1 Corinthians 9:18

Yet, after all, Paul has his reward: “What then (οὖν, things being so) is my reward?” ὁ μισθός “the reward” proper to such a case, is simply to take no pay: “that, while I preach the good news, I may make the good news free charge” (ἀδάπανον θήσω, gratuitum constituam, Bz [1364]). No thought of future (deferred) pay, nor of supererogatory work beyond the strict duty of the οἰκονόμος, but only of the satisfaction felt by a generous mind in rendering unpaid service (cf. Acts 20:33 ff.). The Ap. plays on the word μισθός first denied, then asserted, much as on σοφία in 1 Corinthians 2:1-8; he repudiates “reward” in the mercenary sense, to claim it in the larger ethical sense. He “boasts” that the Cor [1365] spend nothing on him, while he spends himself on them (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:9-12; 2 Corinthians 12:14 f.). ἵνα replaces the inf [1366] in apposition to μισθός, “marking the purposive result involved” (El [1367]) to make, as I intended, the Gospel costless. θήσω is fut., intimating assurance of the purpose, as in Galatians 2:4 (see Wr [1368], p. 361). τίθημι with objective complement, a construction of cl [1369] Gr [1370] poetry and later prose, which Heb. idiom demands frequently in LXX; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Corinthians 15:25. “So that I might not use to the full (εἰς τ. μὴ καταχρήσασθαι see 1 Corinthians 7:31) my right in the gospel” sc. that maintained in the former part of the ch.: a further purpose of Paul's preaching gratuitously, involved in that just stated, and bearing on himself as the ἀδάπ. θήσω bore upon the readers. Ἐξουσία ἐν τ. εὐαγγελίῳ is “a right (involved) in (proclaiming) the good news,” belonging to the εὐαγγελιζόμενος (1 Corinthians 9:14). P. was resolved to keep well within his rights, in handling the Gospel (cf. Matthew 10:8; also 1 Corinthians 6:7 b, 1 Corinthians 6:8 a above). This sentiment applies to every kind of “right in the gospel ” of gratuitous salvation; it reappears, with another bearing, in 2 Corinthians 13:3-10.

[1364] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1365] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[1366] infinitive mood.

[1367] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[1368] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[1369] classical.

[1370] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.