spectators. It was an evergreen; a not unfitting emblem of that earthly immortality of renown which it indicated that the wearer had attained. But, alas! this emblem of imperishability was itself perishable. The lyrics of the poet Pindar are almost the sole mementos of the victors, but they, too, in time will perish.
The most eminent emblematic garland of victory was the laurel. It was said that Apollo, after having slain the dragon Python at Delphos, wreathed his brows with the laurel, and established his oracle at the Castalian spring issuing from the cave at Delphos. At the Olympic games they used the wild olive; at the Nemean, the parsley.
An incorruptible Our Christian life is the race, crowned with everlasting triumph at its close. St. Paul, as he drew near his martyrdom, beautifully styles it the crown of righteousness. 2Ti 4:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And every man who takes part (‘strives’) in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.’
Furthermore let them recognise that all runners or others who strive in the games exercise self-control. They discipline themselves in preparation for the games. They discipline themselves while partaking. They keep themselves under control and put everything into achieving their goal. And if people will do that in order to obtain a corruptible crown, how much more should those who seek an incorruptible.
The idea of self-control ties in with the previous ideas of being willing to abstain from things for the sake of the Gospel, even though they are ‘legitimate’, things such as eating in the temples meat sacrificed to idols, to which he will come again shortly. Or the participation in the pleasures of life. He is not a killjoy, but nor will he let anything unnecessary hinder his fully serving Christ. Time taken up in pleasure is not available for spiritual activity.
‘Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.’ What was the reason that these athletes in the Isthmian games, held biannually near Corinth, went to such extents and sacrificed so greatly? It was to win a fading crown. For a while they would be widely popular, but then they would be replaced by others, and forgotten by all except possibly those in their own neighbourhood. They would become has-beens. How much more then should the Christian be willing to go to extremes in order to win a crown that will never fade, that will never be forgotten, that will shine as the stars for ever.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 9:25. A corruptible crown The Apostle alludes to the crowns at the Olympic games, which were formed of garlands of leaves, which soon withered and perished, and which were the only rewards of the contenders in those games. In the Olympic games, sacred to Jupiter, the crown was of wild olive; in the Pythian, sacred to Apollo, it was of laurel; in the Isthmian or Corinthian, it was of pine-tree; and in the Nemaean, of parsley: but concerning these particulars, as well as the remarkable temperance alluded to above, we refer to Mr. West, and to Elsner on the place
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 9:25 . ] marks the transition to the course of conduct observed by any competitor for a prize.
The emphasis is on . It is from it that the conclusion is then drawn in 1Co 9:26 , .
.] used as a substantive. The statement is as to what every competitor does to prepare himself for his struggle; in all respects he is abstinent ( ., see on 1Co 7:9 ). The word denotes every kind of competition, and includes therefore the more specific (comp Herod. v. 22; Xen. Anab. iv. 8. 27: ). Regarding the abstinence (especially from wine, sexual intercourse, and all heavy food except a good flesh-diet), by which the competitors had to prepare themselves for the struggle for ten months previously, see Intpp. ad Hor. Art. Poet. 412 ff.; Valckenaer, p. 251; Rosenmller, Morgenl. VI. p. 97 f.; Hermann, gottesd. Alterth. 50. 16 f.
] Accusative of more precise definition. See Lobeck, a [1533] Aj. 1402. Comp 1Co 9:25 .
. . [1535] ] illi quidem igitur , to wit, the competitors proper.
] we Christians . The holds of both the , only with the first it is in the sphere of the body ; with the second, in the moral domain . That the Christians, as striving in the moral field, actually , is assumed by Paul, speaking from his ideal point of view, as a thing of course.
[1533] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[1535] . . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 25. Is temperate in all things ] These luxurious Corinthians were much addicted to their belly; he calls them therefore to temperance. Ill doth it become a servant of the Highest to be a slave to his palate, to have animum in patinis et calicibus, as the Sybarites. A man may eat that on earth that he must digest in hell. (Aug.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] The point in the , the conduct of the athletes in regard of temperance , which he wishes to bring into especial prominence for their imitation: as concerning the matter in hand, his own abstinence from receiving the world’s pelf , in order to save himself and them that heard him.
The specifies, referring back to . The emphasis is on , thus shewing to refer to the who .
is more general than , q. d. ‘Every one who engages, not only in the race , but in any athletic contest ,’ and thus strengthening the inference. The art. ( .) brings out the man as an enlisted and professed , and regards him in that capacity. Had it been ., the sense would have been, ‘Now every one, while contending ,’ &c., making the discipline to be merely accidental to his contending which would not suit the spiritual antitype, where we are enlisted for life.
Examples of the practice of abstinence in athletes may be seen in Wetst. in loc. I will give but two: (1) Hor. de Arte Poet. 412: “Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit: Abstinuit venere et vino.” (2) Epict. c. 35: ; , . , . , , , , , , , , , .
] scil. .
, ‘immo vero’ (reff.).
The School. on Pind. Isthm. , cited by Meyer, says: , .
, scil. . He takes for granted the Christian’s temperance in all things, as his normal state.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 9:25 . . . .: “But every combatant is temperate in everything they, to be sure, that they may win a perishable garland; but we an imperishable.” The stress in the first clause lies on , no competitor can afford to be self-indulgent in anything; in the second on , if they are so abstinent for so poor a prize, what should we be? For ten months before the contest in the Great Games, the athletes were required, under oath, to follow a prescribed diet ( and regimen ( ): Pausanias . 24. 9; Philostratus De Gymn ., p. 4; Arrian-Epict., iii., xv., 3, xxiii., 2; Xenoph. Symp . viii., 37; Horace, Ars Poet . 412 ff., “Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit, Abstinuit venere et vino.” (see 1Co 7:9 ) implies temperance in a positive degree not mere abstinence, but vigorous control of appetite and passion; is acc [1387] of specification. The “garland” of the victor in the Isthmian Games was of pine-leaves , at an earlier time of parsley , in the Olympian Games of wild-olive ; yet these were the most coveted honours in the whole Greek world. and are again contrasted in 1Co 15:53 .
[1387] accusative case.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Corinthians
‘CONCERNING THE CROWN’
1Co 9:25
One of the most famous of the Greek athletic festivals was held close by Corinth. Its prize was a pine-wreath from the neighbouring sacred grove. The painful abstinence and training of ten months, and the fierce struggle of ten minutes, had for their result a twist of green leaves, that withered in a week, and a little fading fame that was worth scarcely more, and lasted scarcely longer. The struggle and the discipline were noble; the end was contemptible. And so it is with all lives whose aims are lower than the highest. They are greater in the powers they put forth than in the objects they compass, and the question, ‘What is it for?’ is like a douche of cold water from the cart that lays the clouds of dust in the ways.
So, says Paul, praising the effort and contemning the prize, ‘They do it to obtain a corruptible crown.’ And yet there was a soul of goodness in this evil thing. Though these festivals were indissolubly intertwined with idolatry, and besmirched with much sensuous evil, yet he deals with them as he does with war and with slavery; points to the disguised nobility that lay beneath the hideousness, and holds up even these low things as a pattern for Christian men.
But I do not mean here to speak so much about the general bearing of this text as rather to deal with its designation of the aim and reward of Christian energy, that ‘incorruptible crown’ of which my text speaks. And in doing so I desire to take into account likewise other places in Scripture in which the same metaphor occurs.
I. The crown.
It is extremely unlikely that all these instances of the occurrence of the emblem carry with them reference, such as that in my text, to the prize at the athletic festivals. For Peter and James, intense Jews as they were, had probably never seen, and possibly never heard of, the struggles at the Isthmus and at Olympus and elsewhere. The Book of the Revelation draws its metaphors almost exclusively from the circle of Jewish practices and things. So that we have to look in other directions than the arena or the racecourse to explain these other uses of the image. It is also extremely unlikely that in these other passages the reference is to a crown as the emblem of sovereignty, for that idea is expressed, as a rule, by another word in Scripture, which we have Anglicised as ‘diadem.’ The ‘crown’ in all these passages is a garland twisted out of some growth of the field. In ancient usage roses were twined for revellers; pine-shoots or olive branches for the victors in the games; while the laurel was ‘the meed of mighty conquerors’; and plaited oak leaves were laid upon the brows of citizens who had deserved well of their country, and myrtle sprays crowned the fair locks of the bride.
And thus in these directions, and not towards the wrestling ground or the throne of the monarch, must we look for the ideas suggested by the emblem.
Now, if we gather together all these various uses of the word, there emerge two broad ideas, that the ‘crown’ which is the Christian’s aim symbolises a state of triumphant repose and of festal enjoyment. There are other aspects of that great and dim future which correspond to other necessities of our nature, and I suppose some harm has been done and some misconceptions have been induced, and some unreality imported into the idea of the Christian future, by the too exclusive prominence given to these two ideas-victorious rest after the struggle, and abundant satisfaction of all desires. That future is other and more than a festival; it is other and more than repose. There are larger fields there for the operation of powers that have been trained and evolved here. The faithfulness of the steward is exchanged, according to Christ’s great words, for the authority of the ruler over many cities. But still, do we not all know enough of the worry and turbulence and strained effort of the conflict here below, to feel that to some of our deepest and not ignoble needs and desires that image appeals? The helmet that pressed upon the brow even whilst it protected the brain, and wore away the hair even whilst it was a defence, is lifted off, and on unruffled locks the garland is intertwined that speaks victory and befits a festival. One of the old prophets puts the same metaphor in words imperfectly represented by the English translation, when he promises ‘a crown’ or a garland ‘for ashes’-instead of the symbol of mourning, strewed grey and gritty upon the dishevelled hair of the weepers, flowers twined into a wreath-’the oil of joy for mourning,’ and the festival ‘garment of praise’ to dress the once heavy spirit. So the satisfaction of all desires, the accompaniments of a feast, in abundance, rejoicing and companionship, and conclusive conquest over all foes, are promised us in this great symbol.
But let us look at the passages separately, and we shall find that they present the one thought with differences, and that if we combine these, as in a stereoscope, the picture gains solidity.
The crown is described in three ways. It is the crown of ‘life,’ of ‘glory’ and of ‘righteousness.’ And I venture to think that these three epithets describe the material, so to speak, of which the wreath is composed. The everlasting flower of life, the radiant blossoms of glory, the white flower of righteousness; these are its components.
I need not enlarge upon them, nor will your time allow that I should. Here we have the promise of life, that fuller life which men want, ‘the life of which our veins are scant,’ even in the fullest tide and heyday of earthly existence. The promise sets that future over against the present, as if then first should men know what it means to live: so buoyant, elastic, unwearied shall be their energies, so manifold the new outlets for activity, and the new inlets for the surrounding glory and beauty; so incorruptible and glorious shall be their new being. Here we live a living death; there we shall live indeed; and that will be the crown, not only in regard to physical, but in regard to spiritual, powers and consciousness.
But remember that all this full tide of life is Christ’s gift. There is no such thing as natural immortality; there is no such thing as independent life. All Being, from the lowest creature up to the loftiest created spirit, exists by one law, the continual impartation to it of life from the fountain of life, according to its capacities. And unless Jesus Christ, all through the eternal ages of the future, imparted to the happy souls that sit garlanded at His board the life by which they live, the wreaths would wither on their brows, and the brows would melt away, and dissolve from beneath the wreaths. ‘I will give him a crown of life.’
It is a crown of ‘glory,’ and that means a lustrousness of character imparted by radiation and reflection from the central light of the glory of God. ‘Then shall the righteous blaze out like the sun in the Kingdom of My Father.’ Our eyes are dim, but we can at least divine the far-off flashing of that great light, and may ponder upon what hidden depths and miracles of transformed perfectness and unimagined lustre wait for us, dark and limited as we are here, in the assurance that we all shall be changed into the ‘likeness of the body of His glory.’
It is a crown of ‘righteousness.’ Though that phrase may mean the wreath that rewards righteousness, it seems more in accordance with the other similar expressions to which I have referred to regard it, too, as the material of which the crown is composed. It is not enough that there should be festal gladness, not enough that there should be calm repose, not enough that there should be flashing glory, not enough that there should be fulness of life. To accord with the intense moral earnestness of the Christian system there must be, emphatically, in the Christian hope, cessation of all sin and investiture with all purity. The word means the same thing as the ancient promise, ‘Thy people shall be all righteous.’ It means the same thing as the latest promise of the ascended Christ, ‘They shall walk with Me in white.’ And it sets, I was going to say, the very climax and culmination on the other hopes, declaring that absolute, stainless, infallible righteousness which one day shall belong to our weak and sinful spirits.
These, then, are the elements, and on them all is stamped the signature of perpetuity. The victor’s wreath is tossed on the ashen heap, the reveller’s flowers droop as he sits in the heat of the banqueting-hall; the bride’s myrtle blossom fades though she lay it away in a safe place. The crown of life is incorruptible. It is twined of amaranth, ever blossoming into new beauty and never fading.
II. Now look, secondly, at the discipline by which the crown is won.
Whilst, then, this must be laid as the basis of all, there must also, with equal earnestness and clearness, be set forth the other thought that Christ’s gift has conditions, which conditions these passages plainly set forth. In the one, which I have read as a text, we have these conditions declared as being twofold-protracted discipline and continuous effort. The same metaphor employed by the same Apostle, in his last dying utterance, associates his consciousness that he had fought the good fight and run his race, like the pugilists and runners of the arena, with the hope that he shall receive the crown of righteousness. James declares that it is given to the man who endures temptation, not only in the sense of bearing, but of so bearing as not thereby to be injured in Christian character and growth in Christian life. Peter asserts that it is the reward of self-denying discharge of duty. And the Lord from heaven lays down the condition of faithfulness unto death as the necessary pre-requisite of His gift of the crown of life. In two of the passages there is included, though not precisely on the level of these other requirements, the love of Him and the love of ‘His appearing,’ as the necessary qualifications for the gift of the crown.
So, to begin with, unless a man has such a love to Jesus Christ as that he is happy in His presence, and longs to have Him near, as parted loving souls do; and, especially, is looking forward to that great judicial coming, and feeling that there is no tremor in his heart at the prospect of meeting the Judge, but an outgoing of desire and love at the hope of seeing his Saviour and his Friend, what right has he to expect the crown? None. And he will never get it. There is a test for us which may well make some of us ask ourselves, Are we Christians, then, at all?
And then, beyond that, there are all these other conditions which I have pointed out, which may be gathered into one-strenuous discharge of daily duty and continual effort after following in Christ’s footsteps.
This needs to be as fully and emphatically preached as the other doctrine that eternal life is the gift of God. All manner of mischiefs may come, and have come, from either of these twin thoughts, wrenched apart. But let us weave them as closely together as the stems of the flowers that make the garlands are twined, and feel that there is a perfect consistency of both in theory, and that there must be a continual union of both, in our belief and in our practice. Eternal life is the gift of God, on condition of our diligence and earnestness. It is not all the same whether you are a lazy Christian or not. It does make an eternal difference in our condition whether here we ‘run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.’ We have to receive the crown as a gift; we have to wrestle and run, as contending for a prize.
III. And now, lastly, note the power of the reward as motive for life.
Now it seems to me, that this spring of action is not as strong in the Christians of this day as it used to be, and as it should be. You do not hear much about heaven in ordinary preaching. I do not think it occupies a very large place in the average Christian man’s mind. We have all got such a notion nowadays of the great good that the Gospel does in society and in the present, and some of us have been so frightened by the nonsense that has been talked about the ‘other-worldliness’ of Christianity-as if that was a disgrace to it-that it seems to me that the future of glory and blessedness has very largely faded away, as a motive for Christian men’s energies, like the fresco off a neglected convent wall.
And I want to say, dear brethren, that I believe, for my part, that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried always with you in your thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present was registered, and would tell on the far side yonder?
We do not know much of that future, and these days are intolerant of mere unverifiable hypotheses. But accuracy of knowledge and definiteness of impression do not always go together, nor is there the fulness of the one wanted for the clearness and force of the other. Though the thread which we throw across the abyss is very slender, it is strong enough, like the string of a boy’s kite, to bear the messengers of hope and desire that we may send up by it, and strong enough to bear the gifts of grace that will surely come down along it.
We cannot understand to-day unless we look at it with eternity for a background. The landscape lacks its explanation, until the mists lift and we see the white summits of the Himalayas lying behind and glorifying the low sandy plain. Would your life not be different; would not the things in it that look great be wholesomely dwindled and yet be magnified; would not sorrow be calmed, and life become ‘a solemn scorn of ills,’ and energies be stimulated, and all be different, if you really ‘did it to obtain an incorruptible crown?’
Brethren, let us try to keep more clearly before us, as solemn and blessed encouragement in our lives, these great thoughts. The garland hangs on the goal, but ‘a man is not crowned unless he strive according to the laws’ of the arena. The laws are two-No man can enter for the conflict but by faith in Christ; no man can win in the struggle but by faithful effort. So the first law is, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and the second is, ‘Hold fast that thou hast; let no man take thy crown.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
striveth for the mastery. Greek. agonizomai. See Luk 13:24. The usual term for contending in the games.
is temperate = exercises self-control. Greek. enkrateuomai. See 1Co 7:9. This refers to the severe training, extending over many months, before the contest.
to obtain = in order that (Greek. hina) they may receive, Same word as “receive” in 1Co 9:24.
corruptible. Greek. phthartos. See Rom 1:23.
crown. Greek. stephanos. See first occurance: Mat 27:29. The crown was a chaplet of wild olive, parsley, &c.
incorruptible. Greek. aphthartos. See Rom 1:23. Compare 1Pe 5:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25.] The point in the , the conduct of the athletes in regard of temperance, which he wishes to bring into especial prominence for their imitation:-as concerning the matter in hand,-his own abstinence from receiving the worlds pelf, in order to save himself and them that heard him.
The specifies, referring back to . The emphasis is on , thus shewing to refer to the who .
is more general than ,-q. d. Every one who engages, not only in the race, but in any athletic contest, and thus strengthening the inference. The art. ( .) brings out the man as an enlisted and professed , and regards him in that capacity. Had it been ., the sense would have been, Now every one, while contending, &c., making the discipline to be merely accidental to his contending-which would not suit the spiritual antitype, where we are enlisted for life.
Examples of the practice of abstinence in athletes may be seen in Wetst. in loc. I will give but two: (1) Hor. de Arte Poet. 412: Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit: Abstinuit venere et vino. (2) Epict. c. 35: ; , . , . , , , , , , , , , .
] scil. .
, immo vero (reff.).
The School. on Pind. Isthm. , cited by Meyer, says: , .
, scil. . He takes for granted the Christians temperance in all things, as his normal state.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 9:25. , every man) There were many sorts of contests.-, but) an emphatic addition (). The race was among those contests that were of a lighter description; wrestling, to which allusion is presently made, is among those that were more severe.-, all things) supply , as to, throughtout.-, is temperate) Those, who were to strive for the mastery, were distinguished by their admirable mode of living. See the same Faber, and the same Chrysostom de Sacred., l. 4, c. 2, at the end.-) they, who run and wrestle. Christians had abandoned the public games.-, corruptible) formed of the wild olive, of the apple tree, of parsley and of the fir tree. Not only the crown, but the remembrance of it perishes.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 9:25
1Co 9:25
And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things.-Contentedly and without a murmur he submits himself to the rules and restrictions of his ten months training, without which he may as well not compete. The indulgences which other men allow themselves he must forego. Not once will he break the trainers rules, for he knows that some competitor will refrain even from that once and gain the strength while he is losing it. He glories in his hardships and fatigues and privation, and counts it a point of honor scrupulously to abstain from anything which might in the slightest degree diminish his chance of success, because his heart is set on the prize, and severe training is indispensable. He knows that his chances are gone if in any point or on any occasion he relaxes the rigor of the discipline.
Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown;-A crown of pine leaves. The victor, it is true, won a crown of glory; but the glory faded almost as fast as the wreath. No permanent satisfaction could result from being victorious in a contest of physical strength, activity, and skill.
but we an incorruptible.–An incorruptible, an unfading, and eternal crown. It is called the crown of righteousness (2Ti 4:8); the crown of life (Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10); and the crown of glory (1Pe 5:4). It is possible for every one who runs the Christian race to receive this crown, which shall forever be unto him a joy as thrilling as at the moment of receiving it. [It is worthy of the determined and sustained effort of a lifetime. As victory in the games was the actual incentive which stimulated the Grecian youth to strive for the physical strength and development, so there is laid before the Christian an incentive which, when fully apprehended, is sufficient to carry him to great spiritual attainments. To have righteousness and life in perfection is his true glory, and this is the very crown of his being. And such a crown cannot fade away.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
For the Crown
And every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.1Co 9:25.
So, says St. Paul, praising the effort and contemning the prize, they do it to receive a corruptible crown. And yet there was a soul of goodness in this evil thing. Though these festivals were indissolubly intertwined with idolatry, and besmirched with much sensuous evil, yet he deals with them as he does with war and with slaveryhe points to the disguised nobility that lay beneath the hideousness, and holds up even these low things as a pattern for Christian men.
1. One of the most famous of the Greek athletic festivals was held close by Corinth. Its prize was a pine-wreath from the neighbouring sacred grove. The painful abstinence and training of ten months, and the fierce struggle of ten minutes, had for their result a twist of green leaves that withered in a week, and a little fading fame that was worth scarcely more, and lasted scarcely longer. The struggle and the discipline were noble; the end was contemptible. And so it is with all lives whose aims are lower than the highest. They are greater in the powers they put forth than in the objects they compass, and the question, What is it for? is like a douche of cold water from the cart that lays the clouds of dust in the ways.
2. There is both comparison and contrast here. Comparison, because there is between the athlete and the Christian a likeness upon which the Apostle is very fond of dwelling. Both have entered the lists; both have engaged in a contest wherein a vast amount of resolution and endurance is needed; both have set their hearts upon a certain prize. Contrast, because there is between the athlete and the Christian this great difference, among others, that the prize is of little worth in the one case, of unspeakable value in the other. They do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
I
The Discipline
1. Strenuous effort.If people would work half as hard to gain the highest object that a man can set before him as hundreds of people are ready to do in order to gain trivial and paltry objects, there would be fewer stunted and half-dead Christians among us. That is the way to run, says St. Paul, if you want to obtain.
Look at the contrast that he hints at, between the prize that stirs these racers energies into such tremendous operation and the prize which Christians profess to be pursuing. They do it to receive a corruptible crowna twist of pine branch out of the neighbouring grove, worth half-a-farthing, and a little passing glory not worth much more. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown; we do not do it, though we professedly have an incorruptible one as our aim and object. If we contrast the relative values of the objects that men pursue so eagerly with the objects of the Christian course, surely we ought to be smitten down with penitent consciousness of our own unworthiness, if not of our own hypocrisy.
Everybody knows about the athlete, and knows that whatever he goes in for, there is no mistake about it. You cannot play cricket, or football, or anything elseto any purposewith half your strength, or with half your heart. To do anything, to distinguish yourself in the least, you have to give yourself up to it. Everything else must give way; and everything that hinders, or enfeebles, or injuriously affects the play, must be given up. Everybody knows that. They do it, says the Apostle; they really do it; there is no humbug or pretence about it. If they play, they do not play at playing; they do it, and no mistake. It is possible to say that a man is a fool to make such efforts, and incur such sacrifices, in order to wear a cap of a certain colour, or be known as the champion in a certain game. But, at any rate, he has achieved something with much toil, and effort, and loss of rest, and after tremendous exertions; they do it.1 [Note: R. Winterbotham.]
Here is a little kingdom, which we shall characterize as the kingdom of merely muscular competition. Men are going to try muscular force with their fellow-men,they are going to have a boat race. You and I cannot walk along the river-side and instantly take into our heads the notion that we will have a spin with these men and beat them all. That cant be done. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads even to athletic supremacy. The men are going into training; they are going to put themselves under tutors and governors; they are going to submit to a bill of fare and a course of discipline which you and I would take to very unkindly. But why are they going to do so? Because they have determined to take a higher seat in the kingdom of mere athletic exercise and enjoyment. Now it is a very strange thing that you, a man fourteen stones weight, cannot just get into the very first boat that comes in your way and outstrip the men who have been in drill and training and exercise for the last three months. But you cannot do so. As a mere matter of fact, a man who has been drilled, disciplined, exercised, will beat you, except a miracle be wrought for your advantage.1 [Note: Joseph Parker.]
2. Rigid self-control.Every man that is striving for the mastery is temperate in all things. The discipline for runners and athletes was rigid. They had ten months of spare dietno winehard gymnastic exercises every day, until not an ounce of superfluous flesh was upon their muscles, before they were allowed to run in the arena. And, says St. Paul, that is the example for us. They practised this rigid discipline and abstinence by way of preparation for the race, and after it was run they might dispense with the training. You and I have to practise rigid abstinence as part of the race, as a continuous necessity. They did not only abstain from bad things, they did not only avoid criminal acts of sensuous indulgence; they abstained from many perfectly legitimate things. So for us it is not enough to say, I draw the line there, at this or that vice, and I will have nothing to do with these. You will never make a growing Christian if abstinence from palpable sins only is your standard. You must lay aside every sin, of course, but also every weight. Many things are weights that are not sins; and if we are to run fast we must run light; and if we are to do any good in this world we have to live by rigid control and abstain from much that is perfectly legitimate, because, if we do not, we shall fail in accomplishing the highest purposes for which we are here.
Only on one occasion have I seen him angry, and I mention the circumstance now because I feel convinced that his lack of disciplinary power, which has been noted in the matter of his Harrow work, was due to excess rather than to defect of moral force. Conscious of his power, he was, I believe, afraid to let himself go, and so habitually exercised a severe self-restraint. It was in the early Peterborough days, as he and I were starting out for a walk, that, in passing through the passage, which was then being tiled, he remarked to the man at work that he was not laying the tiles straight. The man contradicted him, and then my father said something which seemed to annihilate the culprit. I was astonished at my father losing his temper, but more astonished still at the effect of his wrath: the man trembled and turned pale, and I thought he would be falling down dead.1 [Note: Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, i. 351.]
The perfect poise that comes of self-control,
The poetry of action, rhythmic, sweet,
That unvexed music of the body and soul
That the Greeks dreamed of, made at last complete.
Our stumbling lives attain not such a bliss;
Too often, while the air we vainly beat,
Loves perfect law of liberty we miss.2 [Note: Annie Matheson.]
3. Concentration of aim.There are few things more lacking in the average Christian life of to-day than resolute, conscious concentration upon an aim which is clearly and always before us. Do you know what you are aiming at? This is the first question. Have you a distinct theory of lifes purpose that you can put into half a dozen words, or have you not? In the one case, there is some chance of attaining your object; in the other, none. Alas! we find many Christian people who do not set before themselves, with emphasis and constancy, as their aim the doing of Gods will, and so sometimes they do it, when it happens to be easy, and sometimes, when temptations are strong, they do not. It needs a strong hand on the tiller to keep it steady when the wind is blowing in puffs and gusts, and sometimes the sail bellies full and sometimes it is almost empty. The various strengths of the temptations that blow us out of our course are such that we shall never keep a straight line of directionwhich is the shortest line, and the only one on which we shall obtainunless we know very distinctly where we want to go, and have a good strong will that has learned to say No! when the temptations come.
It is not enough to have earned our livelihood. Either the earning itself should have been serviceable to mankind, or something else must follow. To live is sometimes very difficult, but it is never meritorious in itself; and we must have a reason to allege to our own conscience why we should continue to exist upon this crowded earth. If Thoreau had simply dwelt in his house at Walden, a lover of trees, birds, and fishes, and the open air and virtue, a reader of wise books, an idle, selfish self-improver, he would have managed to cheat Admetus, but, to cling to metaphor, the devil would have had him in the end. Those who can avoid toil altogether and dwell in the Arcadia of private means, and even those who can, by abstinence, reduce the necessary amount of it to some six weeks a year, having the more liberty, have only the higher moral obligation to be up and doing in the interest of Man 1:1 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, Familiar Studies of Men and Books.]
Doth life resemble clouds that come and go?
Or fitful sparks that but a moment glow?
Not so!
Mans life is vast and deeper than the sea,
His purpose giveth birth to destiny,
He moulds and carves his own futurity.
Is life a senseless weary wail of woe?
A glittering bubble such as babes might blow?
Not so!
Lifes meaning is as lofty as the sky,
It stirs the heart to action pure and high,
It thrills the human breast with ecstasy.
Is life a noxious weed which whirlwinds sow?
A useless flint oer which the waters flow?
Not so!
A life well spent has not its weight in gold,
It is the clearest crystal earth doth hold,
A gem beside which suns seem dull and cold.2 [Note: Gustav Spiller.]
II
The Reward
Christianity is sometimes charged with being a long-sighted worldliness. We are told that the enjoyment many Christians expect is just as worldly as the enjoyments which they now reject. The only difference between such Christians and worldly folk is not in the character of the crowns they seek but in the season when they wear them. The crowns are the same; but the worldly man wears his now, the Christian hopes to wear it hereafter. Now is that accusation entirely ill-founded? Are our conceptions of the future weighted and coloured by the worldliness which we have professed to reject? How are our thoughts of the future shaped? How do we talk about it? We sometimes speak of the unfairness with which things are distributed in this life. Wealth seems to be showered upon the undeserving. The deserving seem often to be kept in straits. From this we argue that there must be a future life to make this fair. If there be no future life, then the constitution of the world is monstrously unjust. Let us look at that. Let us assume that in this world the good always became the rich, and the wicked always became the poor; would the arrangement be perfectly fitting and just? If goodness were always paid for by money would you consider the traffic conducive to moral and spiritual health? This worldly and materialistic conception of crowns and rewards eats away the very strength and sweetness of our religion. We are wanting material crowns as a reward for saintliness, and they will not be given in this world or in the world to come. God has other crowns more precious and incorruptible, and He is lavish in the bestowal of them.
The prize system has frequently been denounced as unworthy and degrading, and there is a grain of truth in the charge. The danger is that the child may work solely for the prize, and not for the sake of knowledge. We have the same danger in the religious sphere when rewards of any kind are promised. Certain it is that rewards for well-doing are wrong and hurtful when they are of such a nature as to evoke a greedy or mercenary spirit, and it is equally certain that no man or woman should do right simply for the sake of reward. The higher we go in the sphere of rewards, the more spiritual they become, until they cease altogether to be mercenary. The soldier values the Victoria Cross far more than any pecuniary reward. The artist values your admiration more than the price you give for his pictures. No amount of money, however great, can ever be an equivalent of a brave deed or a great work of art.1 [Note: David Watson, In Lifes School, 160.]
If a religion were revealed to us to-morrow, proving, scientifically and with absolute certainty, that every act of goodness, of self-sacrifice, of heroism, of inward nobility would bring us, immediately after our death, an indubitable and unimaginable reward, I doubt whether the proportion of good and evil, of virtues and vices amid which we live would undergo an appreciable change. Would you have a convincing example? In the middle ages there were moments when faith was absolute and obtruded itself with a certainty that corresponds exactly with our scientific certainties. The rewards promised for well-doing, the punishments threatening evil were, in the thoughts of the men of that time, as tangible, so to speak, as would be those of the revelation of which I spoke above. Nevertheless, we do not see that the average of goodness was raised. A few saints sacrificed themselves for their brothers, carried certain virtues, selected from among the more contestable, to the pitch of heroism; but the bulk of men continued to deceive one another, to lie, to fornicate, to steal, to be guilty of envy, to commit murder. The mean of the vices was no lower than that of to-day. On the contrary, life was incomparably harsher, more cruel and more unjust, because the low-water mark of the general intelligence was less high.2 [Note: Maurice Maeterlinck, Life and Flowers, 100.]
The feeble soul that may be lured to love and service by the promise of reward is unworthy to be enrolled in the regiment of Heaven. We needs must follow with assent the words in which the Saint disclaims with poignant ardour all thought of personal advantage, the desire of Heaven and the fear of Hell being alike blotted out in the burning radiance of devotion: Thou drawest me, my God. Thy death agony draws me; Thy love draws me, so that, should there be no Heaven, I would love Thee. Were there no Hell, I would fear thee.3 [Note: Lady Dilke, The Book of the Spiritual Life, 167.]
The symbol of the Gospel is a cross; but not a cross by itself; not a lone, bare, gaunt, naked cross. The symbol of the Gospel is a crown; but not a crown by itself; not a proud, cold, despotic, selfish, pitiless crown. The symbol of the Gospel is a cross and a crown; a cross lying in a crown; a crown growing around a cross; a cross haloed by a crown; a crown won by a cross.1 [Note: James I. Vance, Tendency, 207.]
I sorrowed that the golden day was dead,
Its light no more the countryside adorning;
But whilst I grieved, behold!the East grew red
With morning.
I sighed that merry Spring was forced to go,
And doff the wreaths that did so well become her;
But whilst I murmured at her absence, lo!
Twas Summer.
I mourned because the daffodils were killed
By burning skies that scorched my early posies;
But whilst for these I pined, my hands were filled
With roses.
Half broken-hearted I bewailed the end
Of friendships than which none had once seemed nearer;
But whilst I wept I found a newer friend,
And dearer.
And thus I learned old pleasures are estranged
Only that something better may be given;
Until at last we find this earth exchanged
For Heaven.2 [Note: Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler.]
1. The corruptible crown.Think of the corruptible crowns which are to so many the objects of a fond ambition. How many are seeking the tinselled crowns of gaiety, their daily luxury being found in the thin enjoyment of the world! How corruptible is the crown! The first cold shower that falls occasions its destruction. One of the most pitiful sights to be seen is that of a gay and shallow woman plunged into some sudden sorrow. She is like a butterfly in the rain. How many others are seeking the crown of fame! How many are possessed with the burning desire to be recognized, to be esteemed, to be influential, to be remembered. Yet how corruptible is the crown! Of how very few can it be said that their fame lasts as long as their gravestones. When the clock strikes the last stroke of the hour, there is a lingering and decreasing reverberation before the sound quite dies out. That reverberation represents a mans posthumous fame, the short lingering remembrance that follows the final stroke of his life. If a man wins fame, he wins a corruptible crown. Others seek the crown of wealth. All they want is money. They measure their success by money. It is their standard and their crown. Yet how corruptible! The wind passeth over it, and it is gone. It is the prey of many foes. The moth can destroy it. The rust can corrupt it. The thief can steal it. These are types of the crowns admired by the world, coveted by the world, sought by the world, and they are all corruptible. If a man gains one he is regarded as having had a successful career.
The King [William iv.] ought not properly to have worn the crown, never having been crowned; but when he was in the robing-room he said to Lord Hastings, Lord Hastings, I wear the crown; where is it? It was brought to him, and when Lord Hastings was going to put it on his head he said, Nobody shall put the crown on my head but myself. He put it on, and then turned to Lord Grey and said, Now, my Lord, the coronation is over. George Villiers said that in his life he never saw such a scene, and as he looked at the King upon the throne with the crown loose upon his head, and the tall, grim figure of Lord Grey close beside him, with the sword of state in his hand, it was as if the King had got his executioner by his side, and the whole picture looked strikingly typical of his and our future destinies.1 [Note: The Greville Memoirs, ii. 140.]
I saw a truant schoolboy chalk his name
Upon the Temple door; then with a shout
Run off; that night a weary beggar came,
Leant there his ragged back and rubbed it out.2 [Note: Charles Murray, Hamewith, 54.]
2. The incorruptible crown.The Christians crown is elsewhere spoken of as a crown of life, a crown of glory, and a crown of righteousness.
(1) The incorruptible crown is a crown of life.If you want a summary of Biblical teaching respecting virtue and its crowns, you may find it in the Book of RevelationBe thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. A crown of life! Your physician examines your body, the healthy workings of which have somehow or other become clogged with disease. He finds out the obstruction, ascertains its character, discovers its root. Then practically he says to the patient, Attend to my instructions, loyally follow my prescriptions, be faithful to my word, and I will drive the disease out of your body and give your body a crown of life. The reward of obedience is health, fresh, vigorous health, a crown of life! That is precisely what the Lord says to us about our souls. He says to me, Be thou faithful. Be loyal in My service. Be scrupulously obedient to My will, and I will heal thee of all thy diseases. I will remove all thy moral sicknesses and spiritual infirmities. I will give thee moral and spiritual health, make thee every whit alivethou shalt have a crown of life! That is the reward of obedience and faithfulnessthe incorruptible crown of life. The reward for doing a good deed is that you have more life to do another. That is the meaning of Christs benediction upon the faithful servantThou hast been faithful over a few things. His faithfulness had crowned him with life. He had greater life for doing greater service. At first he had only life enough for few things, but faithfulness had given him life enough for more. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.
Have you ever noticed closely that gracious list of beatitudes which Jesus tells us are the special possession and reward of the Christian life? How august are the payments! How incorruptible the crowns! Look at one or two. Blessed are the merciful. Why are they blessed? What is their reward, their crown? They shall obtain mercy. Beautifully suited is the crown to the virtue. God will give their hearts the same sweet feast as they have given to the heart of their fellows. Blessed are the pure in heart. In what consists their blessedness? What is their reward? They shall see God. How incorruptible the crown! And how appropriate that purity should be rewarded by visions, that they who have washed their eyes clean and clear should be able to feast them upon the beauty and glory of God! Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Whence comes their blessedness? What is their reward? They shall be filled. Their spiritual hunger shall meet with spiritual satisfaction. The hunger for life shall receive the bread of life. The thirst for life shall receive the water of life.
I think I know many people who are already wearing the crowns in their hearts. It seems to me that there are many people from whom God has only to strip away their robes of flesh, and they will stand before Himcrowned! I think you must know such men and women, who have reached the west, and the brightness of whose crowns shines through their attenuated flesh. They wear the crown of humility, the crown of patience, the crown of brotherly kindness, the crown of hope, the crown of love. Do you think any one will be able to wear brighter crowns than these in the Kingdom of God? Do you think that in all heaven there is a brighter crown than the crown of love? It is the crown worn by the great God Himself! These are the crowns we must seek, the incorruptible crowns. Let us seek for such character as will be to us a worthy crown. Let us become more spiritual. Let us inspect our purposes and ambitions, and make it our one aim to be found at last in Christ, in possession of the righteousness which is of God by faith. Let us consecrate ourselves to one holy and supreme ambition, to wake at last in the likeness of our God.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
How many a Grecian youth of old,
Preparing for the Isthmian plain,
And driven by thirst of fame, was bold
For discipline that he might gain
An athletes vigour well-controlled,
And win the olive crown through pain!
But, when in time of wrinkled age
His earlier force had ebbed away,
And, closing now his pilgrimage,
He viewed the wreaths forlorn decay,
Then he at last grew wise to gauge
The fleeting worth of glorys day.
Therefore shall we give precious years
And sacred energies of soul
To win the worlds resounding cheers
And triumph at its vaunted goal?
Nay, such a guerdon calms no fears
When Doomsdays awful thunders roll!
But rather may the second sight
Of Faith disclose the prize unseen,
And urge us, led by its delight
To tame the sins, that intervene,
And fight with joy a nobler fight
For crowns of never-fading green!1 [Note: G. T. S. Farquhar.]
(2) A crown of glory.It is a crown of glory, and that means a lustrousness of character imparted by radiation and reflection from the central light of the glory of God. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Our eyes are dim, but we can at least divine the far-off flashing of that great light, and may ponder upon what hidden depths and miracles of transformed perfectness and unimagined lustre wait for us, dark and limited as we are here, in the assurance that we all shall be changed into the likeness of the body of his glory.
The promise of an incorruptible crown is not only for this life but also for the life to come. Here we have the promise of life, that fuller life which men want, the life of which our veins are scant, even in the fullest tide and heyday of earthly existence. But the promise sets that future over against the present, as if then first should men know what it means to live: so buoyant, elastic, unwearied shall be their energies, so manifold the new outlets for activity, and the new inlets for the surrounding glory and beauty; so incorruptible and glorious shall be their new being. Here we live a living death; there we shall live indeed; and that will be the crown, not only in regard to physical, but also in regard to spiritual, powers and consciousness.
But remember that all this full tide of life is Christs gift. There is no such thing as natural immortality; there is no such thing as independent life. All Being, from the lowest creature up to the loftiest created spirit, exists by one law, the continual impartation to it of life from the fountain of life, according to its capacities. And unless Jesus Christ, all through the eternal ages of the future, imparted to the happy souls that sit garlanded at His board the life by which they live, the wreaths would wither on their brows, and the brows would melt away, and dissolve from beneath the wreaths. I will give him a crown of life.
There is a pathetic and beautiful story related of Jenny LindMadame Goldschmidt. Her innate religious feeling caused her to leave the stage at the height of her extraordinary triumph. Some time after, an English friend found her at a seaside retreat. The famous artiste was sitting on the steps of a bathing-machine, on the sands, with a Lutheran Bible open on her knee, and looking out into the glory of a sunset that was shining over the waters. The friends talked and the talk drew near to the inevitable question, Oh, Madame Goldschmidt, how was it that you ever came to abandon the stage at the very height of your success? When, every day, was the quiet answer, it made me think less of this (laying a finger on the Bible), and nothing at all of that (pointing out to the sunset), what could I do? 1 [Note: W. J. Lacey, Masters of To-morrow, 210.]
(3) A crown of righteousness.It is a crown of righteousness. Though that phrase may mean the wreath that rewards righteousness, it seems more in accordance with the other similar expressions to regard it, too, as the material of which the crown is composed. It is not enough that there should be festal gladness, not enough that there should be calm repose, not enough that there should be flashing glory, not enough that there should be fulness of life. To accord with the intense moral earnestness of the Christian system there must be, emphatically, in the Christian hope, cessation of all sin and investiture with all purity. The word means the same thing as the ancient promise, Thy people shall be all righteous. It means the same thing as the latest promise of the ascended Christ, They shall walk with me in white. And it sets the very climax and culmination on the other hopes, declaring that absolute, stainless, infallible righteousness which one day shall belong to our weak and sinful spirits.
I love Dinah next to my own children. An she makes one feel safer when shes i the house; for shes like the driven snow: anybody might sin for two as had her at their elbow.2 [Note: Mrs. Poyser, in Adam Bede.]
Since the beginning of history thoughtful men have been asking what is mans summum bonum, his highest good, his hearts true ideal. Power, wealth, pleasure, wisdom, culture, are some of the answers. The true answer is God. I have no good beyond Thee, said one who had learned the secret. Lord, give me Thyself, was Augustines constant prayer; and he adds the exquisite reason, Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia,he has all who has Him that has all. Slowly or suddenly we rise from delight in Gods gifts to delight in Himself. Unless, says Hooker, the last good, which is desired for itself, be infinite, we do evil making it our end. No good is infinite but God; therefore He is our felicity and bliss. Every soul has capacities greater than the infinite sea, and only He who filleth heaven and earth, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, can satisfy one little human heart.1 [Note: J. Strachan. Hebrew Ideals, i. 75.]
Mysterious Death! who in a single hour
Lifes gold can so refine;
And by thy art divine
Change mortal weakness to immortal power!
Bending beneath the weight of eighty years,
Spent with the noble strife
Of a victorious life,
We watched her fading heavenward, through our tears.
But, ere the sense of loss our hearts had wrung,
A miracle was wrought,
And swift as happy thought
She lived again, brave, beautiful, and young.
Age, Pain, and Sorrow dropped the veils they wore,
And showed the tender eyes
Of angels in disguise,
Whose discipline so patiently she bore.
The past years brought their harvest rich and fair,
While Memory and Love
Together fondly wove
A golden garland for the silver hair.
How could we mourn like those who are bereft,
When every pang of grief
Found balm for its relief
In counting up the treasure she had left?
Faith that withstood the shocks of toil and time,
Hope that defied despair,
Patience that conquered care,
And loyalty whose courage was sublime;
The great deep heart that was a home for all,
Just, eloquent and strong,
In protest against wrong;
Wide charity that knew no sin, no fall;
The Spartan spirit that made life so grand,
Mating poor daily needs
With high, heroic deeds,
That wrested happiness from Fates hard hand.
We thought to weep, but sing for joy instead,
Full of the grateful peace
That followed her release;
For nothing but the weary dust lies dead.
Oh, noble woman! never more a queen
Than in the laying down
Of sceptre and of crown,
To win a greater kingdom yet unseen,
Teaching us how to seek the highest goal,
To earn the true success;
To live, to love, to bless,
And make death proud to take a royal soul.1 [Note: Louisa May Alcott.]
For the Crown
Literature
Alford (H.), Quebec Chapel Sermons, v. 199.
Beaumont (J. A.), Walking Circumspectly, 144.
Edwards (F.), These Twelve, 338.
Fraser (J.), University Sermons, 204.
Hall (C. R.), Advent to Whitsun-Day, 83.
Hickey (F. P.), Short Sermons, ii. 50.
Hort (F. J. A.), Cambridge Sermons, 109.
Hutchings (W. H.), in Sermons for the People, New Ser., ii. 170.
Little (H. W.), Arrows for the Kings Archers, No. 14.
Maclaren (A.), Christ in the Heart, 205.
Maclaren (A.), Christs Musts, 75.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: 1 and 2 Corinthians, 153.
Paget (E. C.), Silence, 53.
Westcott (B. F.), Lessons from Work, 269.
Williams (T. M.), Sermons of the Age, 173.
Winterbotham (R.), Sermons, 93.
Cambridge Review, i. Supplements Nos. 12, 13 (Mayor).
Christian Age, xl. 66 (Wolf).
Christian World Pulpit, viii. 395 (Landels); xvii. 232 (McCree); lxi. 231 (Stalker); lxxv. 97 (Henson).
Church of England Magazine, xiv. 96 (Horne).
Church of England Pulpit, lxi. 78, 142 (Mackarness).
Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., vii. 85 (Agar Beet), 114 (Alford).
Examiner, Aug. 6, 1903, p. 132 (Jowett).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
striveth: Eph 6:12-18, 1Ti 6:12, 2Ti 2:5, 2Ti 4:7, Heb 12:4
temperate: Gal 5:23, Tit 1:8, Tit 2:2, 2Pe 1:6
but: 1Co 15:54, 2Ti 4:8, Heb 12:28, Jam 1:12, 1Pe 1:4, 1Pe 5:4, Rev 2:10, Rev 3:11, Rev 4:4, Rev 4:10
Reciprocal: Deu 29:6 – neither have 2Sa 11:11 – my lord Pro 24:6 – by Luk 22:29 – General 1Co 9:23 – that 1Co 9:27 – I keep 1Co 16:13 – quit Phi 4:5 – your Col 1:29 – striving 2Ti 2:4 – entangleth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SELF-RESTRAINT
Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
1Co 9:25
Temperate is too weak a word. The Apostle refers to the great and ungrudging self-restraint while under training. So, and more, should the servants of Christ who strive for an unfading crown.
I. A man exercises self-restraint who is under a master.He submits, and must submit, to many inconveniences, many things which are not in a line with his own inclinations. We serve the Lord Christ.
II. A man exercises self-restraint who has work to do.He must, if the work is to be done. It is not play. If a man is to do it honestly and well, he must deny himself ease and pleasure; must sacrifice anything that stands between him and it. If we are Christs followers, we have work to do.
III. A man exercises self-restraint who lives for the future.The scholar, the man who looks forward to an honourable career, the man who bears in mind coming years of weakness, and old age, etc., all exercise self-restraint. We are living for the futurefor heaven, for eternity. Let us cheerfully bear privations, labours, crosses, which the worldling can evade, knowing that these things are not worthy to be compared with the glory which awaits.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Co 9:25. Paul is using the various athletic games of the country for his illustrations. The contestants were temperate, which denotes that they prepared themselves by a strict schedule of diet and exercise. Corruptible crown means the prize to be won in those games was material and subject to decay, while that for which the Christians were contending was “a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1Pe 5:4). For that reason all Christians should make the greater effort to qualify and perform to the utmost of their ability.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 9:25. And every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all thingssystematically practises every sort of self-restraint A strict course of discipline had to be practised, failing which the candidate was said not to strive lawfully, or according to the rules. In that, even though successful, he was not crowned (2Ti 2:5).[1]
[1] Epictefus thus describes the rules:Would you conquer in the Olympic games . . . you must be orderly, live on spare diet, avoid confections, practise gymnastics at the appointed time, in heat and cold, and drink neither cold water nor wine; in a word, you must give yourself up to the training-master, as to a physician, and then enter the lists. (Ench. c. 55.)
Now they do it to receive a corruptible crownmade of the pine, of which there were groves surrounding the Isthmian race-course. Even still, it seems, the same tree grows on the Isthmus of Corinth.[2]
[2] Conybeare and Howson.
but we an incorruptiblea crown of righteousness (2Ti 4:8), a crown of glory that fadeth not away (1Pe 5:4).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
It was a custom amongst those that used at Corinth the fore-mentioned games of running and wrestling, to tie themselves to a strict prescribed diet, both for quality and quantity, by way of preparation. They did not indulge themselves in gluttony, or any sort of excess, but were temperate in all things, that the crown might be won by them; which, alas! was nothing but a garland of leaves or flowers. In imitation of whom, he advised the Corinthians to be very moderate in the use of all worldly things, and to abstain from whatsoever may hinder their running the Christian race, and their receiving the incorruptible crown.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 25. Now, whoever strives for the mastery abstains from everything: they to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
Edwards rightly says: This verse reminds the Corinthians of two things: first, the difficulty of winning, and next, the infinite value of victory. The participle every man striving relates, not to the time when the athlete is already in the lists, but to the time when he enrols himself among those who are to take part in the competition. During the ten months before the day of the games, the competitors lived in sustained exercises and with special self-denial, abstaining from everything that could exhaust or weight the body. For the Christian, whose conflict is a matter, not of a day, but of the whole life, abstinence, the condition of progress in sanctification, is consequently an exercise to be renewed daily.
The abstinence of the athletes did not relate only to criminal enjoyments, but also to gratifications in themselves lawful; so the Christian’s self-denial should bear, not only on guilty pleasures, but on every habit, on every enjoyment which, without being vicious, may involve a loss of time or a diminution of moral force.
Should any complain of this condition of final triumph, Paul reminds them that the athletes make such sacrifices with a view to a passing honour, whereas they have in prospect eternal glory. The pine crown which the judge put on the victor’s head in the Isthmian games, while it was the emblem of glory, was at the same time the emblem of the transitory character of that glory. For the spiritual victor there is reserved an unfading crown!
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. [As Paul denied himself that the gospel might not be hindered, so each athlete, whether he intended to run, wrestle or fight, pursued a course of training and abstinence that was painful, protracted and severe, in order that no fatty tissues or depleted muscles might hinder him in his struggle for victory.] Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. [For this worthless, withering symbol of victory, men made measureless sacrifice. For the incomparably better and fadeless crown of eternal life, how cheerfully Christians should deny and discipline themselves– 1Pe 5:4]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
25. And every one striving is temperate as to all things, they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, and we an incorruptible one. All the contestants in the Olympic and Isthmian races and games spent the preceding four years in the most hygienic living and discipline, necessarily preparatory for the momentous responsibilities awaiting them. Oh, how Christendom needs light and reformation at this point! Millions are failing because they are not temperate in all things, which means total abstinence from everything pernicious, and moderate, judicious use of the edibles, potables, et cetera, which are appropriate. Americans, as a rule, are gormandizers, as well as drunkards in many cases. If you would be ready for translation when the Lord appears, which is really the goal in view, you must subordinate the physical to the spiritual, wearing the world as a loose garment and ready to drop it off at a moments warning. Abstinence and prayer are the two ropes dropped down from Heaven by which we pull up and get our feet on believing ground, for justification, sanctification and glorification when our Lord appears.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 25
For the mastery; for the victory in these games.–Is temperate, &c.; in his preparatory training.–A corruptible crown; transitory and perishable honor.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is {s} temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
(s) Uses a most excellent and moderate diet.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Competes" is a translation of agonidzomai from which we get the English word "agonizes." To receive the prize of our Lord’s "well done" we need to give all our effort. We also need to exercise self-control. Competitors in the Isthmian Games had to train for 10 months. [Note: Morris, p. 139.] An athlete in training denies himself or herself many lawful pleasures to gain an extra edge of superiority. Likewise we may need to limit our liberty for a higher goal as spiritual athletes.
Winners in the Isthmian Games received a wreath of parsley, wild celery, or pine. [Note: Bruce, 1 and 2 Corinthians, p. 89.] In the Olympian Games the prize was a wild olive wreath. [Note: Robertson, 4:149.] However the victorious Christian’s reward is imperishable (cf. 2Ti 4:8), and it lies in the eschaton. [Note: See Wall, pp. 79-89.] How much more important it is to be willing to forgo our rights for the spiritual advancement of others than it is to train for a physical footrace (cf. 2Co 4:17-18)!
|
Believers’ Crowns |
|
Title |
Reason |
Reference |
|
An Imperishable Crown |
For leading a disciplined life |
1Co 9:25 |
|
A Crown of Rejoicing |
For evangelism and discipleship |
1Th 2:19 |
|
A Crown of Righteousness |
For loving the Lord’s appearing |
2Ti 4:8 |
|
A Crown of Life |
For enduring trials |
Jas 1:12; |
|
A Crown of Glory |
For shepherding God’s flock faithfully |
1Pe 5:4 |