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In this message we shall cover more symbols of the believers: threshing oxen, runners in a race and contenders in a game, workman in carpentry, nursing mother, father, wise master builder, ambassadors, stewards, captives of Christ in His triumphal procession, and incense-bearers.
We come now to another unusual symbol of the believers — threshing oxen. In 1 Corinthians 9:9 and 10a the believers are likened to laboring oxen that thresh the harvest: “In the law of Moses it is written: You shall not muzzle a threshing ox. Is it for the oxen that God cares? Or does He say it assuredly for our sake? For our sake.” Here Paul quotes the Old Testament in a wonderful way and applies it to the present situation, in particular, to the situation of those who labor in serving the Lord.
In 1 Timothy 5:18 Paul again quotes Deuteronomy 25:4, saying, “You shall not muzzle a threshing ox.” According to the context, those who labor in word and teaching (v. 17) may be fully occupied, devoting all their time to this. Therefore, the church and the saints should care for their living. For this reason, in verse 18 Paul refers to what the Scripture says about not muzzling a threshing ox.
In 1 Corinthians 9:9 Paul likened himself to an ox laboring for Christ. However, the Corinthians wanted to muzzle him; that is, they wanted him to work without being fed. This is the reason Paul pointed out that while threshing oxen are laboring to thresh the harvest, their mouths should not be muzzled.
Instead of being muzzled, threshing oxen should eat what is under their threshing. This means that while they are laboring to thresh the harvest, they should be free to eat what they are threshing.
“Do you not know that those who run in a race-course all run, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may lay hold. And everyone who contends exercises self-control in all things; those, therefore, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible” (1 Cor. 9:24-25). These verses reveal that the believers are runners in a race and contenders in a game. The Christian life is a race that we must run successfully and a game in which we must contend. The prize is a reward as an incentive; to “lay hold” is to obtain the prize.
If we consider verse 24 in relation to verse 23, we shall see that to run in a race-course is to labor, but to receive the prize is to have enjoyment. As we preach the gospel today, we are running the course. But to receive a reward, a prize, at the coming of the Lord Jesus is to have a particular enjoyment.
In 9:17 Paul speaks of a reward, and in Acts 20:24 he refers to the course: “I consider my life of no account as if it were precious to myself, in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Paul regarded his preaching of the gospel as the running of the Christian race. First Corinthians 9:24 indicates that all believers are running a race. Paul exhorts us to run so that we may obtain, lay hold of, the prize.
First Corinthians 9 reveals that the Christian course involves the preaching of the gospel. To preach the gospel is to dispense Christ into others. By dispensing Christ into those who are receptive to our preaching we run the Christian course. However, because many believers today are not running the race, we need Paul’s word, “So run, that you may lay hold.”
The prize in verse 24 is a reward as an incentive, and this reward is an incorruptible crown, which the Lord will award His overcoming saints who win the race. This reward is in addition to salvation (Heb. 10:35). Eternal salvation is by faith, having nothing to do with our work (Eph. 2:8-9), whereas reward is for our work after we are saved (1 Cor. 3:8, 14). We may not receive a reward but rather suffer loss, even though we are saved, because we are void of the work which the Lord would approve (1 Cor. 3:15). The reward will be given to us according to our works at the Lord’s coming back (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 1 Cor. 4:5). It will be decided by the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) and enjoyed in the coming kingdom (Matt. 25:21, 23). The Apostle Paul strived to gain the reward (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 3:13-14; 2 Tim. 4:7-8).
We, the believers in Christ, have all received His salvation through faith in Him. This has been settled once for all. But whether we shall be rewarded by Him depends on how we run the race. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul is running the course. In Philippians, one of his last Epistles, he was still running (Phil. 3:14). It was not until the last moment of his running, in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, that Paul had the assurance that he would be rewarded by the Lord at His appearing. With this reward in view, Paul charges the believers to run the race so that they may obtain the reward.
In 1 Corinthians 9:25 Paul speaks of exercising self-control in all things. All those who contend in the games, Paul says, exercise strict self-control. For instance, they watch their diet very carefully. If athletes exercise self-control in order to receive a corruptible crown, we should exercise self-control even more to obtain an incorruptible crown. Only by the exercise of self-control can we be runners in the race and contenders in the game.
Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting off every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, run with endurance the race which is set before us.” The Greek word translated “encumbrance” may also be rendered weight, burden, impediment. The runners in a race must strip off every unnecessary weight, every encumbering burden, that they may have no impediment to running the race. It is easy for us to pick up unnecessary burdens. But if we would run the Christian race, we need to put off every encumbrance, every unnecessary burden or impediment.
According to Hebrews 12:1, we also need to put off the sin which so easily entangles us. Here “the sin” refers mainly to the thing that entangles us from running the race. Both the encumbering weight and the entangling sin frustrate us in running the race. The encumbrances are outward, but the sin is inward, for it involves our sinful nature. Within our sinful nature there is something that often entangles us. In order to run the course of the Christian life, we need to put off the entangling sin.
Because there is much opposition to the Christian race, we need to run it with endurance. For this reason, Hebrews 12:1 charges us to “run with endurance the race which is set before us.” In order to run the race, we must suffer the opposition with endurance, never growing weary or fainting in our souls (v. 3).
“If also anyone contends in the games, he is not crowned unless he contends lawfully” (2 Tim. 2:5). An athlete must contend lawfully to receive the crown. If we would receive the prize, the incorruptible crown, we must contend lawfully.
Second Timothy 2:15 says that Timothy should present himself “approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.” This indicates that some of the believers who know the truth should learn to be workmen in carpentry to cut the word of the truth straight, that is, to unfold the word of God in its various parts rightly and straightly without distortion.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:7 Paul says, “But we were gentle in your midst, as a nurse would cherish her own children.” The Greek word rendered nurse, trophos, sometimes means a mother; hence, it may denote a nursing mother (see Gal. 4:19). Cherishing includes nourishing. Therefore, this word not only includes nourishing but also includes tender care.
Even though Paul was a brother, he considered himself a nursing mother. Surely, he had no thought of position, dignity, or authority. The thought of being a nursing mother is very different from the thought of dignity or position. What position does a nursing mother have? What rank, dignity, or authority belongs to her? Her dignity consists in nourishing and cherishing her children, in taking care of them in a tender way.
The word “cherish” is lovely, a word of utmost tenderness. Paul regarded himself as a cherishing one, not merely as one who serves. He certainly did not control the believers. Neither did he merely serve them. Rather, he cherished them. His care for them was full of tenderness.
First Thessalonians 2:11 says, “Even as you know how we were to each one of you, as a father his own children, entreating you and consoling and testifying.” The apostle was strong in stressing what or how they were (1 Thes. 1:5), for what they were opened the way to bring the new converts into God’s full salvation.
In 2:11 Paul likens himself to a father exhorting his children. In cherishing the believers as their own children, the apostles considered themselves nourishing mothers. In exhorting them, they considered themselves fathers.
In 1 Corinthians 4:15 Paul says, “Though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” Guides give instructions and directions to the children under their guardianship; fathers impart life to their children whom they beget. The apostle was such a father. He had begotten the Corinthian believers in Christ through the gospel, imparting the divine life into them so that they became children of God and members of Christ.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:10 tells us, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, but another builds upon it.” In Matthew 16:18 the Lord says He will build His church; yet here the apostle says he is a builder, even a wise master builder. This indicates that the Lord builds the church not directly but through His ministers, even through every member of His Body, as revealed in Ephesians 4:16. Although in 1 Corinthians 3:6 and 7 the apostle admits that he is nothing, he frankly and faithfully makes clear here that by the grace of God he is a wise master builder who has laid the unique foundation, Christ, for others to build upon.
In both 2 Corinthians 5:20 and Ephesians 6:20 Paul says that he and his co-workers were ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is one sent by a particular authority to contact certain people. The faithful believers are ambassadors sent by God, the highest authority in the universe. They are one with God, representing God to carry out His purpose in Christ on this earth.
In Luke 16:1 the Lord illustrates the believers, saved by the love and grace of the Triune God, as His stewards, to whom He has committed His possessions.
In 1 Peter 4:10 Peter tells us that all the believers, who have received a gift, should minister “it among themselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.”
In 1 Corinthians 4:1 Paul considers himself and his co-workers as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. The Greek word for stewards is the same root as the word economy or dispensation in 1 Timothy 1:4 and Ephesians 1:10. It means a dispensing steward, a household administrator, who dispenses the household supply to its members. The apostles were appointed by the Lord to be such stewards, dispensing God’s mysteries, which are Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ (Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4), to the believers.
The believers are also symbolized by captives of Christ in His triumphal procession. Paul says, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14a). Here Paul uses the metaphor of a procession held in honor of the victory of a Roman general. Conybeare explains that the “verb here used means to lead a man as a captive in a triumphal procession; the full phrase means, to lead captive in a triumph over the enemies of Christ.…God is celebrating His triumph over His enemies; Paul (who had been so great an opponent of the gospel) is a captive following in the train of the triumphal procession.…” Paul once fought against Christ, the heavenly General, but eventually he was defeated, subdued, and captured and thereby became a captive of Christ. After he was captured, he was placed in Christ’s triumphal procession as one of the captives in a train of defeated foes.
The picture portrayed in 2 Corinthians 2:14 is that of a victorious Roman general leading a procession of former enemies who had been captured by him. As the general returned to the capital, the captives followed him in a procession to celebrate his victory. Paul uses this to illustrate how Christ has gained the victory and has captured the apostles and so many other believers, who have become captives of Christ to follow Him in His triumphal procession.
In 2:14a Paul specifically says that it is God who leads us in triumph in the Christ. God always leads the believers in such a triumphant way. As a captive in the triumphant procession, Paul did not do anything according to his own choice, preference, or taste. On the contrary, he was truly led by God, and he took God’s leading, no matter what it was. As the metaphor in 2:14 indicates, Paul considered himself a captive who had been placed in Christ’s triumphal procession. There is no choice for such captives. Because Paul, a captive, was willing to be led by God, wherever he went was according to God’s leading.
As captives of Christ in His triumphal procession, the believers celebrate and participate in Christ’s triumph in their New Testament ministry, ministering Christ to others. Paul likens the apostles’ ministry to a celebration of Christ’s victory. Their move in their ministry for Christ was like a triumphal procession from one place to another under God’s leading. Paul and his co-workers had been conquered by Christ and had become His captives in the train of His triumph, celebrating His victory. Therefore, Paul’s ministry was a triumphal procession of the victorious General, the Lord Jesus, leading many captives. This indicates that the ministry of the New Testament is a triumphal procession celebrating Christ’s victory. Inwardly we should have the sense that we are captives in Christ’s triumphal procession. As such captives, we are witnesses that once we were enemies of Christ, but we have been defeated, subdued, captured, and made submissive to Him.
The ministry of the New Testament is to testify of Christ as the Victor. I believe that as Paul was marching in Christ’s triumphal procession, he could praise the Lord for His victory and in this way testify of Him. Likewise, as captives of Christ, we can testify that we have been defeated, captured, and subdued by Him. Now we are submissive captives, saying “amen” to the Lord’s victory. This is our ministry.
As captives in Christ’s triumphal procession, we are simultaneously incense-bearers. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:14b that through us God manifests the savor of the knowledge of Christ in every place. This indicates that as conquered and captured captives in the train of Christ’s triumph, we are incense-bearers, scattering the savor of the knowledge of Christ in His triumphant ministry as in a triumphal procession. The believers are such incense-bearers in their ministry of Christ as well as captives in the train of His triumph. Concerning the phrase “the savor of the knowledge,” Vincent says, “According to the Greek usage, savor and knowledge are in apposition, so that the knowledge of Christ is symbolized as an odor communicating its nature and efficacy through the apostle’s work.” Therefore, our excellent knowledge of Christ becomes a sweet savor.
Because we have been captured, subdued, possessed, and gained by Christ, He has the liberty to saturate us with His fragrance. As a result, we become a savor spreading His sweet fragrance. The metaphor of the incense-bearer illustrates this. As captives of Christ, we are being saturated with His fragrance. In this way, the captives in His procession become incense-bearers.
Actually, to scatter the incense of Christ is to live Christ. The Christ we live has incense, and He even is this incense. Therefore, when we scatter the incense of Christ, we scatter Christ Himself. We praise the Lord that it is possible for us to be those who scatter the incense of Christ. When we have been captured, subdued, and led, we shall scatter the incense of Christ.
The scattering of Christ as incense has an effect: it is a matter of life or death. For those who have been chosen by God, the scattering of incense is unto life. But to others, it is unto death. This is a very serious matter. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 Paul says, “We are a fragrance of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing.” The apostles, being permeated with Christ, become a fragrance of Christ. They are not merely a sweet savor produced by Christ, but Christ Himself is the savor being exhaled in their life and work to God, both in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing.
In verse 16 Paul continues, “To the one a savor from death unto death, to the other a savor from life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” The phrases “unto death” and “unto life” mean resulting in death or resulting in life. This refers to the different effects of the apostles’ ministry upon different persons. It is a matter of life or death! Only the captives of God in Christ, who are saturated with Christ by the Spirit, are sufficient and qualified for this.
