There is a greater likelihood that the last part of the verse might
reflect a return to the athletic metaphor. Sampley argues that the word disqualified
is “a technical term of athletics in which a competitor fails the test or is
thrown out of the competition.” Such a technical usage, however, is not
attested in any of the lexicons or dictionaries. Whether understood within the
context of the previous athletic metaphor or not, the word clearly refers to
God’s potential eschatological judgment on Paul (and also on the Corinthians).
It suggests being rejected as unworthy by the ultimate judge. Philo describes
the history of Israel after receiving the law with its “gentle instructions and
exhortations” as well as “threats and warnings” through the use of the image of
the athletic contests, and allegorically describes the defeated as “whole lives
that fall, which once overthrown can hardly be raised up again.” The image of
“falling” (as in the previous sentence) is used both in Philo and Paul to refer
to ultimate divine rejection. This is an important part of the rhetorical
motivation (or parenesis/moral exhortation) essential to keeping the
Corinthians from underestimating the dangerous position in which their
attitudes and practices have placed them. As Garland puts it, “Paul is engaged
in moral exhortation and not discoursing on the security of the believer.” He
wants the Corinthians to ask, as does Chrysostom, “Now if Paul feared this, who
had taught so many, and feared it after his preaching …; what can we say?” One
of the ways in which God secures the perseverance of believers is by such stern
warnings.
The athletic metaphors may ironically relate to the Corinthians’ issues
with “weaker brothers and sisters” in their midst, suggesting that they need to
pay more attention to their own potential “weaknesses” to make sure they do not
keep them from falling short of the finish line.
It would be a grave error to think that Paul is somehow relating
salvation to the adoption of an ascetic lifestyle, as though harsh treatment of
the body were the key to salvation. Rather, Paul’s language about
self-restraint rather than self-indulgence probably has more to do with the
motifs of fleeing sexual immorality and idolatry, in this case, idolatry
associated with food. As noted above, athletes were famous for their discipline
especially in the areas of sex and food, the areas that most preoccupy Paul’s
arguments in this letter. In the context of Paul’s references to the discipline
of his body, we should recall that the body is sometimes especially associated
with its appetites for food or sex (Rom. 1:24; 6:12; 1 Cor. 6:13, 18). (Roy
E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First
Letter to the Corinthians [The Pillar New Testament Commentary [Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2010], 441-42)
