1 Corinthians 9
- Who wrote it
- Paul
- Who it was for
- The church in Corinth
- What was happening
- Paul gives up his rights as an apostle for the sake of the gospel
What’s happening
Paul asks, "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord?" The Corinthians are the seal of his apostleship. He has the right to eat and drink, to take a believing wife along as other apostles and Cephas do, and to be supported rather than work with his hands, as Barnabas does too. He argues from soldiers, farmers, and shepherds, and from the law ("You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain"), and from the temple, where those who serve share what is offered. The Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel get their living from it. Yet Paul has not used these rights, so as not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel. Preaching is not a boast but a necessity laid on him: "Woe is me, if I don't preach the Good News." His reward is to offer the gospel free of charge. Though free from all, he has made himself a slave to all, to win more: to the Jews, he became as a Jew; to those under the law, as under the law; to those outside the law, as outside the law; to the weak, weak; "I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some." Then he points to athletes: in a race all run but one receives the prize, so run to win. Athletes discipline themselves for a perishable wreath, but we for an imperishable one. So he runs not aimlessly and fights not as one beating the air, but disciplines his body "lest after proclaiming to others, I myself should be disqualified."
Why the setting matters
Traveling teachers and philosophers in the Greek world usually charged fees or depended on rich patrons. Paul's decision to work with his hands (as a tentmaker, Acts 18:3) set him apart, and in a city that valued status it may have looked demeaning, or like a sign that he lacked the standing of a real teacher. Taking a patron's money could also bind him to that patron. So his refusal is a deliberate choice to keep the gospel free of obligation, not a claim that others must do the same. The chapter is placed in the middle of the argument about food offered to idols (chapters 8 and 10) as an example of giving up rights for others' good. Athletic images would have been natural near Corinth, which hosted the Isthmian Games every two years, with a victor's crown made of pine. His "all things to all people" is not shape-shifting but flexibility about customs; he does not change the message. Some of his phrases, such as "outside the law," are tied to the law of Moses and not to a general disregard for morality (9:21).
Who’s in this chapter
Paul
Gives up his rights to serve the gospel.
Barnabas
Paul's partner, who also worked for his living.
Cephas (Peter)
A fellow apostle who traveled with a wife.
The believers in Corinth
The "seal" of Paul's apostleship.
Talk it through
- Paul argues at length for his right to be paid and then does not use it. What is he teaching about rights?
- "I have become all things to all men." How can adapting to others stay faithful and not turn into compromise?
- The race and the boxer picture self-discipline. What is Paul disciplining himself for?
- Why might refusing support have made some in Corinth doubt Paul?
Read 1 Corinthians 9
World English Bible
1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3My defense to those who examine me is this: 4Have we no right to eat and to drink? 5Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work? 7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk? 8Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 9For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares, 10or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. 11If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things? 12If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ. 13Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? 14Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News. 15But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News. 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. 18What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News. 19For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; 21to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. 22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. 24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. 25Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 26I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, 27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources