Run That You May Obtain — It's Your Own Race

The third evening at Le Pertre. And the Spirit has done it again.

Six days ago, on Sword Beach, Le wrote: "I am not in a competition to know more than anybody. I'm running the race God set before."

Tonight Paul hands her the race chapter.

And she reads it the way a runner reads it. You don't race against anyone but yourself. That is Paul's race exactly. It is why verse 27 speaks of bringing the body into subjection — the opponent is not the runner beside you. It is the one you are.

Then the second thing, which is the one most readers miss: you don't have the crown now.

Romans 8:24, two weeks ago: hope that is seen is not hope. Three nights ago: eye hath not seen the things which God hath prepared. And now: the crown is real — and it is not in your hand. It is aphtharton, imperishable, kept where nothing fades.

Which is why the discipline makes sense. A runner who could already see the medal would slow down. The unseen crown is what keeps the legs moving.

"I made myself servant unto all." Je me suis rendu le serviteur de tous. Edoulōsa — from doulos. The same word that opened Romans 1:1, where this whole study began. Paul the bondservant.

Free — and voluntarily enslaved. Not because he must. Because he wants the more. Freedom used as a tool, not held as a possession.

"All things to all men." Tout à tous. Not compromise — flexibility in everything except the gospel. He bends himself; he never bends the message.

"That I might by all means save some." Afin d'en sauver de toute manière quelques-uns. Not all — some. Paul is realistic. He gives everything for the sake of a few.

Paul borrows the stadium — and then changes it. In the Isthmian games near Corinth, one runner won. But Paul does not say beat the others. He says: "so run, that YE may obtain." Plural. Everyone who runs His way receives.

It was never a competition against other runners. Le said it six days before she read it: I am not in a competition to know more than anybody. And tonight: it's your own race.

"Temperate in all things." S'imposent toute espèce d'abstinences. Enkrateuetai — self-mastery. The athlete gives up good things, not only bad ones. Training is mostly subtraction.

"An incorruptible crown." Une couronne incorruptible. Aphtharton. The Isthmian victors were crowned with wild celery — it browned within days. Paul watched those wreaths wilt. And says: ours does not.

Le: you don't have the crown now. What you will receive is imperishable, and it's in heaven. Everything that fades is being run for by someone. Run for the one that doesn't.

"Not as uncertainly." Non pas comme à l'aventure. Ouk adēlōs — not aimlessly, not vaguely. Paul knows where the finish line is.

"Not as one that beateth the air." Non pas comme battant l'air. No shadow-boxing. No swinging at nothing. Real opponent. Real course. Real prize.

Le, September 1: we see different paths and trust God to lead us to the right path. The path is His to set. The running is hers to do.

"I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." Je traite durement mon corps et je le tiens assujetti. The opponent is himself. Le: you don't race against anyone but yourself. She and Paul are describing the same discipline.

And the last line is startling from the apostle who wrote Romans 8: lest I myself should be a castaway. Paul never presumed. He kept running. Nothing can separate us from the love of God — and still he trained. Assurance never became complacency. 🙏