1 Corinthians 9:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 9:24

Comments

This is about the focused athlete and his attitude to the race set before him. You run the Christian race as if you alone can win. In other words, take responsibility for your own service, as if you have to win this race. This is a rare text which in effect says, just for the moment forget about your fellow believers; focus on yourself. Are you running to win? Are you putting everything into your Christian life and service? The Christian is not running a race against fellow believers; the Christian life is not a competition in that sense. The opposite is the case. We are to love one another and help one another, and do all we can to assist each other. By encouraging and exhorting each other in the race we show our desire for every other believer to complete the race as well as they can with help from the Lord. The individual member works for the good of the whole body, and to the extent that the whole body prospers, the individual member prospers also. So the race is nothing to do with beating other believers. That spirit would be very damaging to the church. It is not about obtaining a higher degree of righteousness than others; that comparative righteousness is a species of self-righteousness which is fatal to justification by faith. Salvation is by grace alone through faith, and therefore we are delivered from any incentive to compete with each other in that sense.

Application

So who are we running against? We are running against all those influences which are liable to slow us down, or take our minds off the finishing line. Why is a race a suitable metaphor? Because the Christian is like an athlete, straining to keep his mind on the goal. He strains forward and constantly pushes himself to the limit. There is a constant temptation to ease off, to rest on our laurels, to give some leeway to the flesh. Our battle with sin requires the same degree of dedication and commitment as an athlete, who does not listen to the complaints of his body, but sets his goal above any discomforts he or she may feel. It requires the same self-control and self-discipline. Sin is trying to beat us; temptation is trying to disqualify us. The fact that no believer can lose their salvation does not make this contest any less real. Satan has not abandoned his cynical belief that all Christians are serving Christ only for selfish reasons, and he is still trying to prove it.

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1 Corinthians 9:24 Commentary and Bible Study