Scripture Daily

Context No. 166 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

Context · Reflection

1 Corinthians 9:19-27: in context

19For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; 21to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. 22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. 24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win. 25Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 26I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, 27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

Paul is defending his conduct to a divided church in Corinth. He has just argued that he has every right to be paid for his work and has refused to use it. This passage explains the principle behind that refusal.

Though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all. To the Jews I became as a Jew, to those under the law as under the law, to those outside the law as outside the law, though he adds a careful parenthesis, not being without God's law but under Christ's. To the weak I became weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I might save some. The flexibility is total in manner and fixed at the core, which is why he inserts the parenthesis at all.

Then he changes images to the Isthmian Games, held near Corinth, which his readers knew firsthand. Runners all run, one gets the prize. Athletes exercise self-control in everything, for a perishable wreath, and we for an imperishable one. He is not shadow-boxing, he says. He disciplines his body and brings it under control, lest after preaching to others he himself should be disqualified. The man arguing for endless adaptability ends by naming the one thing he refuses to let go slack. What am I flexible about, and is there anything left that I am not?

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