The substance of this long digression so far as the present chapter is concerned may be thus expressed: ‘I have been urging on you the duty of refraining from things lawful when by indulging in them the consciences of your weaker brethren are wounded, and their souls imperilled. But in this I enjoin... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:1. AM I NOT FREE? AM I NOT AN APOSTLE? In this order these two questions should undoubtedly stand, not only on the ground of textual evidence, but from the nature of the case. The subject to be handled being his own Christian freedom, he naturally starts with this, while the second a... [ Continue Reading ]
It was impossible for Christians in almost any Greek or Roman colony, and least of all at Corinth, to avoid coming frequently in contact with idolatrous practices in various and ensnaring forms. In writing, therefore, for instruction and direction on various practical points, we can hardly suppose t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:2. IF TO OTHERS I AM NOT AN APOSTLE, YET AT LEAST I AM TO YOU; FOR THE SEAL OF MINE APOSTLESHIP ARE YE IN THE LORD. ‘Let who will dispute my apostleship, ye at least should be the last to do it.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:3. MY DEFENCE TO THEM THAT EXAMINE ME IS THIS not this which I am _now_ to give; for what follows is not an answer to such questioners, but this which I have _already_ stated' (in the preceding verses). Accordingly, 1 Corinthians 9:3 is to be viewed as closing the subject of his apos... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:4. HAVE WE NO RIGHT TO EAT AND TO DRINK? at the cost of the churches which we serve.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:5. HAVE WE NO RIGHT TO LEAD ABOUT to take along with us in our missionary journeys A WIFE WHO IS A BELIEVER _Gr._ ‘a sister.' An absurd interpretation of these words, which found support even among the best of the fathers, when once the ascetic principle had taken possession of the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:6. OR I ONLY AND BARNABAS, HAVE WE NOT A RIGHT TO FORBEAR WORKING? for our maintenance, leaving our support to the churches we serve. The reasonableness of this as a principle is now illustrated from the case of (1) _soldiers,_ (2) _husbandmen,_ (3) _shepherds,_ (4) the Levitical _pr... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:7. WHAT SOLDIER EVER SERVETH AT HIS OWN CHARGES? WHO PLANTETH A VINEYARD, AND EATETH NOT THE FRUIT THEREOF? OR WHO FEEDETH A FLOCK, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:8. DO I SPEAK THESE THINGS AFTER THE MANNER OF MEN? drawing my conclusions from human usage only? OR SAITH NOT THE LAW ALSO THE SAME!... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:9. FOR IT IS WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF HOSES (Deuteronomy 25:4), THOU SHALT NOT MUZZLE THE OX, etc. a favourite illustration of our apostle, for he recurs to it in 1 Timothy 5:18; and no wonder; for it is one of the most beautiful proofs of the humane character of the Mosaic law, that in... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:10. OR ... FOR OUR SAKE? to teach this general lesson, THAT HE THAT PLOWETH OUGHT TO PLOW IN HOPE... OF PARTAKING. [1] IF WE SOWED UNTO YOU SPIRITUAL THINGS, IS IT A GREAT MATTER THAT WE SHOULD REAP YOUR CARNAL THINGS? What they owed to him as their spiritual father admitted of no co... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:12.... NEVERTHELESS WE DID NOT USE THIS RIGHT... THAT WE MAY CAUSE NO HINDRANCE TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST to cut off the pretext of mercenary motives, slanderously insinuated against him by opponents.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:13. KNOW YE NOT THAT THEY WHICH MINISTER ABOUT SACRED THINGS EAT OF THE THINGS OF THE TEMPLE? of the sacrificial offerings, expressly allocated to the priests. The Gentile converts are supposed to be aware of this, mixing constantly with their Jewish fellow-converts, not to speak of... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:14. EVEN SO DID THE LORD ORDAIN in His instructions to the Twelve (Matthew 10:10) and to the Seventy (Luke 10:7), “The workman is worthy of his meat” THAT THEY WHICH PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL SHOULD LIVE OF THE GOSPEL (see 1 Timothy 5:18, where this is quoted as a recognised maxim).... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:15. BUT I HAVE USED NONE OF THESE THINGS availed myself of none of these rights (the “ _I_ ” here is emphatic) AND I WRITE [2] NOT THESE THINGS THAT IT MAY BE SO DONE IN MY CASE; FOR IT WERE GOOD FOR ME RATHER TO DIE THAN, etc. So thankful was he that he has been led to act at Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:16. FOR IF I PREACH THE GOSPEL, I HAVE NOTHING TO GLORY OF. ‘To glory in preaching without charge is reasonable enough, but to boast of preaching the Gospel itself were shameful.' FOR NECESSITY IS UPON ME; FOR WOE IS UNTO ME, IF I PREACH NOT THE GOSPEL. ‘Shut up to it by the call o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:17. FOR IF I DO THIS OF MINE OWN WILL, I HAVE A REWARD the reward of serving gratuitously (as the next verse shews to be the meaning), and being able thus triumphantly to vindicate the purity of my motives. BUT IF NOT OF MINE OWN WILL, I HAVE A STEWARDSHIP ENTRUSTED TO ME the yoke... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:18. WHAT THEN IS MY REWARD? THAT WHEN I PREACH THE GOSPEL, [1] I MAY MAKE THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WITH, OUT CHARGE that for the good of others I forego an undoubted right. On this principle he would have them know that he acted in everything. In particular, 1 Corinthians 9:20.... TO THE... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:21. TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT (the) LAW without the written law, AS WITHOUT (the) LAW reasoning with such on their own principles; as he did with the rude idolaters of Lycaonia (Acts 14:15-17), and with the cultivated Athenians on Mars Hill (Acts 17:22-31). NOT BEING WITHOUT (the) LA... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:22. TO THE WEAK I BECAME WEAK, THAT I MIGHT GAIN THE WEAK the weak Christians. [1] I AM BECOME ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, THAT I MAY BY ALL MEANS GAIN SOME. Noble sentiment, and as nobly expressed. Those who are fond of quoting the first part of it are seldom heard quoting the second, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:23. AND I DO ALL THINGS FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE, THAT I MAY BE A JOINT PARTAKER THEREOF joint partaker of the Gospel's blessed fruits and final joys with all who are saved by it. Hitherto the apostle has dwelt on the duty of self-denial for the good of others. Now, however, he rises h... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:24. KNOW YE NOT THAT THEY WHICH RUN IN A RACE _Gr. stadion_ or ‘race-course' a space of little more than a hundred yards; and so called because the most noted race-course of the Greeks was of that length. RUN ALL, BUT ONE _ONE ONLY_ RECEIVETH THE PRIZE? SO RUN that is, ‘run as if y... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:25. AND EVERY MAN THAT STRIVETH IN THE GAMES IS TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS ‘systematically practises every sort of self-restraint' A strict course of discipline had to be practised, failing which the candidate was said not to “strive lawfully,” or according to the rules. In that, even t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:26. I THEREFORE (for my part) SO RUN, NOT AS UNCERTAINLY without definite aim, regardless of what is at stake, and what is required in order to win. SO FIGHT I. Here the figure changes from _running_ to _wrestling,_ from the speed of the racer to the aggressions of the pugilist AS... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 9:27. BUT (on the contrary) I BUFFET (or ‘beat down') [1] MY BODY, AND BRING IT INTO BONDAGE as a slave into submission to his master. When he says, ‘I buffet my body,' he plainly means ‘his whole _embodied self,_ ' as acting and acted on through the body. So viewed, he expresses his d... [ Continue Reading ]