1 Corinthians 9:24

Οὐκ οἴδατε …; cf. 1 Corinthians 9:13, etc. οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες, πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἶς δὲ κ. τ. f1λ.: “Those that run in the stadium, run all (of them), but one receives the prize”. As much as to say, “Entering the race is not winning it; do not be satisfied with running, but make sure of winning So run that you may secure (the prize)!” The art [1385] is wanting with σταδίῳ, as often after prps., esp. when the noun is quasi-proper; cf. our “at court,” “in church.” The stadion was the race-course, always a fixed length of 600 Gr [1386], or 6o6¾ Eng. ft.; hence a measure of distance, as in Matthew 14:24 a furlong. For the antithesis of πάντες and εἶς, conveying the point of the warning, cf. the emphatic πάντες of 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (see note); also 1 Corinthians 6:12; 1 Corinthians 10:23. οὕτως may point backward to εἶς (“run like that one”: cf. 14, 1 Corinthians 2:11), or forward to ἴνα (καταλάβ.) a particle substituted for the regular correlative, ὥστε (cf. Acts 14:1; John 3:16), where the result is an aim to be achieved; the latter connexion is more probable, since the following vv. dilate on the conditions of success.

[1385] grammatical article.

[1386] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.