Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: PUNCH (08/27/20)
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TITLE: Punch, Pummel and Punish Yourself? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Bruce Phenix
09/02/20 -
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“(24) Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. (25) Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. (26) So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; (27) but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.”
In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul lists self-control as one of the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ (along with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and gentleness) and he clearly regards it as an essential Christian quality. In this passage from 1 Corinthians, which contains the only Biblical reference to boxing, Paul refers to the self-control and self-discipline of athletes. In verse 26 he seems to be saying that self-control helps him focus on his goal or target, just as the runner must focus on reaching the finishing line and the boxer on making physical contact with his opponent. Paul doesn’t want to run off the track or punch the air, and to ensure that he won’t he punishes his body and enslaves it through rigorous training and self-discipline. The verb for ‘punish’ in the original Greek literally means ‘to give someone a black eye’, so Paul is (perhaps humorously) turning the boxing image on himself.
Should we, even figuratively, punch, pummel and punish our bodies and give ourselves a black eye? It seems unlikely that Paul is expecting all Christians to go as far as he does in self-denial. But he’s aware that as an apostle proclaiming the gospel to others (just as a herald calls the athletes to the starting line before a race) he must practise what he preaches to the highest possible degree. He himself, therefore, must never risk being disqualified from winning the prize at the end of the Christian race, the imperishable garland of eternal life.
There’s no Christian teaching to the effect that the body is evil in itself, and Paul is surely not suggesting this. The body, or the flesh, is evil only if and when it opposes the regenerating Spirit of God and Jesus. In Galatians 5:19-21 Paul gives examples of the ‘works of the flesh’, the sorts of self-indulgent and misguided behaviour we should avoid: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness and carousing. His message in 1 Corinthians, then, seems to be that we should, to the best of our ability, emulate him in showing the discipline and self-control of trained athletes, not indulging ourselves in ways that make us spiritually unfit to run to victory in the Christian race.
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