It Starts Small

This passage seems to connect in two ways to the book and the previous chapter. Firstly, Paul goes into detail about how he himself used freedom for the good of others and whole church body. In the past chapter he describes a specific way that Christian freedom is to be used. It is to be used for others, not oneself. Christian freedom is for profit for others.

Secondly, in this passage Paul defends himself. He defends his apostolic authority. He has gone through and delivered a lot of strong reprimands to the church. Here is just a reminder that he has this authority. He is an apostle. He has seen Christ. He’s given up basically everything to serve the church so if anyone has room to teach them, it is Paul.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 9:1-2

Paul defends himself as an apostle to the Lord. He has authority to give them instructions. He has authority to rebuke them. One of the requirements of being an apostle is seeing the Lord and Paul also saw Christ. They are proof of his very apostleship. Why did he defend himself?

³ My defense to those who examine me is this: ⁴ Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? ⁵ Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife^[a] like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? ⁶ Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? ⁷ Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?

1 Corinthians 9:3-7

In these verses Paul lists a lot of ways that he didn’t exercise his Christian freedom. Eating, drinking, having a wife, being supported, etc. It comes back to the point that Christian liberty is to be used for the edification of others. Why Paul has chosen not to have a wife, or if he did have one before who died not to get remarried? We discussed this the last several weeks. A single person has more opportunities to serve the Lord and focus completely on Him rather than taking care of their wife. Why would he eat or not eat? Why not ask for and take money from the church?

Paul didn’t just preach to the Corinthians the importance of caring for others in making decisions and exercising freedom. He practiced it. He himself gave up a lot to serve them. Jesus gave up a lot for us. That is part of being in a family. To serve others and Christ, we may need to give up something. Yes, we have to give up sin for sure. But we may also need to give up things that aren’t sin. Certain freedoms are permissible but not beneficial.

⁸ Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.^[b] Is God really concerned about oxen? ¹⁰ Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? ¹² If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ.

¹³ Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:8-14

In this passage, Paul explains why a Christian worker like himself deserves wages. He also discusses why he didn’t ask for or take them.

Reason 1

The old Testament gives the principle in Deuteronomy about muzzling an ox.

⁴ “Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.

Deuteronomy 25:4

Imagine an employee works and works and gets no wages. Imagine that an ox is worked to death without being given food. These are wrong. The obvious point is that the one who works is worthy of wages. The Bible says if you don’t work you can’t eat.

¹⁰ In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you: “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.”

2 Thessalonians 3:10

By implication, if a person does work he can eat. Sharing the gospel and teaching is also work.

18 After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, ² where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, ³ and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. ⁴ He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

Acts 18:1-4

Paul was actually a tent maker. He earned wages with Priscilla and Aquila making tents.

Reason 2

They sowed spiritual things and should be able to receive material things. You reap what you sow. They worked and worked and worked for the Corinthian church, teaching them, encouraging them, comforting them, reproving them. They built the church. The spiritual benefit the church received far outweighed any physical benefit they could have received.

Reason 3

Others were apparently being supported by the Corinthian church. If others were supported, then certainly Paul had as much and more right than them. Paul had contributed more to the church than anyone else.

Reason 4

Priests were to eat some of the food of the altar. That was their wages. If priests received that as their wages so then should Christian workers.

Reason 5

The reason Paul didn’t take it although he could have was for the sake of the gospel. He didn’t want to hinder it. How might taking money from the church hinder the gospel? Build up resentment. False teachers were big on asking for money so it would distinguish them from false teachers. Hindering the example they wanted to set of the supremacy of the gospel. Cause some dissensions.