" If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully*'." Now in running the Christian race, there are rules indispensably necessary to be observed, if we would have the prize adjudged to us. One rule in particular we mention, because it is expressly specified by the Apostle, and because it virtually includes all others : it is, that we must " look unto Jesus," as the pattern for our imitation, as the source of our strength, as the medium of our acceptance, " as the Author and the Finisher of our faith "=." Now the Apostle did not run as a person regardless of the rules, but as one who was determined in all things to observe them.
For want of this care, many who appear desirous of getting to heaven, fall short of it at last : they are not sufficiently in- structed, especially in relation to the rule that has been speci- fied : they are apt to satisfy themselves with rules of their own devising; and on this account they are found at last to have " spent their strength for nought."]
2. With ardent zeal —
[A person who should be brandishing, as it were, his arms, and should " beat the air" in a way of sportive exercise, would be very unlike to one who was engaged in actual combat. Such a difference exists between those who merely profess to engage with their spiritual enemies, and those who are really •* warring a good warfare :" nor is this difference less visible in the Christian world, than it would have been on the stage where such spectacles were exhibited. Now the Apostle was not a mere pretender to religion : he saw too much of the importance of eternal things to waste his time in empty pro- fessions : he knew that, if he did not vanquish his enemies, his enemies would destroy him ; and therefore he strove to " fight a good fight," and to " quit himself like a man," who would rather die than yield.]
3. With absolute self-denial —
[Those who intended to engage in the different games, used much self-denial in the whole of their diet and mode of living, in order that they might be the better able to endure the fatigues and hardships which they must inevitably expe- rience in the contest : and, when they came to the trial, they put forth all their strength, that they might gain the victory. The enemies with which the Apostle contended, were nume- rous and mighty. Those which he particularly refers to in the text, were, his own indwelling corruptions. He found that, in common with all others, he had '* lusts warring in his members," yea, " warring against his soul." To subdue these,
b 2 Tim. ii. 5. c Heb. xii. 1, 2.
1968. j Paul's manner of seeking heaven. 213
it was necessary that he should put forth all his strength. He had already gained a gx-eat advantage over them, as a man who had got his antagonist's head under his arm, and was beating him in the face with all his might '^. He would not give them any liberty to regain their former ascendancy, but was deter- mined to subdue them utterly,]
We shall easily account for these exertions, when we call to mind,
II. The considerations by which he was actuated —
It is painful to see how persons, who are enslaved by human systems, will wrest the Scriptures, to make them coincide with their own views. Did the Apostle mean to say, that he exerted himself thus, merely lest he should by any means be betrayed into some fault, which should cause him to be disapproved of men ? Had he not respect to God also, and to his eternal state ? No man living, whose judgment was not warped by a predilection for a system of his own, could doubt one moment but that the Apostle was actuated by two considerations ;