1 Corinthians 9:27
New International Version
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

New Living Translation
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

English Standard Version
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Berean Standard Bible
No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Berean Literal Bible
But I batter my body and bring it into servitude, lest having preached to others, I myself might be disqualified.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

New American Standard Bible
but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

NASB 1995
but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

NASB 1977
but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

Legacy Standard Bible
but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Amplified Bible
But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service].

Christian Standard Bible
Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

American Standard Version
but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But I subdue my body and I enslave it, lest I who have preached to others would be disqualified myself.

Contemporary English Version
I keep my body under control and make it my slave, so I won't lose out after telling the good news to others.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.

English Revised Version
but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Rather, I toughen my body with punches and make it my slave so that I will not be disqualified after I have spread the Good News to others.

Good News Translation
I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.

International Standard Version
No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.

Literal Standard Version
but I bruise my body, and bring [it] into servitude, lest by any means, having preached to others—I myself may become disapproved.

Majority Standard Bible
No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

New American Bible
No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

NET Bible
Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.

New Revised Standard Version
but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

New Heart English Bible
but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

Webster's Bible Translation
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.

Weymouth New Testament
but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.

World English Bible
but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

Young's Literal Translation
but I chastise my body, and bring it into servitude, lest by any means, having preached to others -- I myself may become disapproved.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Run Your Race to Win
26Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. 27No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Cross References
Luke 18:5
yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Then she will stop wearing me out with her perpetual requests.'"

Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can't you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you actually fail the test?


Treasury of Scripture

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.

I keep.

1 Corinthians 9:25
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.

1 Corinthians 4:11,12
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; …

1 Corinthians 6:12,13
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any…

and.

Romans 6:18,19
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness…

lest.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal…

Psalm 50:16
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

Matthew 7:21-23
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven…

a castaway.

Jeremiah 6:30
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

Luke 9:25
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

Acts 1:25
That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

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Beat Body Control Discipline Disqualified Fear Hard Herald Hit Means Others Possibly Preached Prize Rejected Slave Slavery Straight Subjection Submission
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Beat Body Control Discipline Disqualified Fear Hard Herald Hit Means Others Possibly Preached Prize Rejected Slave Slavery Straight Subjection Submission
1 Corinthians 9
1. He shows his liberty;
7. and that the minister ought to receive a living by the Gospel;
15. yet that himself has of his own accord abstained,
18. to be neither chargeable unto them,
22. nor offensive unto any, in matters indifferent.
24. Our life is like unto a race.














(27) But I keep under my body.--Better, but I bruise my body. The word is very strong, and implies to beat the flesh until it becomes black and blue. The only other place the word occurs is in Luke 18:5. The body is spoken of as his adversary, or the seat of those lusts and appetites which "war against the mind" (Romans 7:23; Galatians 5:17).

Bring it into subjection.--Better, and make it a slave. The idea is carried on that the body is not only conquered, but led captive. We must remember that the language all throughout this passage is figurative, and the statement here refers, not to the infliction of actual pain on the body, but to the subduing of the appetites and passions which are located in it. The true position of our natural appetites is that they should be entirely our servants, and not our masters; that we "should not follow or be led by them," but that they should follow and be led by us.

Lest that by any means.--Better, lest having been a herald to others, I myself should be rejected. The image is carried on, and the Apostle says that he has a further motive to live a life of self-denial--viz., that he having acted as a herald, proclaiming the conditions of the contest and the requisite preliminaries for it, should not be found to have himself fulfilled them. It is the same image kept up still of this race, and of the herald who announced the name of the victor, and the fact that he had fulfilled the necessary conditions. It was not the custom for the herald to join in the contest, but the Apostle was himself both a runner in the Christian course, and a herald of the conditions of that race to others. Hence, naturally, he speaks of the two characters, which in the actual illustration would be distinct, as united in one when applied spiritually to himself. The word "cast away" conveys a wrong impression. The Greek word signifies one who had not behaved according to the prescribed regulations.

Verse 27. - I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; literally, I bruise my body, and lead it about as a slave. The word tamely rendered "keep in subjection" means literally, I smite under the eyes. The pugilistic metaphor is kept up, and the picturesque force of the words would convey a vivid impression to Corinthians familiar with the contests of the Pancratum, in which boxing with the heavy lead-bound caestus played a prominent part. The only other place in the New Testament where the word occurs is Luke 18:5, where it seems (on the lips of the unjust judge) to have a sort of slang sense. How St. Paul "bruised his body" may be seen in 2 Corinthians 6:4, 5; Colossians 3:5; Romans 8:13. It was not by absurd and harmful self torture, but by noble labour and self denial for the good of others. When I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. "Lest" - such is the meaning of the metaphor" after proclaiming to others the laws of the contest (as a herald), I should myself violate those conditions, and be not only defeated as a combatant, but ignominiously rejected from the lists and not allowed to contend at all." The metaphor is not strictly adhered to, for the herald did not personally contend. No candidate could compete without a preliminary scrutiny, and to be "rejected" was regarded as a deadly insult The word "rejected," "reprobate" - here rendered "a castaway" - is a metaphor derived from the testing of metals, and the casting aside of those which are spurious. That Paul should see the necessity for such serious and unceasing effort shows how little he believed in the possibility of saintly "works of supererogation, over and above what is commanded." "When the cedar of Lebanon trembles, what shall the reed by the brookside do?"



Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
No,
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

I discipline
ὑπωπιάζω (hypōpiazō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 5299: From a compound of hupo and a derivative of optanomai; to hit under the eye, i.e. to tease or annoy, subdue.

my
μου (mou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

body
σῶμα (sōma)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4983: Body, flesh; the body of the Church. From sozo; the body, used in a very wide application, literally or figuratively.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

make it my slave,
δουλαγωγῶ (doulagōgō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1396: From a presumed compound of doulos and ago; to be a slave-driver, i.e. To enslave.

[so that] after I have preached
κηρύξας (kēryxas)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2784: To proclaim, herald, preach. Of uncertain affinity; to herald, especially divine truth.

to others,
ἄλλοις (allois)
Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 243: Other, another (of more than two), different. A primary word; 'else, ' i.e. Different.

I myself
αὐτὸς (autos)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

will not be
γένωμαι (genōmai)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Middle - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

disqualified.
ἀδόκιμος (adokimos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 96: Failing to pass the test, unapproved, counterfeit. By implication, worthless.


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NT Letters: 1 Corinthians 9:27 But I beat my body and bring (1 Cor. 1C iC 1Cor i cor icor)
1 Corinthians 9:26
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