Temperance and Mastery: The Athlete's Discipline in Christ

Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.—1 Corinthians 9:25

The Christian life is not passive rest but active agon (striving). This contradicts the hollow modern notion of "the rest of faith" as mere inaction. Paul's language recurs throughout his epistles as the constant state of the apostle himself.

The manner of this strife demands lawfulness—harmony with the Divine rule, not personal impulse. Lawfulness secures certainty: men guided by Christ know what they ought to do and trust the result. Paul demonstrates this rigor when he declares, "I keep under my body," subjecting his flesh through peril, trial, and persecution. He never indulged it.

Two motives propel this discipline: avoiding becoming a castaway, and gaining an imperishable crown. Resolution itself possesses supernatural force—obstacles fall before determined will bent on good. Yet resolution depends upon temperance in all things: diet, rest, vigor. What is accomplished in torrid and frozen regions by solitary individuals under appalling circumstances teaches us never to despair when duty calls. Confidence of success is nearly success itself.

Habitual resolution, not mere impulses, carries men to great extent. A step forward gains nothing unless followed up. The physiology of temperance enables the spirit's mastery. Thus Paul binds the athlete's discipline to the crown imperishable: sarkos hupopiazo—beating the body into submission for Adonai's glory.