Know you not that they who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 9:24 Go To 1 Corinthians 9
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? For this I preach the Gospel without charge, for this I am made all things to all men; for this I labour, that I may obtain that best prize of all, given to those who run in this race.
As it is in a race, so is it in the Christian course: it is not all that run that receive the prize, but those only that run well and duly reach the appointed goal. I say duly, or according to the laws of the course which Christ the Judge has laid down for those that run, and according to which he has promised the prize to those that tun well. When, therefore, one is mentioned, more are not excluded, for the Apostle does not mean to say, as Chrysostom well remarks, that only one Christian surpasses the rest, and is more zealous of good works, and will receive the prize; for a similitude does not hold good in all points, but only in that one which is expressed. The comparison here is that, as in a race he who runs well receives the prize, so in Christianity he who runs well will receive a crown of glory. And this is evident from what is added, "So run that ye may obtain," i.e, not one, but each one. Moreover, in a race it is often not only the first, not the second, third, or fourth who also receives a prize.
Still the Apostle says one, not three or four, because he is chiefly looking at that glory and superexcellent reward given, not to all the elect, but to those few heroic souls that follow, not only the precepts, but also the counsels of Christ. For he is looking to the prize which he is expecting for himself, in having been the only Apostle to preach the Gospel without charge, in having surpassed all the other Apostles in the greatness of his labour and his charity, in having become all things to all men. He says in effect: O Christians, do not merely run duly, that ye may obtain, but run most well and most swiftly, that you may carry off the first and most splendid prize of glory. It is a sluggish soul that says, "It is enough for me to be saved and reach heaven." for each one, says Chrysostom, ought to strive to be first in heaven, and receive the first prize there.
Some understand this passage to refer to the mansions or crowns and prizes prepared for each of the elect, and would read it, "Let each so run that he may obtain his prize." But this explanation is more acute than simple.
Anselm again takes it a little differently. Heathens, heretics, reprobates, he says, run, but the one people of elect Christians receives the prize. But the apostle is speaking to Christians only as running, and he urges them to so run that they may obtain the prize to which they are called by the Gospel of Christ.
So run that ye may obtain. I.e, obtain the crown of glory and the prize of victory. The allusion is to those that ran in the public games for a crown as the prize, with which they were crowned when victorious. Cf. notes to Rev. iii2. The word so denotes the rectitude, the diligence, the swiftness, and the perseverance especially required on order to win the prize. The course of Christ was marked by these qualities, that course which all ought to put before themselves for imitation. S. Bernard ( Ephesians 254) says: "The Creator Himself of man and of the world, did Hebrews , while he dwelt here below with men, stand still? Nay, as the Scripture testifies, "He want about doing good and healing all." He went through the world not unfruitfully, carelessly, lazily, or with laggers step, but so as it was written of Him, "He rejoiced as a giant to run his course." No one catches the runner but he that runs equally fast; and what avails it to stretch out after Christ if you do not lay hold of Him? Therefore is it that Paul said, "So run that ye may obtain." There, O Christian, set the goal of your course and your journeying where Christ placed His. "He was made obedient unto death," However long then you may have run, you will not obtain the prize if you do not persevere even unto death. The prize is Christ." He then goes on to point out that in the race of virtue not to run, to stand still, is to fail and go back, "But if while He runs you stand still, you come no nearer to Christ, nay, you recede from Him, and should fear for yourself what David said, "Lo, they that are far from Thee shall perish." Therefore, if to go forward is to run, when you cease to go forward you cease to run: when you are not running you begin to go back. Hence we may plainly see that not to wish to go forward is nothing but to go back. Jacob saw a ladder, and on the ladder angels, where none was sitting down, none standing still; but all seemed to be either ascending or descending, that w might be plainly given to understand that in this mortal course no mean is to be found between going forward and going back, but that in the same way as our bodies are known to be continuously either increasing or decreasing, so must our spirit be always either going forward or going back."
