So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
Parallel translations
- WEB I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
- KJV I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
- BSB Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.
- NKJV Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
- NASB Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul runs with clear purpose, not aimlessly, and fights not like a boxer flailing at the air. His spiritual effort is focused and intentional.
Overview
Continuing the athletic imagery, Paul describes his own life as a runner with a definite goal and a boxer who lands real blows. He does nothing in vain or without aim. This models the deliberate, disciplined Christian life he commends to the Corinthians—purposeful in pursuing holiness and ministry rather than drifting. Every effort is directed toward the eternal prize and faithful service to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 2 Tim 2:5Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.
- 2 Pet 1:10Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.
- Phil 1:21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
- Col 1:29for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
- 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
- Luke 13:24“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.
- 1 Pet 5:1Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.
- Eph 6:12For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- 1 Cor 14:9So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.
- 2 Cor 5:1For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
- 2 Cor 5:8We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
- Heb 4:1Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Matt 11:12From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 9:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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