"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, [Greek I pummel my body and make it a slave] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."
Throughout history many people have been slaves of other people. None of us want to be slaves, and those who were slaves were often kept under control only through severe beatings. Slavery and the beating of slaves is wrong, but the effort used to keep slaves under reflects the effort we must use to keep our selfishness under.
We are deplorably selfish, and it may take drastic measures to overcome this selfishness. You will not naturally serve others. Therefore, great discipline is required. But what in what sense should "I pummel my body" to keep my selfishness under control? The passage is not promoting flagellation. It is pointing out that just as the slave rightly bucks against his slavery, our selfish will wrongly bucks against serving others.
We must all exert much effort to overcome our selfishness. But the one who encourages others to be a servant must take special care that he keeps his selfishness under control for the good of others.
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