ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 9 v24 - 27

OVERVIEW:

The Christian life resembles a race. Lacking effort, there is no crown for the athlete (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, TERTULLIAN, CYPRIAN, PSEUDO-CLEMENT, AMBROSE). It is not enough to pretend to believe and then sit back passively (CHRYSOSTOM). Enabled by grace, the active fight against the powers of evil occurs with deeds, not words (AMBROSIASTER). Let the soul command the body (JEROME) through fasting (AMBROSIASTER), so the lusts of the belly may be put in subjection (CHRYSOSTOM). We pray for grace in this difficult contest (CASSIODORUS).

9:24 | Obtaining the Prize

NOT ALL ARE CROWNED. PSEUDO-CLEMENT: So then, my brothers, let us strive, knowing that the contest is close at hand and that many make voyages for corruptible contests, but not all are crowned—only those who have labored much and striven well. 2 CLEMENT 7.

THE HARSH REGIMEN OF THE ATHLETE. TERTULLIAN: Your master, Jesus Christ, has anointed you with his Spirit and has brought you to this training ground. He determined long before the day of the contest to take you from a softer way of life to a harsher regimen, that your strength may increase. Athletes are set apart for more rigid training to apply themselves to the building up of their physical strength. They are kept from lavish living, from more tempting dishes, from more pleasurable drinks. They are urged on, they are subjected to tortuous toils, they are worn out. The more strenuously they have exerted themselves, the greater is their hope of victory. TO THE MARTYRS 3.3.

GREATNESS OF SOUL. GREGORY OF NYSSA: As far as you extend your efforts in behalf of piety, so far will the greatness of your soul extend through efforts and toils toward what the Lord urges us. ON THE CHRISTIAN MODE OF LIFE.

THE DILIGENCE REQUIRED TO WIN. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul says this not because he thinks that only one person will be saved but because he wants to point out how much diligence is required in order to succeed. It is not enough merely to believe and then contend in any which way. Unless we have run our race in such a way as to be blameless and to come near to the prize, it will not benefit us. Even if you think you are perfect in your knowledge you have still not obtained everything, so you must continue to run in order to obtain the prize. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 23.1.

THE SACRED CONTEST. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: The initiate is summoned to the sacred contests, which, with Christ as his trainer, he must undertake. For it is Christ who, as God, arranges the match, as sage lays down the rules, as beauty is a worthy prize for the victors, and more divinely as goodness is present with the athletes, defending their freedom and guaranteeing their victory over the forces of death and destruction. And so the initiate will quite gladly hurl himself into what he knows to be divine contests, and he will follow and scrupulously observe the wise rules of the game. … He will follow the divine tracks established by the goodness of the first of athletes. THE ECCLESIASTICAL HIERARCHY 3.6.

WILLING AND RUNNING BY GRACE. AUGUSTINE: It is not from the one who wills nor from the one that runs but from God who has mercy that we obtain what we hope for and reach what we desire. Esau was unwilling and did not run. Had he been willing and had he run, he would have obtained the help of God who by calling him would have given him the power both to will and to run. TO SIMPLICIAN 10.

9:25 | An Imperishable Wreath

ATHLETES OF SELF-CONTROL. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: No effort, no crown! Today there are people who place the widow above the virgin in terms of self-control, because the widow has rejected a pleasure which she once enjoyed. STROMATEIS 3.101.4-5.

THE COMBAT. CYPRIAN: This combat was foretold by the prophets, engaged in by the Lord and carried on by the apostles. LETTER 10.4.

THE ATHLETE. AMBROSE: You are an athlete. Come to grips with your opponent, not with your head but with your arms. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 6.

THE RULES. BASIL: No one is crowned except he strive lawfully. GIVE HEED TO THYSELF.

REFRESHED BY HOPE. AUGUSTINE: When we enter upon the way of the Lord, let us fast from the vanity of this present life and refresh ourselves with the hope of the future life, not focusing our heart on things here but feasting it on things above. SERMON 263.

9:26 | Not Beating the Air

FIGHTING EFFECTIVELY. AMBROSIASTER: Paul means that he fights not merely with his words but with his deeds. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

INTO THE ARENA. AMBROSE: Like an athlete he comes last into the arena. He lifts his eyes to heaven. … He sees that his whole task awaits him. … He chastises his body so that it will not defeat him in the contest. He anoints it with the oil of mercy. He practices daily exhibitions of virtue. He smears himself with dust. He runs with assurance to the goal of the course. He aims his blows, he darts his arms, but not at empty spaces. … Earth is man’s training ground, heaven his crown. LETTER 49.

PARRYING BLOWS. AMBROSE: Like a good athlete, Paul knew how to parry the blows of the opposing powers and even to strike them as they advanced to the attack. PARADISE 12.56.

THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT. JEROME: So run in this world as to obtain in the next. AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 1.

THE POWERS OF THE AIR. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The “air” here refers to the powers of evil. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

9:27 | Not Being Disqualified

LET THE SOUL COMMAND THE BODY. JEROME: Let our soul be in command and our body in subjection. Then Christ will come immediately and make his dwelling with us. HOMILY 9.

POMMEL THE BODY. AMBROSIASTER: To pommel the body is to fast and to avoid any kind of luxury. Paul shows that he disciplines his own body so that he will not miss out on the reward about which he preaches to others. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

BEHAVIORAL CHANGE REQUIRED. CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul is implying that the Corinthians are subject to the lusts of the belly and abandon themselves to it, fulfilling their own greediness under a pretense of perfection. If Paul, who had taught so many, was afraid of being rejected at the end, what can we say? Mere belief is not enough; we must behave in a way which is blameless if we hope to inherit salvation. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 23.2.

PAUL’S NEED FOR SELF-DISCIPLINE. CHRYSOSTOM: If Paul—a man of such caliber and stature, who traversed the whole world like a winged creation, who proved superior to bodily necessities and was privileged to hear those secret words that no one else to this day has heard—if he wrote these words, “I punish my body and bring it into subjection lest while preaching to others I myself become disqualified,” if then that man, the object of so great favor, despite such conspicuous prowess felt the need to pommel his body, bring it into subjection, submit it to the authority of the soul and place its impulses under the virtue of the soul … what then would we say, deprived as we are of these virtues and with nothing to show in addition to this beyond deep indifference? After all, this war admits of no truce, does it? It has no set time for the assault, does it? HOMILIES ON GENESIS; 22.22.

DISTINGUISHING THE JUSTIFIED SELF FROM THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF FREE ACTS. AUGUSTINE: Paul chastises what is of him and not what is himself. For what is of him is one thing, what is himself is another. He chastises what is of him so that he, being just, may bring about the death of bodily wantonness. AGAINST JULIAN 24.

THE UNEVEN CONTEST. CASSIODORUS: Free us, Lover of men, from the danger which Paul mentions, that while preaching to others I may myself be found false. You truly know how weak we are. You recognize the nature of the foe who oppresses us. In our uneven contest and our mortal weakness we seek you, for the glory redounds to your majesty if the roaring lion is overcome by the feeble sheep. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS, PRAYER.