Know ye not that they who run in [the] race-course run all, but one receives the prize? Thus run in order that ye may obtain.
Paul points his readers to something they saw every day: runners in a race. Two questions follow. What is a Christian running for? And does the picture mean only one person can win?
The picture Paul chose
The picture was familiar to people who lived beside famous games.
The figure from these games would be most striking to the Corinthians, who were used to the games held at the Isthmus. Indeed the point is plain to anyone. Even in the games the competitors had to be temperate in all things, though their crown was a fading one and ours lasts forever.
Where the comparison stops
In a stadium, only one runner takes the prize. That is where the picture stops.
Again, in a human race only one can win, only one receives the prize. In the heavenly race every runner, every one who strives, wins. Yes, sovereign grace says he shall surely win. Let us therefore so run that we may obtain. The word of God, the Cross, the Resurrection, the Coming, the promised Glory, are all pledges of our winning. But the runner who is most sure in his heart of winning is the one most aware of almighty and sovereign grace.
Not a race for life
If the prize were salvation itself, a Christian would live in constant suspense.
Here it is not a question of life or salvation, but simply of "running in a race," and "so running that we obtain" — not life, but "an incorruptible crown." The call to run assumes you already have life. No one would tell dead men to run a race... He does not give us life as sinners and then set us to run for it as saints. He does not leave us with the gloomy fear that we may lose the precious gift by failing in the race. That would be to "run uncertainly," as many are sadly trying to do. They claim to have entered the course, yet they do not know whether they have life or not.
What the prize is
One writer names the prize Paul was reaching for.
The course run by a Christian is compared to races in which "one receives the prize," with the exhortation, "So run that you may obtain it." 1 Cor. 9:24-27. The prize Paul was stretching forward to win was that of being with and like the Lord in the glory. Phil. 3:14.
The crown at the end answers to how the course was run, not just to entering it.
The crown the Apostle speaks of is not given for being a Christian, but for a faithful walk... It ought to be a solemn thought to our hearts: the Lord means to notice how people have stood as witnesses for Him, and what their walk was like. All will be in glory on the ground of free grace. But Christ watches to see if we run well, and He will give a reward if there has been faithfulness.
Safe, and still tested
God's purpose is settled. The road still tests us.
There are no "ifs" in the purpose of God, and no "ifs" in the accomplishment of His salvation. But there are "ifs" in the way He leads us, humbling us and testing us... There is no "if" as to my being in Christ: I know I am in Christ... but the moment He takes me as an actual living man down here, He says, "So run that you may obtain it."
How the running is done
The runner does not supply his own footing or his own strength.
The race, then, is the race of Christian life, and the contest is that of pleasing the Lord. Christ is its starting point, and Christ is also its goal. The race must be run with patience, by a faith that looks away from everything else and fixes its gaze on Him alone. Men did not compete at the Greek games with nooses round their necks. In the same way, the Christian is not called to save himself by his own effort from the wrath to come. As a sinner, he has already fled for refuge to the hope set before him... It is in his Saviour's name that he appears as a competitor, and by his Saviour's strength alone that he can hope to win.
Summary
- Start — God gives life at the starting post, not at the goal; the call to run assumes you are already alive.
- Stakes — The crown is at risk, not the life. The crown answers to a faithful walk, while glory itself rests on free grace.
- Scope — In the stadium one wins and the rest lose; here every runner who strives wins.
- Strain — There is no "if" over God's purpose, but there are "ifs" along the road, where He humbles and tests us.
- Sight — The prize is being with and like the Lord in glory. The way there is a faith that looks away from everything else and runs in His strength.