Race

The image of a foot race runs through scripture as a way of speaking about the Christian life under exertion. A runner has a course, a goal, a prize, and a watching public; so does the believer. The metaphor holds together earnest effort, self-denial, perseverance, and the crown that waits at the end. Older texts use the picture more loosely — a strong man "running his course," a wise reflection that "the race is not to the swift" — while Paul and the writer of Hebrews press it into a sustained athletic figure for apostolic labor and the common pursuit of every disciple.

The Runner's Course in the Older Pictures

Before the New Testament tightens the image into doctrine, scripture already pictures running as the activity of a strong, glad creature. The sun in Psalm 19 is "as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices as a strong man to run his course" (Ps 19:5). The race here is the daily arc of the heavens, run with joy.

The Preacher tempers the picture with a wisdom proverb: "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all" (Ec 9:11). The athletic figure surfaces to be qualified — the swift do not always win, and the outcome lies beyond what the runner can guarantee.

Run So as to Win the Prize

Paul takes the picture from the Greek games and makes it apostolic. "Don't you⁺ know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Even so run; that you⁺ may attain" (1 Cor 9:24). The summons is to run with the discipline of one who intends to take the prize, not as one of the field who merely fills the lane.

The training that fits a runner for the course is total. "And every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they [do it] to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible" (1 Cor 9:25). The athlete's diet and hours are governed by the contest; the believer's appetites are governed by a crown that does not perish.

Jesus uses the same vocabulary of strenuous effort: "Strive to enter in by the narrow door: for many, I say to you⁺, will seek to enter in, and will not be able" (Lu 13:24). Striving is not optional to arrival; many who only seek will fall short.

Running in Vain

The runner's anxiety is that the labor will count for nothing. Paul brings his work to the Jerusalem leadership precisely against this fear: "And I went up by revelation; and I laid before them the good news which I preach among the Gentiles but privately before them who were of repute, lest by any means I should be running, or had run, in vain" (Ga 2:2). His apostolic course must not be run for nothing.

He uses the same image to plead with the Galatians, who had begun the course and lost their pace: "You⁺ were running well; who hindered you⁺ that you⁺ should not obey the truth?" (Ga 5:7). To turn aside from the truth of the gospel is to break stride mid-race.

To the Philippians he ties his own labor to their perseverance: "holding forth the word of life; that I may have something of which to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain" (Php 2:16). Their faithful walk is the proof that his running was not wasted.

Pressing toward the Goal

The race demands forward attention. "Brothers, I don't count myself to have laid hold: but one thing [I do], forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Php 3:13-14). The runner's body and gaze are bent forward; what is past has no claim on the next stride.

The same exertion shows up in Paul's description of his ministry: "to which I labor also, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily" (Col 1:29). And in his charge to the Philippian church: "Only live⁺ as citizens worthy of the good news of Christ: that, whether I come and see you⁺ or am absent, I may hear of your⁺ state, that you⁺ stand fast in one spirit, one soul, struggling for the faith of the good news" (Php 1:27).

The contest can become so severe that it draws blood: "You⁺ have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin" (Heb 12:4). The race language and the wrestling/boxing language sit beside each other in the New Testament, both naming the same earnest effort.

The Race Set Before Us

Hebrews gathers the figure into a single charge to the gathered church. "Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:1-2). Three things mark this race: the prior witnesses ringing the stadium, the runner's stripped readiness, and the eyes fixed on the one who finished his own course before us.

Finishing the Course

At the end of his life Paul looks back on the race as run. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: from now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing" (2 Tim 4:7-8). The course is ended; the crown is reserved.

The Incorruptible Crown

The runner's prize in the games was a wreath that withered. The prize in the Christian race does not. Paul has already drawn the contrast: "they [do it] to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible" (1 Cor 9:25).

James names it the crown of life: "Blessed is the man who endures trial; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which [the Lord] promised to those who love him" (Jas 1:12).

Peter names it the unfading crown of glory: "And when the chief Shepherd will be manifested, you⁺ will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away" (1 Pe 5:4).

Revelation puts it in the mouth of Christ to the persecuted church: "Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Re 2:10), with a warning to the runner already crowned: "I come quickly: hold fast that which you have, that no one takes your crown" (Re 3:11). The crown can be lost between now and the finish if the runner does not hold fast.

The crowns themselves are not held back from the giver. The elders "will fall down before him who sits on the throne, and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne" (Re 4:10). The race is run for a prize that returns at last to the one who set the course.