3. THE EXAMPLE OF ABNEGATION GIVEN BY PAUL. 9:1-22. IT is easy, from what we have just said, to understand the link which connects the following passage with the question treated by the apostle. It is nevertheless true that the subject which he proceeds to handle receives so considerable a developme... [ Continue Reading ]
“Am I not free? am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?” These accumulated questions betray the emotion which seizes the apostle as he approaches this delicate subject. Before showing why he has renounced his rights, he must prove that those rights exist,... [ Continue Reading ]
“If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord; this is my answer to them that do examine me.” The datives _unto others_ and _to you_ are not only datives of appreciation (in the judgment of), but also datives of relation, as Rück... [ Continue Reading ]
“Have we not right to eat and to drink? 5. Have we not right to lead about a sister as wife, as well as the other apostles and the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? 6. Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?” Paul uses the plural (_we have_), because he is thinking also of Barna... [ Continue Reading ]
The right of Paul and Barnabas, as apostles of the Lord, is demonstrated down to 1 Corinthians 9:14 by a series of arguments, the first of which, 1 Corinthians 9:5-6, is taken from the example _of the other apostles_ and of the _Lord's brothers._ Not only were these personally maintained by the Chur... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 6. The conj. ἤ, _or_, has here the meaning which it so frequently has in Paul's writings: “ _Or indeed_ in the opposite case would it happen that...?” No doubt Barnabas had not been called to the apostleship by the Lord, in the same way as Paul (1 Corinthians 9:1); but, by his co-operation in t... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 7. “Who goeth a warfare at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?” The gospel is profoundly human; it welcomes all that is in conformity with nature in its normal state. Thus Paul appropriates... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 8, 9. “Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? 9. For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?” God had commanded the Jews, Deuteronomy 25:4, that when harvest came, the ox, while treading th... [ Continue Reading ]
“Or saith He it not altogether for our sakes? Yea, for our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that plougheth should plough in hope; and that he that thresheth should partake of the object hoped for.” The meaning of the ἤ, _or_, is this: “Or, if it cannot be for the sake of oxen that God has... [ Continue Reading ]
“If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we should reap your carnal things?” When the vine-dresser and the shepherd partake of the fruit of their labour, when the ox eats the corn while treading it out, the part thus allowed to the worker is taken from the very produce of h... [ Continue Reading ]
“If others be partakers of this right over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this right; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.” As to this right of support the Corinthians granted it to others, after Paul left them; how would they deny it to him and... [ Continue Reading ]
“Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?” In heathen as well as in Jewish worship, it was customary for those who were employed in the sacred ceremonies, to live on the product of these rites. This w... [ Continue Reading ]
“Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” Rückert does not think that we have here a new argument; he regards it as only the application to the Christian Church of what was common among Jews and Gentiles (1 Corinthians 9:13). But the apostle could... [ Continue Reading ]
“But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.” Paul contrasts the sacrifice which he has made of his right, and consequently of his well-being and ease,... [ Continue Reading ]
“For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” Many have taken the first proposition as a general maxim. Paul would say, that in itself the act of preaching is not a cause of glorying to the preacher, whoev... [ Continue Reading ]
“For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, it is a dispensation which is committed unto me.” The γάρ, _for_, signifies that the second part of 1 Corinthians 9:16 really proves the affirmation enunciated in the first, to wit, that Paul has no cause of glorying in the... [ Continue Reading ]
“What is my reward then? [It is] that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel without charge, that I use not the right which belongs to me in my preaching.” According to Meyer, the understood answer to the question: “What is my reward?” is negative: “I have none; I receive no reward.” And t... [ Continue Reading ]
“For though I be free from all, I made myself servant to all, that I might gain the more.” Paul formulates the general principle on which is founded the particular self-denial of which he has just spoken, and which guides all his conduct. Thus the _for_ finds its natural explanation. By the term _f... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 20-22. “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, though myself not under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21. To them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now then I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof also.” The δέ, _then_, is progressive; it marks the transition from interest taken in the salvation of our brethren to care for our own. To understand this verse, we need not construe it in the way in which it is usual... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE QUESTION CONSIDERED FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE SALVATION OF THE STRONG THEMSELVES. 9:23-10:22. As Paul concluded the preceding development by giving his own example, he introduces the following in the same way. In 1 Corinthians 9:23-27 he shows the danger which he himself ran, if he ventured... [ Continue Reading ]
“Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” In the application, the _goal_ is no more identical with the _prize_, than in the actual case. The goal is perfect holiness; the prize is glory, the crown of holiness. Of course, in mention... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now, whoever strives for the mastery abstains from everything: they to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” Edwards rightly says: “This verse reminds the Corinthians of two things: first, the difficulty of winning, and next, the infinite value of victory.” The participle _every ma... [ Continue Reading ]
“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27. But I buffet my body, and lead it captive: lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” The particle τοίνυν, _conformably thereto_, does not occur elsewhere in Paul's writings; it forcib... [ Continue Reading ]