What Does 1 Corinthians 9:25 Mean in the King James?
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The decisive difference is not how hard you train, but whether the crown you seek carries decay inside its name.
THE MEANING
Your restraint takes its meaning from the crown you seek. A visible prize can perish; what you are reaching toward does not decay.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that every reward is worth the same effort because each one is a crown. This verse distinguishes them by whether decay can take them away.
THE ROOT
φθαρτόν
phtharton
GROWS FROM
φθείρω
phtheirō
To cause to decay, ruin, or corrupt.
“corruptible / incorruptible” in this verse is phtharton. Both words grow from the same decay-root: the second adds the privative alpha, marking what is not subject to decay. The contrast is not between two unrelated crowns, but between what time can undo and what remains beyond its reach.
ALSO GROWS
phtheirō: To corrupt, destroy, or bring to ruin.
φθείρω
This is the seed beneath the crown that can be lost to decay.
phthora: Decay, corruption, or ruin.
φθορά
It names the condition the ordinary crown cannot escape.
aphthartos: Imperishable, not subject to decay.
ἄφθαρτος
The same root with alpha negating decay names the crown that remains.
THE PATTERN
Endurance takes its meaning from a prize that outlasts decay.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.THE THREAD
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,The “race” is ἀγών (agōn), from the same word-family as ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnizomai), “to contend,” behind “striveth for the mastery.” Together the verses show the contest as a sustained run, with its purpose shaped by the crown at the finish.
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