Commentary on 1 Corinthians 9:19-27

ST. PAUL RENOUNCED HIS LIBERTY THAT HE MIGHT GAIN ALL FOR THE GOSPEL AND INCREASE HIS OWN MERITS: 

A Summary of 1 Cor 9:19-23

The Apostle has just told us at considerable length how he refused the temporal support to which he was entitled, in order not to impede the spread of the Gospel. But this was only one of the privations he freely chose to undergo. He also gave up his liberty and became ail things to all men, that he might gain all for Christ, and that his own reward might be the greater. How such an example ought to shame those Corinthians who were unwilling to abstain from eating meats that offended their weaker brethren!

1 Cor 9:19. For whereas I was free as to all, I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more.

St. Paul was God’s messenger to men, and as such he was in no wise subject to human beings. He could have lived and acted as he pleased so long as he was in conformity with his mission; but he surrendered his rights to such liberty of life and action and became the servant of all to whom he preached, in order that he might gain a greater number to Christ.

1 Cor 9:20. And I became to the Jews, a Jew, that I might gain the Jews:
 1 Cor 9:21. To them that are under the law, as if I were under the law, (whereas myself was not under the law), that I might gain them that were under the law. To them that were without the law, as if I were without the law, (whereas I was not without the law of God, but was in the law of Christ), that I might gain them that were without the law. 

When he was with the Jews he lived and acted like one of them, observing the Law and its ceremonies (Acts 16:3; 18:18; 21:23-26), although he knew these were unnecessary. All this he did that he might win the Jews more easily to the Gospel. Likewise when among those that were without the law, i.e., with the pagans who had not the Law of Moses, he conducted himself as if he also knew not that Law. And yet he did not, like the Gentiles, observe no law; for he was subject and obedient to the law of Christ which imposes the moral precepts of the Mosaic Law, summed up in the two great Commandments of the love of God and of our neighbor (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14).

1 Cor 9:22. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might save all.

To the weak, etc., i.e., for the sake of those who were weak in faith and easily scandalized (8:7, 9-12; Rom 14). St. Paul refrained from indifferent actions which they might misunderstand and take to be wrong.

I became all things . . . that I might save all. A better reading of this last clause is, “that I may save some” (ινα παντως τινας σωσω). Thus, he acted in such a way as to save all, in order to save some.

The Vulgate ut omnes facerem salvos should be, ut aliquos faciam salvos.

1 Cor 9:23. And I do all things for the gospel’s sake : that I may be made partaker thereof.

The sacrifices and works of supererogation performed by St. Paul were not only for the sake of others, but for his own sake as well. 

For the gospel’s sake, i.e., for the sake of the great rewards promised in the Gospel. The Apostle has labored so generously, in order that he may be made partaker, along with his converts, of the blessings held out in the Gospel.

ST. PAUL MAKES GREAT EFFORTS AND SACRIFICES IN ORDER TO GAIN THE PRIZE OF ETERNAL LIFE 

 A Summary of 1 Cor 9:24-27

The Corinthians must not think that to be Christians is enough to make certain their salvation. The Apostle directs their attention to his own life of severity: he so labors that there may be no doubt of his gaining the eternal prize; he chastises his body that he may save his immortal soul. If they would be saved, the faithful likewise must labor arduously to gain their crowns.

1 Cor 9:24. Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain.

To illustrate the effort necessary to save one’s soul St. Paul reminds the Corinthians of what they were accustomed to witness every three years at the famous Isthmian games on the sea-coast about nine miles from Corinth. Those competitors in the stadium, or race-course, exerted every effort, and yet only one received the prize, which was a garland of leaves of the pine or olive. As the mere entrance into the arena was not sufficient to gain this material prize, so the bare fact of one’s being a member of the Church is not sufficient to win the prize of eternal life. On the contrary, we must, like the racers, so strive for the victory as to overcome and defeat our spiritual adversaries.

The Apostle is insisting on the effort that must be put forth to gain heaven, without wishing to say how many are saved. For all a place is prepared hereafter, but all will not attain to their destined seats in glory.

1 Cor 9:25. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one.

In the days of the Grecian games, as now, athletes who took part in the public contests severely disciplined themselves beforehand for a long period of time, abstaining from every indulgence that might weaken their bodies and lessen their strength; and all this that they might win a corruptible crown of leaves. How much more, then, should we Christians deny ourselves for the glory of never-fading crowns in heaven!

From ancient writers we learn that candidates for the prize at the Isthmian and Olympic games had to abstain from every kind of sensual indulgence for ten months, and to undergo a most rigorous bodily training (cf. Horace, De Arte Poetica, 412; Epictetus, Enchir. 29).

And (Vulg., et) after all things is not represented in the Greek.

1 Cor 9:26. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air:
Calling attention to his own conduct, which the Corinthians should strive to imitate, St. Paul says he directs all his efforts to the goal of eternal life. He so runs as to obtain the prize; he so fights as to overcome his adversaries. The latter figure is an allusion to the pugilistic contests in Greek games.

1 Cor 9:27. But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.
I chastise. The best Greek reading here (υπωπιαζω) means literally, “I beat the face black and blue.” As the pugilist beat the face of his adversary black and blue, so St. Paul practiced such corporal austerities as figuratively to make his body black and blue.

And bring it into subjection, i.e., conquer its evil propensities and bring it, as it were, into bondage. The conqueror in some Greek contests was permitted to lead his adversary around the arena and exhibit him to the spectators as a captive and slave.

When I have preached. Literally, “Having announced” (κηρυξας) . The allusion is again to the games in which’ a herald made the announcements of the combatants, proclaimed the conditions, and excluded any who were unworthy. St. Paul was not only a herald but a competitor in the struggle for eternal life, and he feared that while he had announced the conditions for victory to others, he himself might fail to observe them and thus lose his own prize.