1 Corinthians 9 - Summary

Historical setting

Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, a Greek city with a large port, sometime in the 50s AD. Corinth was a prosperous trading centre, though recently refounded as a Roman colony, and would have contained both wealthy and poor members. Paul had founded the church there a few years earlier and remained its apostolic authority, though his leadership was being questioned by some in the congregation.

The Jerusalem church and other apostles were recognized authorities who had known Jesus. Paul, by contrast, was a convert who had persecuted Christians and had become an apostle through a resurrection appearance. Some Corinthians may have doubted his standing, perhaps because he refused to accept financial support from them while other travelling teachers or even other apostles accepted it. This raised questions about whether he truly deserved support or was simply avoiding the obligation.

Life and customs

In Paul's world, a teacher or prophet who travelled from place to place could reasonably expect to be fed and housed by those who benefited from his teaching. This was seen as normal and just: soldiers did not pay for their own supplies, farmers ate from their own fields, and shepherds drank from their herds. The law of Moses reinforced this principle by forbidding the muzzling of an ox while it worked at threshing.

Temple workers and priests in Jewish practice were supported by the community's offerings and sacrifices. This was not a matter of greed but of a fixed social understanding that those devoted to sacred work should not also have to labour for their living. Paul's refusal of support would have seemed unusual and perhaps even suspicious to both Jewish and Greek audiences, who might interpret it as a sign of weakness or inauthenticity.

What the text says

Paul opens with a series of questions defending his apostolic status (verses 1-2): he asks if he is not an apostle, not free, and if the Corinthians themselves are not proof of his apostleship. Verses 3-6 then pose questions about his rights: do apostles not have the right to eat, drink, and be supported by the churches, as other apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas do? He and Barnabas alone seem to work for their living.

Verses 7-12 offer examples and reasoning. Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink its milk? Paul appeals to both human logic and the law of Moses: the law says not to muzzle an ox while it treads grain (verse 9), and this rule applies to those who labour spiritually as well as physically (verses 10-11). If other apostles have used this right over the Corinthians, why should Paul not? Yet he has deliberately chosen not to use it, lest he hinder the gospel.

Verses 13-14 add that temple workers live from the temple and the Lord has ordained that preachers of the gospel should live from the gospel. But Paul has used none of these things (verse 15); he would rather die than have his glorying made void. In verses 16-18, he explains that preaching is not optional for him but a necessity laid upon him by God. His reward is to preach the gospel without demanding payment.

Verses 19-23 shift to a broader principle. Though free from all, Paul has made himself servant to all in order to gain them. He became as a Jew to Jews, as one under the law to those under the law, as one without law to those without law (though he clarifies he is not without law to God but under law to Christ), and as weak to the weak. He became all things to all people that he might by all means save some, doing this for the gospel's sake.

Verses 24-27 use the image of athletic competition. Runners in a race all run, but only one receives the prize; the Corinthians should run to obtain. Every athlete exercising for mastery is temperate in all things. They compete for a corruptible crown, but believers for an incorruptible one. Paul runs not uncertainly and does not fight as one beating the air; he keeps his body under and brings it into subjection, lest having preached to others he himself become a castaway.

Takeaways

• Paul argues that apostles have the right to financial support from churches, backed by custom, Scripture, and the principle that those who labour spiritually deserve to be sustained.
• He voluntarily refuses this right to avoid any obstacle to the gospel's reception, seeing restraint and adaptability to different audiences as the means to save more people.
• The athletic metaphor shows that disciplining oneself, not taking what one is permitted, serves a greater goal than personal comfort or rights.