1 Corinthians 9--Paul Surrenders His Rights

Paul Surrenders His Rights
​
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

---

We continue the discussion here about Christian liberty and the surrender of our rights that we were just talking about in chapter 8.  This is why it's important to not just read a few verses or even one chapter by itself because these epistles are letters where one idea flows into the next, but also the ideas and themes keep going for multiple chapters--sometimes throughout the whole epistle, and you'll even see some of the same discussions in several of Paul's epistles as he wrote about the same topics to different churches and we can get a more complete view of the doctrine by looking at the full context of the letter and other epistles as well as the Bible as a whole.

Paul had a special apostolic authority that these particular Christians would recognize, even if the non-believers or other churches that had never met Paul did not, but Paul did not use his privilege or position to make money for himself, even though the Law gave him every right to do so--see his reference to "don not muzzle the ox"--he would give up this right so as to not hinder the gospel work.  See how everything keeps coming back to that with this church?  It's not about rights or privilege or position--we'll see that Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews and the apostle to the Gentiles--if anyone should have rights and privilege, it should be him, but it's all about Christ and the message of His gospel.  So Paul should have every expectation of getting some benefit of the work that he is doing, but he is happy enough to get to enjoy the blessings of being a spiritual father to these Christians, his spiritual children.

There are too many, especially in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and Prosperity Gospel movement that need to hear this message and read these words--even those that believe themselves to be modern-day apostles--that they are not to make the gospel about fleecing the flock when they are supposed to be shepherds of the flock and should be caretakers of the gospel that has been entrusted to them (though these movements in particular preach a false gospel, so it is not unexpected that they do not treat the people of God correctly when they are preaching a different gospel).

Paul for instance says that he would never charge people to hear the gospel, and he instead chose to work as a tentmaker to earn his own way (we actually call vocational ministries "tentmaker ministries" because of this).  Paul also comes back to the idea of food sacrificed to idols in the part where he is saying that to the Jews he was able to be Jewish (eat Kosher) and to the Gentile to be Gentile (eat pork and meat that had been sacrificed to idols) with a clear conscience on both accounts so that by all means (Paul is not talking about committing sin here) that he might be able to keep the gospel preeminent and some might be saved.

Paul then switches things up and starts to use the metaphor of an athlete--the Olympics were very important to these Greek Christians and they would well understand the illustration here.  Such and athlete has a goal in mind of winning the prize--no one runs to try to get anything other than the gold, and they give up lots of things that they have every right to, but they discipline themselves for the good of the end result by not indulging the desires of their flesh--for instance, they aren't out there ordering Big Macs and eating lots of "junk food."  While they could probably burn off the calories easily, they eat the food that is healthy for them and will give them the nutrients and energy they need.

Paul then switches metaphors again and says that it is like a boxer who goes through training that is painful, and not simply "beating the air," but hitting the bag and probably taking on bruises and more for the sake of conditioning for the prize fight, and to do so in a way that is according to the rules so as to not be disqualified.  Paul will come back later in his epistles and also use the analogy of soldier preparing for battle, but he's not yet ready to make that argument yet--though that is where we will get the idea for hymns like "Onward, Christian Soldiers"  The main theme here is that these people were willing to give up pleasures for the purpose of something greater that was in the future and we too will be willing to give up pleasantries and privileges for the sake of a better inheritance and kingdom that is to come, so that we would not be disqualified from one day hearing, "Well done, My good and faithful servant" from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.