1 Corinthians 9:27 Commentary and Bible Study

Now the apostle Paul suddenly switches. Between verse 26 and verse 27 something remarkable happens, and he pivots around his illustration. This is very strange, but very significant. ‘But I keep under my body.’ Now he has suddenly moved away from the boxer illustration and is talking about punching his own body. The words ‘keep under’ mean literally ‘discipline’, ‘treat roughly’. As for me, he says, I punch not my enemy, but my own body. What does he do that for? I bring my body into submission, into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. I strike, I bruise, I knock out my own body, says the apostle. I knock out its rebellion. As for me, I am fighting my old nature; I am fighting my flesh. I am fighting my body and its excessive wants; I am mortifying its sins and its tendencies. My body, the apostle seems to say, love is ease. I won't let it have ease, I am going to work for the Lord. My body loves display. I knock it down, so that I am not driven by a love of display. My body wants indulgence. I discipline it so that it cannot be self-indulgent. It wants satisfaction; it wants sensation. These are the things the body wants. It even sometimes wants uncleanness. It wants flattery; it wants attention; the old nature wants pride. ‘Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway’, translated ‘reprobate’ in 2 Corinthians: unapproved, unacceptable. ‘I keep under my body’ – the discipline of the Christian life, and I make a slave of my body, ‘lest by any means’, the apostle says, ‘even after having preached and founded so many churches, I myself should be, not spiritually lost, but unapproved unacceptable, as a servant of the Lord. He could lose his apostleship. He could lose his great ministry and his task, if he fell into sin by failing to keep on his body. Now let's forget about boxers in a competition, the apostle says; we are fighting our own body. The body must be brought into submission. The old nature, the flesh, it must be brought under self-control. It is given to you by God to serve your mind, your heart, or your soul. That is the part of you that is supposed to be in charge. Picture this: your body is always clamouring for attention, for indulgence, for flattery, for notice. Subdue it; knock it out if you have to. Make it serve you; make it be an obedient servant. That is all it is. Don’t let it be the driver of your life, and get attention and notice and ease for itself. What a picture! And how helpful! ‘I keep under my own body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means’ – it will undo me if it can – ‘when I have preached to others, even as an apostle, I myself should be a castaway.’ The Greek word ‘castaway’ means unapproved. It takes you all the way back to verse 24. ‘Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiver the prize and the others are unapproved, unaccepted; they lost. After preaching to others, I could lose out and be taken away from my ministry and God will use someone else. He doesn't mean he would be castaway from salvation. It is the same Greek word which in 2 Corinthians is three times translated as ‘reprobate’. If I don't submit my body and make it my servant, rather than my ruler. it could be my undoing. It could bring me down into sin, and I will be laid aside from my ministry, and deservedly no longer approved. See the body as something that must be kept under control, so that your spirit, your mind, your heart, and your will, serve the Lord.