Disqualified For The Prize?
A Brief Exposition of 1 Cor 9:27
By John C. Orlando, Jr.
If Perseverance of the Saints were true, how doe you reconcile 1 Cor 9: 27, where Paul says "I myself will not be disqualified for the prize..." ?
-- There are various ways this verse has been interpreted short of meaning that Paul was teaching a person could lose his salvation. Basically, the passage in question is an illustration of running with the prize in mind. Let me clarify:
The first thing to notice is that the context of the passage is speaking about winning things, specifically, souls for Christ, and not about whether a person can lose or not lose his salvation. In 1 Cor 9:19-23, Paul speaks of how he has made himself a servant to all that he might win the more (v. 19), and that he becomes all things to all people that he might save some (v. 20-22). Thus, the topic under discussion is winning souls for Christ, and the strategy that Paul uses to be an effective witness for Christ.
In 1 Cor 9:24 – 27, Paul then illustrates everything he is saying by using the analogy of running a race (all commentators agree that he no doubt has in mind the Isthmian Games which the Corinthians were very familiar with). Those runners were running for a prize that would eventually perish, but the prize Paul was “running” for was one that would last for eternity (1 Cor 9:25). And just as those who ran in those “natural” races would discipline themselves, etc., in order to make themselves the best runners they could be that they might win the prize (after all, who in their right mind runs a race without trying to win it!), so Paul disciplined himself that he might be in better position to the win the prize that he was running for: an imperishable crown. What is that imperishable crown? It is the very thing that is under discussion: souls for Christ. When people see the word “crown,” they immediately think of personal salvation, especially with it being linked with the word “imperishable.” But that is not the only sense in which that word is used in Scripture. Paul in other places refers to those whom he has won and/or personally ministered to as his “crowns.” For example, in Phil 4:1, Paul refers to the believers at Philippi as his “joy and crown,” and in 1 Thes 2:19 Paul says, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” Paul could say that the souls won for Christ were an “imperishable crown,” because Christ said that He gives His sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish (souls won by and for Christ are imperishable!).
Thus, Paul says that he, like a skilled runner in the Isthmian Games, runs in such as way as to win the prize (souls for Christ), and he disciplines himself to make himself the best “runner” (i.e., soul winner) he can. Paul concludes his remarks by saying that he disciplines himself lest when he has preached to others, he himself should become disqualified. What has Paul “preached?” He has just “preached” to us what it takes to be an effective soul winner, and Paul realizes that if he doesn’t practice what he is preaching, he won’t have much of a chance of winning the prize (souls for Christ). And, just as in a race, you have to qualify to even have a chance of winning the prize, so Paul says that to qualify to be an effective soul winner, you have to practice those things related to effective soul winning in order to have any chance of winning the prize (souls for Christ). If you don’t practice those things, you won’t even qualify to be in the race—you will be disqualified. Paul doesn’t fear the loss of his salvation, since that isn’t even the topic under discussion; rather, as the Believers Study Bible says, Paul fears “the loss of his work and influence as a minister of Christ.”