ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 9 v27

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.