Shining a light on the weekly Bible Lessons published in the Christian Science Quarterly®

Soul and Body

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 

Paul’s sports symbolism would have had immediate meaning to his readers. In addition to the Olympics held every four years in Olympia, the popular Isthmian Games took place biennially near Corinth (where the apostle had spent 18 months teaching; see Acts 18:11). As today, competing athletes were highly honored and winners feted.

In this image, Paul compares preparation for running and boxing to spiritual discipline. In the same way that athletes require rigorous training and self-control to achieve victory, Christians need wholehearted commitment to the mental “training” that leads to eternal salvation.

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Resources cited in this issue

RR: Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible: The Letter to the Romans. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1955. Revised and updated by Saint Andrew, 2001. Reprinted as The New Daily Study Bible: The Letter to the Romans. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001–04.

Cit. 7: Carroll, John T., and Jennifer K. Cox. Luke: A Commentary. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Cit. 9: Driver, Samuel Rolles, Alfred Plummer, Charles Augustus Briggs, eds. The International Critical Commentary. Vol. 31, The Epistle to the Romans. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1851–2010.

Cit. 10: Wilkins, Michael J. NIV Application Commentary: From Biblical Text . . . to Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004.

Cit. 18: Keck, Leander E., et al., eds. The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude, Revelation. Nashville: Abingdon, 2015.

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