1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
Continuing from the previous passages on food sacrificed to idols and marriage, Paul addresses those who are judging him on his call to apostleship, supposing that maybe he isn’t an apostle and so shouldn’t be treated as the other apostles of Christ. Paul’s argument is that surely he is an apostle seeing as they themselves are the fruit of his testimony, that by their new found belief in Christ they should be able to attest to him having preached the gospel. Likewise, just as the other apostles have the right to food and drink, and a believing wife, so also should Paul and Barnabas. However, those who are judging Paul are obviously saying that they don’t have these rights because those who are judging him don’t believe that he is an apostle.
7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
Paul asks more rhetorical questions and quotes Moses law to help the Corinthians understand his position and his ministry. In other words, those who are working spiritually amongst them at such a degree as Paul and the other apostles, then they should have the support of the church, not just spiritually but in other ways such as food, shelter, etc to make their duties as those who oversee the church much easier. His argument is that if they sow spiritual seed for them, then they should at least be able to be given support for their hard work just as the other apostles received provisions from them.
15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
However Paul states here that he hasn’t made use of these rights pertaining to their material support as an apostle. Instead he claims to preach the gospel free of charge, without taking anything in return even though it is his right to have the support from the church. He would rather do what God has entrusted him to do, which is to preach the gospel freely, rather than to preach the gospel because of the rights of an apostle to receive his share.
In essence Paul’s concern is that the gospel is preached and his heart has always been for others and not himself. This is displayed here by Paul not making use of his rights as an apostle.
Filed under: 1 Corinthians, Apostle Paul, Bible study, Christianity, corinthians, God, Jesus, New Testament, Scripture
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