Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Know ye not—The Isthmian games, in which the foot race was a leading one, were of course well known, and a subject of patriotic pride to the Corinthians, who lived in the immediate neighborhood. These periodical games were to the Greeks rather a passion than a mere amusement: hence their suitableness as an image of Christian earnestness.
in a race—Greek, "in a race course."
all . . . one—Although we knew that one alone could be saved, still it Would be well worth our while to run [BENGEL]. Even in the Christian race not "all" who enter on the race win (I Corinthians 10:1-5).
So run, that ye may obtain—said parenthetically. These are the words in which the instructors of the young in the exercise schools (gymnasia) and the spectators on the race course exhorted their pupils to stimulate them to put forth all exertions. The gymnasium was a prominent feature in every Greek city. Every candidate had to take an oath that he had been ten months in training, and that he would violate none of the regulations (II Timothy 2:5; compare I Timothy 4:7-8). He lived on a strict self-denying diet, refraining from wine and pleasant foods, and enduring cold and heat and most laborious discipline. The "prize" awarded by the judge or umpire was a chaplet of green leaves; at the Isthmus, those of the indigenous pine, for which parsley leaves were temporarily substituted (I Corinthians 9:25). The Greek for "obtain" is fully obtain. It is in vain to begin, unless we persevere to the end (Matthew 10:22; Matthew 24:13; Revelation 2:10). The "so" expresses, Run with such perseverance in the heavenly course, as "all" the runners exhibit in the earthly "race" just spoken of: to the end that ye may attain the prize.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 1 Corinthians 9:24:
Romans 9:16
1 Corinthians 10:1
Galatians 5:7
Philippians 3:12
Philippians 3:14
1 Timothy 6:12
2 Timothy 2:5
2 Timothy 4:7
Hebrews 12:1
2 Peter 1:10
Revelation 2:7
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