“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it!” (1 Cor 9: 24).
In Corinth, where Paul had brought the message of the Gospel, there was a very important stadium where the “Isthmian Games” were held. It was appropriate, then, for Paul to refer to athletic contests in order to spur the Christians of that city to push themselves to the utmost in the “race” of life. In the stadium races, he says, everyone runs, even if only one is the winner: you too run…. With this metaphor of healthy athletic competition, he highlights the value of life, comparing it to a race not only for an earthly, passing goal, but for an eternal one. A race in which not just one person, but everyone can be a winner.
