Lessons #299 and 300
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Encouragement regarding eternal prize (1 Cor 9: 24-27)
The passage before us reminds me of the necessity of reading a section of the Scripture in its context. I recall several years ago arguing with a believer that is now a pastor about the security of believers’ salvation. This individual cited verse 27 as a proof text that if one does not work hard enough that such an individual would lose his/her salvation. I tried, without success, to convince him that this passage has nothing to do with salvation but with reward in the eternal state. If this individual understood the section in its context then he would not have used verse 27 as a proof-text against the doctrine of the security of believer’s salvation.
The section begins without any connective such as “and” or “for” or “so” that would help the reader to connect the present section to the preceding. The absence of the connective should be understood to mean that the apostle’s mind is still concerned with the topic of the preceding section, that is, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 that has to do with adaptability to various groups and circumstances in order to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle ended that section in verse 23 by stating his desire to be a partaker in the gospel in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 9:23 that I may share in its blessings. We indicated that the literal Greek reads that I may become (a) fellow partaker of it. So, we stated that what the apostle meant is that he would partake in the preaching of the gospel, the suffering associated with preaching the gospel, and certainly the blessing associated with the gospel both here and in eternity.
To appreciate that the apostle was not concerned with the concept of salvation, we should remember the blessings of the gospel those who are believers in Christ already have. They are those who at the present have received the forgiveness of sins as stated in Ephesians 1:7:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
The Greek indicates that forgiveness of sins is something that believers have now and not something that is in the future. Thus, believers already have received forgiveness of sins. Believers have been adopted into the family of God as, stated in Ephesians 1:5:
he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
Adoption into the family of God has taken place although it is not fully realized. Our adoption into God’s family implies that we have become joint-heirs of God and co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, as stated in Romans 8:15–17:
15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Let me be clear. We are God’s children that is why we could call God our Father. It is not a future reality but a present reality. This, of course, does not mean that we have been brought home to our Father. Our status is like that of a child that a family adopts through the legal process. When the child that is not already living with an adopting family is pronounced a member of the adopting family, the adoption is complete, but it takes a while to get that child from the court to the home of the adopting family. This is our situation. We are God’s children now because He has adopted us. However, we are not yet home with Him so that our final acceptance into God’s family is still something that will take place in the future. That aspect is still in the future. It is this that the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in Romans 8:23:
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
That aside, another present reality of believers in Christ is that we have been justified as the Holy Spirit conveys through Apostle Paul in Romans 5:1–2:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
We have been put right with God so that we are in good standing before Him. This is what justification means. We are put right with God because of the work of Jesus Christ. He saved us and so because of justification we have peace with God in that we are no longer His enemy. In addition, we are no longer in jeopardy of being condemned by Him, as the Holy Spirit assures us through the apostle in Romans 8:1–2:
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Because we are in Christ, we are no longer under the condemnation that the law brings to those who are unable to fulfill its requirements. We are no longer under the condemnation of sin. Believers are forever in good standing with God as far as our eternal state is concerned. In short, God will no longer condemn us for not meeting His requirements since Jesus Christ met all requirements of the law and we are in Him. This being the case, the apostle, at this point in his epistle to the Corinthians, would not be concerned with believer’s salvation. We say this because in the preceding section, as we stated, he was concerned with everything he had to do to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ or even to communicate doctrine to believers. Thus, if anything, the apostle would have been thinking of reward that is associated with his work concerning the gospel. For after all, he is the one that reminds other believers to do their work with the eye towards reward in the eternal state, as we read, for example, in Colossians 3:23–24:
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Furthermore, the apostle had already conveyed to the Corinthians the necessity of being careful in their activities because of the reward that God will give in the future as in 1 Corinthians 3:12–15:
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Elsewhere, the apostle indicates that future reward should motivate us to live a holy life as he implied with his own life, according to Philippians 3:12–14:
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
In any case, it should be clear that the apostle was not concerned with loss of salvation in the passage that we are about to consider. Instead, his concern is eternal reward that every believer should aim for. That he was concerned with eternal reward is evident in the athletic metaphor the apostle used in the section that we are considering that deals with prize that one competing in the Greco-Roman games expects to win. Salvation is not a reward, but a gift made possible because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Consequently, the apostle is concerned with reward in the passage before us. He wants us to be mindful of this future reward that will be given in the eternal state. It is for this reason that there is a simple message of encouragement that the Holy Spirit wants all believers to hear as it relates to the section we are about to consider. The simple message of encouragement is this: Strive to be reward eternally. This message of encouragement the apostle unfolded as consisting of four essential elements that we will consider as we expound the message.
The apostle did not immediately state the first element of the encouragement regarding obtaining eternal reward. Instead, he stated first a fact that should be a common knowledge to the recipients of the epistle regarding athletic competitions although he used the example of running. The apostle probably was thinking of Isthmian Games that were celebrated every two years at Isthmia of Corinth, in honor of the sea god Poseidon and the youth god Palaimon. It is probably because of the association of these games with the idolatry that most devout Hellenistic Jews would not attend them or probably any of the other three Greek games of Olympic, Pythian, and Nemean. Of course, all four Greek games we mentioned were concerned with athletic competitions of various kinds that includes foot races and boxing, among others. Anyone in Corinth must have known about these games and what takes place in them. This aside, the fact the apostle brought to the attention of the Corinthians is that in athletic competition, there is usually one winner. This, of course, he did, using a rhetorical question that we will get to shortly.
It is our assertion that the apostle stated a fact that should be of common knowledge to the Corinthians because the apostle began verse 24 with a formula, he used several times in his epistles, especially in 1 Corinthians where he used it ten times. The formula that begins verse 24 is Do you not know that…? We have commented in a previous study about this formula without the word “that,” that is, Do you not know…? but this time we include the word that in the formula the apostle used. However, for completeness, we will review what we said previously only focusing on the formula as given in the Greek of verse 24 that we are considering.
The formula Do you not know that…? is found eleven times in Apostle Paul’s epistles for introducing a question that is often rhetorical that implies that the recipients, upon reflection, should have known what he asked. He used it once in Romans and ten times in his first epistle to the Corinthians. He used it to convey a truth that believers should know based on what should be a common concept about slaves in Romans 6:16:
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
We will mention the apostle’s usage of the formula in other passages than our present passage of study of 1 Corinthians 9:24. The apostle’s first use of the formula in his first epistle to the Corinthians is in connection with an important doctrine that believers should know which is that the Holy Spirit indwells corporately in the church of Christ that he presented as a rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 3:16:
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
The apostle used the formula a second time in dealing with sexual immorality in the local church in Corinth to convey how one sin could affect others using a metaphorical question that involved yeast and dough in 1 Corinthians 5:6:
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
The third and fourth usages of the formula concern believer’s role as judges of the world and angels as we read in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3:
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
The fifth usage involves the fact that the wicked would not come under God’s rule here and in eternal state as given in 1 Corinthians 6:9:
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
The sixth concerns the fact that believers are members of Christ in 1 Corinthians 6:15:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
The seventh usage involves the implication of committing sexual sin with a prostitute, as described in 1 Corinthians 6:16:
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
The eighth is concerned with indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the body of believers that the Corinthians should know as stated in 1 Corinthians 6:19:
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
The ninth concerns support of those who work in temples is in 1 Corinthians 9:13:
Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
The final usage of the formula is in the passage of our study that is, 1 Corinthians 9:24. One thing we should note is that the apostle used the formula primarily in rhetorical questions where the expected answer is in the affirmative and where quite often there is the assumption that the question is concerned with a common knowledge. The implication is that what follows the formula Do you not know that should be a common knowledge to the Corinthians.
Again, the fact the apostle expected the Corinthians to know is that that in athletic competition, there is usually one winner of the competition. It is this that he penned in the rest of his rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 9:24 that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Literally, the Greek reads that the ones running in (a) stadium all indeed run, but one wins the award.
The word “race” is translated from a Greek word (stadion) that appears only here in the Greek NT. In Greek literature the word was used first as standard of length, “stade” that is approximately 606¾ft (185m). Another meaning is that of “racetrack” as a representation of an area for public spectacles, that is, “arena, stadium.” Some writers in the early NT times used the word figuratively for “present life” or “sufferings that preceded martyrdom. “That aside, the sense of the word in our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:24 is “stadium” as a large structure for open-air races, sports, and entertainments since the Isthmian games included other events such as boxing as we stated previously. Although the apostle used it in a literal way, but he had a spiritual purpose in using the Greek word that means “a stadium.” In effect, he ultimately would have been thinking of the world in which we live as a stadium or a place of our spiritual struggles and believers as those involved in the struggles as indicated by the words he used.
The apostle described the participants in the stadium as “runners.” The word “runners” is translated from a present active participle of a Greek verb (trechō) that literally means “to run, rush.” It is with the meaning “to run” that it is used to describe the father’s response when he saw his wayward son coming back in the parable of the Lord Jesus that is concerned with the compassionate father and his wayward son in Luke 15:20:
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The meaning “to rush” is used in the description of chariots for battle in connection with the locusts judgment in Revelation 9:9:
They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
Figuratively, the word is used to describe effort one makes to advance spiritually or intellectually hence means “to exert oneself” as that is the sense of the word in the statement of Apostle Paul to the Galatians in Galatians 5:7:
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
It is true that our Greek word is translated “running” in this passage, but the sense is that of striving to advance spiritually by exerting oneself to the limit of one’s power to go forward spiritually. It is because the word “running” is used figuratively in this verse to indicate the progress the Galatian believers were making in their relationship to Christ that the UBS handbook suggests that the sentence You were running a good race may be translated “You were progressing so well in your relationship to Christ.” Still figuratively, the word may mean to proceed quickly and without restraint, that is, “to progress” as Apostle Paul used it for his prayer request to the Thessalonians for the rapid advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ in 2 Thessalonians 3:1:
Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:24, the word is used three times. In the first two usages, the word is used literally with the meaning “to run” but in the third, it is used figuratively in the sense of “to strive to advance spiritually.” In the first usage, it is used as an adjective since a participle is a verbal adjective meaning that at some time the word may be used as a verb but at another time as an adjective. As we stated in the first usage of our Greek word, it is as an adjective that it is used.
In the second literal usage of the Greek word that means “to run”, the apostle used the word to describe the activity of those that he described literally as runners in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 9:24 all the runners run. The apostle was emphatic when he wrote than what the NIV translated as all the runners run. We say this because of a Greek particle (men) the apostle used but not translated in the NIV and all our modern English versions. The particle may be used as a marker of linkage in a discourse hence means “and, so” but often left untranslated. It can also be used as a marker of relatively weak emphasis with the meaning “indeed” or frequently not translated. As we stated, our modern English versions did not translate the particle, but we should recognize that the apostle was emphatic in stating the activity in the stadium he had in mind. This activity the apostle described with the word run is for the universally acknowledge fact or a commonly accepted practice expected of those described as runners in the games or competitions that were widely known. The apostle was not using the fact that people run as a way of remaining physically fit as some do today. No! He was thinking of the kind of running that involves people competing against each other in a stadium where the goal is to win something. The apostle did not explicitly specify this goal in the first part of the rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run…? but it is implied in what he said next regarding those who compete by running in a stadium. Few English versions, such as the GW, was explicit in expressing this goal in their translation using the sentence everyone who runs in a race runs to win.
Everyone that enters the competition in the games or the specific event of running, does so with the hope of being declared the winner. However, there is only one overall winner or victor in such a competition that receives whatever reward that is associated with the specific competition. It is this fact the apostle stated next in 1 Corinthians 9:24 but only one gets the prize. The word “gets” is used twice in the NIV of verse 24 but they are from different Greek words. The first occurrence of the word “gets” is translated from a Greek word (lambanō) that may mean to get hold of something by laying hands on or grasping something, directly or indirectly, hence means “to take, take hold of, grasp, take in hand,” as it is used to indicate that Jesus Christ took on the form of a slave for our benefit as stated in Philippians 2:7:
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
The phrase nature of a servant is more literally nature of a slave. The word may mean to be a receiver of something so means “to receive, get, obtain.” Thus, the word is used for receiving eternal life as indicated in the promise of the Lord Jesus recorded in Mark 10:30:
will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
It is a word used for receiving of forgiveness of sins in Acts 10:43:
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
The word is used for receiving of eternal reward in 1 Corinthians 3:14:
If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
It is in the sense of receiving eternal reward that the word is used for receiving “crown of life” in James 1:12:
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:24, it means “to receive,” that is, “to get something or come into possession of something; whether physical or abstract.”
The thing the winner of a race gets is describe in the NIV in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 9:24 the prize. The word “prize” is translated from a Greek word (brabeion) that appears only twice in the Greek NT although common in Greek literature, with the meaning of an award for exceptional performance hence means “prize, award.” In its other usage beside our present passage, the word is used for an award for moral/spiritual performance in Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 9:24, it is used for an award for exceptional performance in competition in games and so means “prize” as something given for victory or superiority in a contest or competition. Although some take the “prize” when applied to Christians as future salvation, such interpretation implies that our salvation is a reward which is not. It is a gift, so we should think of the “prize” here as a reference to future reward that believers would receive in eternal state that will reflect how well they lived their lives as Christians. This is in keeping with what the apostle already taught the Corinthians in the third chapter of this first epistle to them.
In any case, the apostle intended to convey to the Corinthians a fact that should have been known by them, which is, there is only one overall winner in a competition. We use the term “overall winner” because in today’s running competition, say, in Olympic games, we have prizes of silver and bronze given to second and third finishers respectively, but the overall winner receives the gold. In the apostle statement to the Corinthians, he reminded them simply of the fact there is one overall winner. However, we should recognize that the apostle was not particularly pressing every detail of the knowledge the Corinthians should have regarding running a race in what he was about to command them and so to all believers. We are saying that the apostle certainly was not thinking that the spiritual race is in every way similar to running a race in a stadium. There are important differences between spiritual race and athletic competition.
A person running a race where an overall winner is to be declared, is competing against two objects that people may not necessarily consider. A first object of competition is the wind. The wind affects the speed of a runner. It is for this reason that runners in the ancient world ran without clothes and in modern time they often dress themselves in clothes that would help to reduce the drag force of the wind against them as they run. This is different from the spiritual race where the object that believers must run against is the system of the evil forces of darkness. That is the reason the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul reminds us of the opponents we have in the spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:12:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The phrase flesh and blood refers to humanity so that we know that our enemy in the spiritual warfare is not a fellow human being although in times of spiritual battle we often forget this truth and think that a human being that has become the agent of satanic forces is our enemy. That aside, this passage in Ephesians alludes to the second object in physical athletic competition, that is, fellow human being. Those who compete in a race compete against their fellow human beings as that is implied in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 9:24 in a race all the runners run. But as believers we are not in competition with one another in our spiritual warfare, which is an important difference between athletic competition the apostle mentioned and the spiritual race.
It is important for us to understand this simple truth that we are not in competition with one another in our spiritual life because our focus is not on humans but on the Son of God. I have often heard some believers tell me how they felt better when they heard the failure of others in certain areas. They tell me that such encouraged them because they realized that they are not alone in their failures. That to me is a wrong way of looking at one’s spiritual life. If you derive encouragement from the failure of another believer then what you are saying is that you are competing in the spiritual life with a fellow believer. So, if you are encouraged by knowing that another believer failed as you did, you have forgotten that a fellow believer is not whom you should ultimately compare yourself. If you derive comfort by comparing your failure to that of another believer, you have forgotten or do not know that your focus should not be on humans but on your Savior, the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit nowhere tells us to focus on other believers as the gage of how well we are doing spiritually, but we are told to focus on the true example we have, the Lord Jesus. Thus, the Holy Spirit through the human author tells us to focus on Him in Hebrews 12:2–3:
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
I want you to notice that it is on Jesus that our eyes are to be fixated, not on any other person. So, if you fix your eyes on a fellow believer you cannot be a serious contestant in the spiritual race. Anyway, fixing our eyes on Jesus is a multifaceted concept. First, it involves a trusting attitude on Jesus that should remind us of the gospel message that He preached in which He offered salvation to those who will believe in Him in John 6:40:
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This trusting attitude on Jesus involves looking away from things on this planet to have implicit trust on Him. It is this kind of trusting attitude involved in fixing of one’s eyes on Jesus that the Lord expected of the Israelites in times of Prophet Isaiah. They did not fix their eyes on the Lord; instead, they fixed their eyes on humans so that the prophet denounced them of trusting Egyptians’ military machine or so, as we read in Isaiah 31:1:
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.
Second, fixing our eyes on Jesus involves continuous thinking about Him. In other words, our thoughts should constantly be focused on the person of Jesus Christ that we do not have time to compare our failure or even spiritual success with that of another believer. Let me be careful so that you do not think I am teaching something that conflicts any passage of the Scripture. I am referring to those passages that require believers to imitate their spiritual leaders as, for example, in Hebrews 13:7:
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Note that what is to be imitated is the faith of the spiritual leaders that include their faithfulness and their devotion to the word of God. In other words, believers are not to imitate failures of spiritual leaders but the shining character they display. It is for this reason that those who lead congregation of believers are to be extremely careful in their lifestyle as the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul conveyed to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
The point is that we are not to be using the failure of any believer to comfort ourselves. The comfort we should use from a fellow believer should be something honoring to the Lord. We may be encouraged by recognizing that there are other believers suffering for their faith, if we are indeed, suffering for our faith, as the Holy Spirit conveyed to the recipients of the epistle of Apostle Peter as recorded in 1 Peter 5:9:
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
The response of other believers to suffering and persecution should encourage us to stand firm to the truth or to continue to witness despite any opposition as that was the case of some that Apostle Paul referred to in Philippians 1:14:
Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
The point is that we should not be comparing ourselves to other believers regarding the subject of failures. We could imitate the spiritual successes of other believers but not their failure for we are not in competition with fellow believers.
Another reason we know that we are not in competition with one another in the spiritual warfare is that the Holy Spirit severally instructs us to be helpful to each other spiritually. We are expected to encourage each other as we read, for example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Do people genuinely and generally encourage those who are in competition with them? I do not think so. Therefore, for the Holy Spirit to command us to encourage and build up each other spiritually should convince us that we are not in competition with each other. It is because we are not in competition with each other that we are supposed to motivate each other in doing those things that the Lord commands us as we read, for example, in Hebrews 10:24:
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
The verbal phase spur one another on of the NIV or more literally for provoking since a Greek noun (paroxysmos) used in this verse refers to the action of rousing someone to an activity, hence means “stirring up, provoking.” Thus, we are to become God’s instrument for stirring up other believers to act in accordance to His word. Take the example where Apostle Paul wrote of the enthusiasm of the Macedonians spurring other Gentile churches into action regarding the giving that was needed to help the poor believers in Jerusalem, as implied in 2 Corinthians 9:2:
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
Thus, it is difficult to see how a believer who does what is required regarding motivating other believers to do God’s will would be in competition with fellow believers. Again, we want to emphasize that unlike the literal activity of running a race where the participants are in competition with each other, we are not in competition with our fellow believers. Therefore, do not compare yourself to a fellow believer and derive comfort from such a comparison to think that you are doing well spiritually when in truth you may not be.
Be that as it may, understanding that Apostle Paul’s thought would have been that there is a difference between physical activity of runners in competition with each other in a stadium and believers in the spiritual race, leads to the first essential element necessary to expound the message of the section we are considering which is you should strive to be reward eternally.
The first essential element necessary to expound the message is an instruction that we should strive in the spiritual race to ensure we are eternally rewarded. This instruction is given in the last expression of 1 Corinthians 9:24 Run in such a way as to get the prize. The word “prize” does not appear in the command but that seemed to be implied hence the translation of the NIV added the word prize. Literally, the Greek reads Run in such a way that you may win. This is the third time in 1 Corinthians 9:24 that the apostle used the Greek word that literal means “to run” but this third time, he used it in a spiritual sense of “to strive to advance spiritually.” This usage is similar to that of the human author of Hebrews in Hebrews 12:1:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Because of what believers are supposed to do stated in Hebrews 12:1, it should be clear that the running of a race refers to spiritual life and its struggles. Thus, we should understand the instruction of 1 Corinthians 9:24 Run in such a way as to get the prize to be concerned with encouragement to spiritual advancement.
Running is an activity that requires considerable effort on the part of the person doing it. It involves continuously moving of the feet in order to progress. The imagery of running that we described means that running that the apostle commands, requires that believers make a continuous but steady progress in the spiritual life. They are to make effort since the word “run” has the implied sense of effort as, for example, the word is used in the sense of striving or making effort in Romans 9:16:
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Literally the Greek of this verse reads Therefore then not of the one willing nor of the one running but of God the one having mercy. The literal word “run” has been taken in the general sense of “to exert oneself” that is reason the translators of the NIV used the word “effort” in their translation of Romans 9:16. The spiritual progress the apostle commands believers implies that there are some activities that are involved in spiritual advancement. For example, advancement in the spiritual life requires learning and applying the word of God. It is impossible to progress spiritually without firm commitment to the study of the word of God. This was certainly conveyed by God to Joshua as he took the helm of leadership in Israel as we read in Joshua 1:8:
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
There is no substitute for the word of God if a believer intends to be successful in the spiritual advance. In other words, if you are going to make forward progress in your spiritual life, you must continue to advance in your knowledge of the word of God. It is as you understand and apply the word of God that you are propelled forward. If you become stagnant in your commitment to the study and application of the word of God, you also become stagnant in your spiritual life that it cannot be said that you are running the spiritual race that the apostle commands. There is more to the command but we are out of time and so we will pick it up in our next study. However, before we end, let me remind you of the main message of the passage we are studying that is Strive to be reward eternally.
03/12//21 [End of Lessons # 299 and 300]