9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is {s} temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
(s) Uses a most excellent and moderate diet.
9:25 Every man that striveth, etc. Everyone who proposed to strive in the games for the prize pursued a course of self-control, and exercised himself very systematically. All this effort was made for
a corruptible crown. The prize of the victor in the foot race was a crown, woven of the pine leaves which grew then, and still grow, on the isthmus of Corinth.
But we an incorruptible. We run for a crown that never fades (1Pe 5:4).
9:25 And every one that there contendeth is temperate in all things - To an almost incredible degree; using the most rigorous self denial in food, sleep, and every other sensual indulgence. A corruptible crown - A garland of leaves, which must soon wither. The moderns only have discovered that it is legal to do all this and more for an eternal crown than they did for a corruptible!
9:24-27 The apostle compares himself to the racers and combatants in the Isthmian games, well known by the Corinthians. But in the Christian race all may run so as to obtain. There is the greatest encouragement, therefore, to persevere with all our strength, in this course. Those who ran in these games were kept to a spare diet. They used themselves to hardships. They practised the exercises. And those who pursue the interests of their souls, must combat hard with fleshly lusts. The body must not be suffered to rule. The apostle presses this advice on the Corinthians. He sets before himself and them the danger of yielding to fleshly desires, pampering the body, and its lusts and appetites. Holy fear of himself was needed to keep an apostle faithful: how much more is it needful for our preservation! Let us learn from hence humility and caution, and to watch against dangers which surround us while in the body.
