1 Corinthians 9:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What does “from everything” mean? It does not mean that one abstains from one thing while sinning in another. He abstains from gluttony, sensual pleasure, drunkenness, and all the passions generally. This happens, he says, even in external contests. During the struggle, contestants may neither get drunk nor commit adultery, lest they weaken their strength. Nor may they occupy themselves with anything else. Abstaining completely from everything, they attend only to their exercises. If this happens where the crown is given to one, much more should it happen here, where generosity is greater. Here not only one is crowned, and the rewards themselves are far greater than the labors.

Hinting that they had many deficiencies, for gluttony, fornication, and drunkenness existed among them, he says: all athletes abstain from everything. They abstain not from this or that only, but from everything. Therefore acknowledge that you are still far from perfect, and learn that receiving the reward depends on self-control. This is already a rebuke. They practice self-control to receive a corruptible crown. Shall we not do this even for an incorruptible crown?

As we enter the path of the Lord, let us restrain ourselves from the vanity of this age and encourage ourselves with the hope of the life to come. Let us not incline our heart to earthly things, but direct it toward the things above.

And each of those competing there in the race abstains from everything harmful, in order to receive a corruptible and passing crown. How much more ought we, as our contest grows and widens, to guard ourselves from every evil deed, since we contend for an incorruptible and imperishable crown. Beloved, listen: during the contest the wrestler presses his lips together. You also close your lips to everything excessive, and you will have hope. Self-control weakens the flesh, while overeating coarsens the mind.

Indeed, our victory and the crown of victory are prepared by His guardianship and protection. We now run in order to be strengthened in the future, where the crown will be received by the one who comes forth victorious in future generations. Therefore be pure. Do not sin, lest anything become worse for you.

“Everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things.” Look, then, at the labors of bodily athletes. They do not eat everything they might desire, but only the food offered by the trainer for the contests. Therefore, after pointing to the labor, the apostle points to the difference between the crowns: “They indeed do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.” The apostle also presents himself as an example.

Victors in wrestling do not receive the crown without effort. Some already place the self-control of a widow above the self-control of a virgin, because the widow has despised a pleasure she had experienced.

You are Christians and must live by the true faith. Eradicate and destroy in yourselves all defects of soul and body, so that God may be glorified in you. Clothe yourselves in patience and meekness. Arm yourselves with every virtue, and especially with hope in Jesus Christ. Endure all things patiently for your Creator. Overcome everything, that you may gain the Lord Jesus Christ. All this is difficult, but everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things, in order to receive an incorruptible crown.

“The one who competes exercises self-control in all things.” Wrestlers and competitors in racecourses and public games, while preparing for a contest, customarily abstained from excessive food and drink, and even from necessary food and drink, to make victory easier to obtain.

"This I do for the Gospel, that I may be a partaker of it." St. Chrysostom says: "Paul was not acting hypocritically when he became all things to all men. If he had acted hypocritically, he would not have sought the benefit of those being saved. But as a physician, a teacher, and a father condescend, the first to the sick man, the second to the pupil, and the third to the son, for their benefit and not their harm, so also did Paul." He never made his own tastes, his own will, his own habits, or his own views into law. Application to the Corinthians of what has been set forth (1 Cor 9:24-27).

Applying what has been said above to the Corinthians, the Apostle teaches them to keep firmly in mind the final goal toward which they must strive. Participants in various contests, for which Corinth was so famous, subject themselves to abstinence for the sake of lightness in running toward their goal. So also Christians, hastening to receive the crown of righteousness in eternal life, must be temperate. Such was the Apostle Paul. He urged others to pass through the Christian arena of life swiftly and more readily, and he himself ran in it with hope of success only through abstinence in general and, in particular, through the subjection of the body to the spirit.

"Consider the labors of those who contend bodily. They do not eat everything they might desire, but use the food offered by the trainer of the contests" (Theodoret). "What does 'from all things' mean? It means that he does not abstain from one thing while sinning in another, but abstains from gluttony, sensuality, drunkenness, and from all passions generally. This happens even in external contests. Those who contend in the games may neither become drunk nor commit fornication during the contest, lest they weaken their strength. Nor may they occupy themselves with anything else. By abstaining completely from all things, they occupied themselves only with their contest.