First Corinthians 9:23-27 says, "And I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run on a racecourse all run, but one receives the prize? Run in this way, that you may lay hold. And everyone who contends exercises self-control in all things; they then, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible. I therefore run in this way, not as though without a clear aim; I box in this way, not as though beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest perhaps having preached to others, I myself may become disapproved."
Verse 23 says, "I do all things for the sake of the gospel." This shows us that this passage is about the way of a gospel preacher, a servant of the Lord. Verse 27 says, "I buffet my body and make it my slave." This is a fundamental requirement that a servant of God imposes upon himself. Verses 24 through 26 show us how Paul buffeted his body and made it his slave.
We wish to immediately make it clear that Paul was not speaking about asceticism when he said that he buffeted his body and made it his slave. He did not agree with those who, under the influence of asceticism, teach that the body is an encumbrance which we must seek to get rid of. Ascetics believe that the body is the source of sin, and that one must treat it severely before the problem of sin can be resolved. But the Bible does not teach that the body is an encumbrance, much less a source of sin. The Bible tells us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19) and that a day is coming when this body will be redeemed and glorified. We should never bring in the thought of asceticism when we speak of "buffeting the body." If we introduce such thoughts into Christianity, we are making it another religion altogether. This is not what we preach. We repudiate the thought that the body is a hindrance or the source of sin. We readily acknowledge that the body can lead us to sin, but the body is not the source of sin. We can still sin no matter how drastically we deal with the body.
In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul confronts Christian workers with the problem of their bodies. Verse 23 says, "And I do all things for the sake of the gospel." This means that he was standing on the ground of a gospel preacher when he spoke this word. What did he do for the sake of the gospel? Verses 24 through 26 show us what he did. In verse 27 Paul points out that what he did was a buffeting of his body. According to the Greek text, the word buffet means to batter the face until it bruises. To buffet one's body and to make it one's slave means to put one's body into subjection and to "hit" it so much that it obediently becomes one's slave, yielding to the will of the gospel preacher. (This, of course, does not mean a literal buffeting of the physical body, which is like the "severe treatment of the body" spoken of in Colossians 2:23.) Paul said that he did this "lest perhaps having preached to others, I myself may become disapproved." This shows us that for every servant of God, buffeting the body and making it one's slave is a basic way of life. Every servant of God should walk by one basic rule—his body has to be brought into subjection. If his body is not brought into subjection, he cannot serve God. How did Paul resolve the problem of his body? He buffeted his body and made it his slave. Verse 27 is the subject, while verses 24 through 26 are the explanation of the subject. In verses 24 through 26 we see how Paul buffeted his body, and in verse 27 he stated the subject. Let us consider this passage point by point.