The phrase, “Am I not free?” in 1 Corinthians 9:1 marks another subject in the questions of the “things whereof you wrote” (1 Corinthians 7:1). We don’t have a copy of the letter the Corinthians wrote Paul so we don’t really know how they asked about the issue of his support, along with the fact that he received no support from them while he worked in Corinth. What we do know (from the substance of his arguments which followed) was that Paul’s failure to receive support was not because he had no right to receive such support. The reason for his failure to receive support from them was dealt with in the latter part of chapter 9.
Paul began by showing the Corinthians that it was right to support preachers in their work. His question, “Am I not free?” was asked because he was not a slave; he had the right to be recompensed for his labors, and (as we shall later see) he could refuse that support. Following the first question were more valid ones: “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are ye not my work in the Lord?” (1 Corinthians 7:1).
First, he affirmed he was an apostle. God had called and commissioned him to preach to the Gentiles, and because he was an apostle he could rightfully be supported for his labors. The rest of the apostles (including Peter) received support and not only were apostles recompensed for their labors, but others were as well, including the brethren of the Lord (1 Corinthians 9:5). He then asked an awkward question to those who objected to his receiving support: “Am I only and Barnabas, have we no right to forebear working?” (1 Corinthians 9:6).
Second, Paul then showed that it was a matter of principle that whoever produced gain to others had a right to be recompensed for that labor. That was an unquestioned truth, known to all men. The soldier is supported by his government; the laborer in a vineyard has the right to eat of the fruit; and, the herdsman of a flock has a right to drink of the milk. Even the lowly animals have a similar right. Moses wrote, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” If that principle was true of the ox, it certainly was true of a man whose labor benefited another.
Paul then pointed out that what was true in the physical realm was equally true in the spiritual. He said that “they that tend sacred things of the temple eat of the things of the temple, and they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar” (1 Corinthians 9:13). He concluded with the statement which should have silenced the most vocal opponent: “Even so did the Lord ordain that they that preach the gospel, should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14). What logical objection could be raised to Paul, and every other gospel preacher, having a right to be supported for his labor?
Paul’s next statement helps us understand that a preacher’s right to be supported is not something he must accept. Paul said, “I write not these things that it may be done in my case, for it was good for me rather to die that that any man should make my glorying void” (1 Corinthians 9:15).
Why after so forcibly arguing his right to be supported for preaching did he not accept that support? Our next post will discuss the reasons Paul gave.
Jim McDonald