Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Corinthians 9:26

"I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:" — 1 Corinthians 9:26 (ASV)

I therefore so run. In the Christian race; in my effort to obtain the prize, the crown of immortality. I exert myself to the utmost, so that I may not fail to secure the crown.

Not as uncertainly; ouk adhlwv. This word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It usually means, in classical writers, obscurely. Here it means that he did not run as if not knowing what object he aimed for. "I do not run at haphazard; I do not exert myself in vain; I know at what I aim, and I keep my eye fixed on the object; I have the goal and the crown in view."

Probably the apostle also intended to convey this idea: "I so live and act that I am sure of obtaining the crown. I make it a great and grand point of my life to live so that there may be no room for doubt or hesitancy about this matter. I believe it may be obtained; and that by a proper course, there may be a constant certainty of securing it; and I so LIVE." Oh, how happy and blessed it would be if all Christians lived this way!

How much doubt, and hesitancy, and despondency would it remove from many a Christian's mind! And yet it is morally certain that if every Christian were only as anxious and careful as the ancient Grecian wrestlers and racers in the games, they would have the undoubted assurance of gaining the prize.

Doddridge and Macknight, however, render this, "as not out of view;" or "as not distinguished;" meaning that the apostle was not unseen, but that he regarded himself as constantly in the view of the judge, the Lord Jesus Christ. I prefer the other interpretation, however, as best according with the connection and with the proper meaning of the word.

So fight I. outw pukteuw. This word is applied to the boxers, or pugilists, in the Grecian games. The exercise of boxing, or fighting with the fist, was a part of the entertainment with which the enlightened nations of Greece delighted to amuse themselves.

Not as one that beateth the air. This phrase is taken from the habits of the pugilists or boxers, who were accustomed, before entering the lists, to exercise their limbs with the gauntlet to acquire greater skill and dexterity. There was also, before the real contest commenced, a play with their fists and weapons by way of show or bravado, which was called skiamachia, a mock battle or a fighting the air.

The phrase is also applicable to missing the aim, when a blow was struck in a real struggle and the adversary eluded the blow, so that it was spent in the empty air. This last is the idea Paul means to present. He did not miss his aim; he did not exert himself and spend his strength in vain.

Every blow that he struck told; and he did not waste his energies on that which would produce no result. He did not strive with rash, ill-advised, or uncertain blows; but all his efforts were directed, to good effect, toward the grand purpose of subjugating his enemy—sin and the corrupt desires of the flesh—and bringing everything into captivity to God.

Much may be learned from this. Many an effort of Christians is merely beating the air. Energy is expended in vain. There is a want of wisdom, skill, or perseverance; there is a failure of plan; or there is a mistake regarding what is to be done and what should be done.

Often among Christians, there is very little aim or object; there is no plan; and efforts are wasted, scattered, inefficient; so that, at the close of life, many a man may say that he has spent his ministry or his Christian course mainly, or entirely, in beating the air.

Besides, many a person sets up a man of straw and fights that. He fancies error and heresy in others and opposes them. He becomes a heresy-hunter; or he opposes some irregularity in religion that, if left alone, would die of itself; or he fixes all his attention on some minor evil and devotes his life to destroying that alone.

When death comes, he may have never struck a blow at one of the real and dangerous enemies of the gospel; and the simple record on the tombstone of many a minister and many a private Christian might be, "Here lies one who spent his life in beating the air."