Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Corinthians 9

I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?

No matter if twenty or a hundred had entered for the race, but one receiveth the prize. Alas! Out of these who appear to be running in the Christian ministry, how many will be prizetakers at the last? And out of those who seem to be running the race of the Christian life, how many will win the prize? Ah, Lord, you know!

So run, that ye may obtain.

Do not speculate about what others will do, or not do, but see to your own running: So run that ye may obtain. Salvation is all of grace; but when a man is saved, he still has to run the Christian race and to be a runner as long as he lives.

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

The athletes who competed in the Grecian games passed through great self-denials and mortifications of the flesh, in order that every part of their bodily frame might be tough and strong when they came forward to wrestle, or to run, or to fight. "Now," says Paul, "if they do all that to gain a crown of parsley," — which was generally the crown given, — truly, a corruptible crown, — "how much more should we do in order to win a crown that does not fade away, — an incorruptible crown!"

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Here Paul is alluding to the athletic games and pugilistic encounters of the time. It was well known that every man who was going to fight, or wrestle, or run, had to get himself into proper condition—to "go into training," as we say in similar cases nowadays.

He would not leave a stone unturned, as it were, so that he might gain the prize; he put out all his strength in the name of the Lord.