But I roughly treat my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
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.
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.
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.
Et ideo Paulus quoque: "Corpus meum "inquit, "castigo, et in servitutem redigo; quoniam qui certat, omnia continet "hoc est, in omnibus continet, non ab omnibus abstinens, sed continenter utens iis, quae utenda judicavit, "illi quid era ut corruptibilem coronam accipiant; nos autem ut incorruptibilem"
He in whomsoever the Spirit of God is, is in accord with the will of the Spirit of God; and, because he is in accord with the Spirit of God, therefore does he mortify, the deeds of the body and live unto God, "treading down and subjugating the body and keeping it under; so that, while preaching to others "he may be a beautiful example and pattern to believers, and may spend his life in works which are worthy of the Holy Spirit, so that tie may "not be cast away"
But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. I keep under means, says S. Ambrose, "I repress it by fastings;" "I wound it with stripes," says S. Basil (de Virginitate); "I starve it," says Origen. S. Augustine (de Utilit. Jejun.) says: "The devil often takes it upon him to protect the flesh against the soul, and to say, "Why do you thus fast?—you are laying up punishment in store for yourself, you are your own torturer and murderer." Answer him, "I keep it under, lest this beast of burden throw me headlong."" For our flesh is the devil"s instrument; it Isaiah , says S. Bernard, "the snare of the devil" (Serm8 in Ps. xci.). Erasmus, following Theophylact and Paulinus ( Ephesians 58 ad. Aug.), renders the Greek verb, "I make it black and blue," or "I make the eyes of a black and bloody colour." This last Isaiah , as Hesychius and Suidas say, the literal rendering of the word. But all others in general take the word to mean subdue, coerce, bruise. Castigate in the Latin, or "kee...
I chastise Here St. Paul shows the necessity of self-denial and mortification to subdue the flesh, and its inordinate desires. (Challoner)
Not even the labours of an apostle are exemptions from voluntary mortification and penance. _
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;
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.
Here he implies that they are subject to the lust of the belly and give up the reins to it, and under a pretence of perfection fulfil their own greediness; a thought which before also he was travailing to express, when he said, meats for the belly, and the belly for meats. 1 Corinthians 6:13 For since both fornication is caused by luxury, and it also brought forth idolatry, he naturally oftentimes inveighs against this disease; and pointing out how great things he suffered for the Gospel, he sets this also down among them. As I went, says he, beyond the commands, and this when it was no light matter for me: (for we endure all things, it is said,) so also here I submit to much labor in order to live soberly. Stubborn as appetite is and the tyranny of the belly, nevertheless I bridle it and give not myself up to the passion, but endure all labor not to be drawn aside by it.
For do not, I pray you, suppose that by taking things easily I arrive at this desirable result. For it is a race...
