Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

What people do to win prizes

Here Paul’s primary point has to do with how one runs the race.

Transition:

Context:

The athletic metaphor was widespread among philosophers in the ancient world and would have been especially relevant to Paul’s audience since Corinth hosted the biennial Isthmian games, which was second only to the famed Olympic games.

Here Paul employs both the image of the runner and the boxer.

Paul found athletic metaphors useful on a number of occasions in his letters.115

We should exercise caution, however, in overinterpreting any given metaphor by seeking to apply every detail of the analogy to the Christian life.

In this present example it would be absurd to suggest that only one believer receives the prize out of all those who enter the race.

Here Paul’s primary point has to do with how one runs the race.

In Paul’s example only one receives the prize, but obviously he is urging all believers to run like the well-trained athlete who exercises self-control in all things in order to achieve a greater goal.

The analogy also effectively accentuates the contrast between the victor’s wreath, which is of only temporal value, and the believer’s crown of permanent worth.

In context, the overall argument has to do with putting others before self in order to maximize one’s effectiveness for the gospel, which requires rigorous self-discipline.

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The sacrifices that athletes in training make call to mind as well that Paul’s “evangelistic principle” should permeate all of our lives and order all of our priorities.

From time to time we verbally share our faith and explain our moral commitments, but all of life involves modeling for a fallen world the balance of freedom and restraint that Paul articulates here.

Whether at work or at play, at church or in the world, we are never “off-duty” with respect to the tasks of exhibiting the values of a balanced Christian life or of identifying with our culture for the sake of redeeming it.

This is the first use of the term “gospel” in chap.

9, which occurs nine times in its noun or verb form in 9:12b–23, thus establishing these verses as a unit.

The parallel statements of 9:12 and 9:23 regarding enduring/doing all things for the gospel succinctly capture the main theme of 8:1–11:1.

This is the first use of the term “gospel” in chap.

9, which occurs nine times in its noun or verb form in 9:12b–23, thus establishing these verses as a unit.

The parallel statements of 9:12 and 9:23 regarding enduring/doing all things for the gospel succinctly capture the main theme of 8:1–11:1.

On the one hand, the gospel brings glorious freedom in Christ for all believers, but on the other hand, the very nature of the gospel is radically others-centered and thereby restricts freedom and the use of so-called rights in relation to other believers.

The key question for all Christian decision making is what brings glory to God and esteems the gospel in a manner that seeks to win as many as possible to Christ.

PRIZE

The great appeal of Jesus was rarely based on penalty and punishment.

It was based on the declaration: ‘Look what you are missing if you do not take my way.’

The goal is life, and surely it is worth anything to win that.

(1) Life is a battle.

As the American philosopher William James put it, ‘If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is not better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will.

But it feels like a fight—as if there were something really wild in the universe which we, with all our idealities and faithfulnesses, are needed to redeem.

But if we look a little closer, we’ll find that’s not the case.

Verse 23 literally reads, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I might share with them in it.”

Not in its blessings, but in the gospel itself, in its nature.

But what does that mean?

What is the nature of the gospel?

The gospel foundationally is about a witness who came to us by becoming one of us—an insider who felt our deepest hopes and aspirations, who learned the questions we were asking and the things that troubled us.

It’s about a witness who immersed himself deeply in our fallen world, speaking and giving, living and loving in ways we could understand—sharing everything with us, but even more, giving his life away for us and our sin, becoming weak, losing it all—because he had a goal that kept him going.

That goal was you.

It was me.

Obviously this points to something of enduring value, but what the crown is, in this context, Paul does not say.

On two occasions Paul applies the crown image to other believers (Phil 4:1; 1 Thess 2:19), and once he refers to a crown of righteousness that the Lord awards to all who long for his appearing (2 Tim 4:8).

Other New Testament passages refer to a crown of life and a crown of glory (Jas 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 2:10).

The only other place that Paul refers to the “prize” is Phil 3:14, which Paul specifies as the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

He does not want any of the members of his church to fail to get their spiritual and incorruptible crowns.

Because this is an analogy, we must not press the correspondence too far.

Paul scarcely imagines that there will be only one faithful Christian on Judgment Day!

But he is aware that some who begin the race of fulfilling their commission may not complete it and thereby be disqualified (v.

27).

So too he likens his struggle to a boxer who dare not shadow box or miss too many punches if he intends to knock out his opponent (v.

26b).

Corinth itself hosted major games for all Greece every two years on the isthmus; these were the best-attended Greek festivals next to the Olympic games, which were held every four years.

The pine garland was awarded at these Isthmian games (wild olive at the Olympic, parsley at the Nemean, etc.).

The clause “but only one receives the prize” (a wreath for the head, which would eventually rot) emphasizes how hard one had to work to win the race.

(A long period of intense discipline was mandatory for any who planned to participate in the events.

For instance, participants for the Olympic games had to swear by Zeus to follow ten months of strict training beforehand.)

The source of such selflessness is the transforming power of love for Christ, who gave up so much to become a servant for our sake (Mark 10:45; Phil.

2:7; 2 Cor.

8:9).

When we are gripped by such love, a focus on personal comfort gives way to a focus on advancing the gospel and the blessings it brings.

As the athletic images in 1 Corinthians 9:24–26 remind us, passion for Christ fuels sustained, intense effort.

The grace we have already received gives us strength and motive to complete our “race,” where the final victory of resurrection life in Christ awaits us (v.

25; cf.

15:50–57).

9:18.

Did he then not have any reward?

Yes; two, in fact.

First, he had his boast (v.

15) that he offered the gospel free of charge, and no one could deny that (cf. 2 Cor.

11:9–10).

Second, he had the opportunity to see the gospel at work among those to whom he preached (1 Cor.

9:19, 23), and these results, the believers themselves, were his reward (cf. 2 Cor.

7:3–4).

The word translated “reward” (misthos) may also refer to a wage.

Paul had shunned material recompense, but he was not without a reward or return for his labor.

He had the joy of reaping.

To widen that harvest he would gladly give up certain rights, among them the right to material support, in order to enjoy both the integrity of his boast about his ministry and the results of his ministry (cf.

John 4:36).

Athletes who competed in the games in Olympia had to swear an oath confirming that they had abstained from wine, meat, and sexual intercourse in the previous ten months.

Runners focus on winning the prize, which in the games in Olympia and in Isthmia was a crown, a wreath made of foliage (in the games in Isthmia, controlled by the city of Corinth, the wreath was made of celery).

See 2 Tim 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 2:10.

The goal of winning determines an athlete’s lifestyle.

9:25 crown that will last forever.

Eternal life in an imperishable new body (15:42, 50, 53–54).

Christians must avoid anything that could jeopardize reaching the goal.

Self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:23).

Every one of them should run as these runners do, with all-out effort to get the prize.

By the words “strict training,” Paul refers to the athlete’s self-control in diet and his rigorous bodily discipline.

He observes that the athletes train vigorously for a “corruptible crown”—a laurel or celery wreath that would soon wither away.

But the Christian’s crown, eternal life and fellowship with God, will last forever (Rev 2:10).

For “proving/testing” language in Paul, see also 2 Cor 13:3–5.

In terms of the language and the notion of human striving in 1 Cor 9:24–27, compare the striking parallels in Phil 3:7–21; Paul speaks of counting all things as loss and “gaining” Christ, pressing on for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ (3:14).

Yet Paul clearly does not have in mind a works righteousness or human striving as a means of securing an eternal inheritance.

Righteousness comes by faith (Phil 3:9).

In Phil 3:17, as in 1 Cor 11:1, Paul urges others to follow his example.

See also 2 Tim 2:5; 4:6–8.

“The clearest example of what Paul means by becoming ‘as a Jew’ and as ‘one under the law’ is his description of the thirty-nine lashes he suffered at the hands of the Jews (2 Cor.

11:24).…

He bowed to synagogue discipline to maintain his Jewish connections (Harvey 1985: 93).…

Paul accepted these penalties to keep open the option of preaching the gospel message in the synagogue.

For Paul to submit to this punishment five times testifies not only to his mettle but also to his extraordinary sense of obligation to his people” (David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003], p. 430).

2. Call

What do you have to do?

It is a compulsion it has to be done

he was under compulsion.