FIRST CORINTHIANS
Chapter 9
Introduction
You have rights as a citizen of the United States. The Declaration of Independence begins, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights…" During the debates that led to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States a Bill of Rights was demanded and the Constitution was amended to include it.
It goes against our grain to be asked to willingly give up our rights. But that is exactly what we encounter in First Corinthians chapter nine – an exhortation to be willing to give up our rights.
Let me quickly point out that this chapter isn’t concerned with our rights under the Constitution or the Bill of Rights; it isn’t concerned with government and its institutions and laws at all. It is concerned with our relationships with other believers in the Church of Jesus Christ. In that spiritual realm, our responsibilities to love one another take priority over the exercise of our rights and we are exhorted to be willing to give up our rights if it is in the best interest of others.
Chapter nine is a continuation of the problem Paul addressed in chapter eight. Certain believers were insisting on their rights. They had the right to eat meat that had been previously offered to an idol. They were free to eat it; they had liberty.
But their liberty was causing other believers to fall into sin. The spiritual consequences of their liberty were more important than their rights. Paul told them that spiritual liberty must therefore be limited by love for others. In essence he was asking them to be willing to give up their rights for the benefit of others.
To drive home his point, Paul uses himself as an example of a believer who had certain rights but willingly gave them up for others. In fact, he had given up his rights for them!
As we work through the chapter Paul will describe himself in three ways: as an apostle, as an ambassador, and as an athlete. The Corinthians could relate to all three… And so can we!
We’ll see three things: #1 Be Like An Apostle Who Willingly Relinquishes His Rights, #2 Be Like An Ambassador Who Willingly Reserves His Rights, and #3 Be Like An Athlete Who Willingly Restrains His Rights.
#1 Be Like An Apostle Who
Willingly Relinquishes His Rights
(v1-18)
The gist of these opening verses is that Paul had every right to receive wages for ministering to the Church at Corinth, but he had willingly relinquished his right for the greater good of the fellowship.
1 Corinthians 9:1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
1 Corinthians 9:2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
The questions in verse one all require a "Yes!" answer. Paul was an apostle who had personally seen the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. The Church at Corinth was his work in that it had been founded through Paul'’ preaching of the Gospel there.
Since Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus, his critics often accused him of not being a "true" apostle. The critics at Corinth could not really make this claim since he had founded their fellowship with the signs and wonders and authority of a genuine apostle of Jesus.
When Paul asks, "Am I not free?" he is establishing that he, too, has rights as a Christian. Like the believers in chapter eight who insisted on their liberties, he, too, could insist on his liberties. Instead he willingly relinquished his rights for the sake of others – just like he was asking them to do.
The right he relinquished was the right to receive wages from them for his ministry among them. Before he makes his point in verse fifteen, he establishes an important principle: It is proper to pay those who do spiritual ministry.
1 Corinthians 9:3 My defense to those who examine me is this:
1 Corinthians 9:4 Do we have no right to eat and drink?
1 Corinthians 9:5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
1 Corinthians 9:6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?
The apostles had the right to be supported by the believers they served. Today we rightfully apply these verses to pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and other Christian workers. Paul summarizes their support by mentioning three things:
Paul wanted to make really certain that his readers agreed that he had a right to wages – otherwise it would be no big deal for him to relinquish it if it wasn’t a right! So he spends the next eight verses arguing from various sources that it was, in fact, his right to be supported.
1 Corinthians 9:7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
These three illustrations show that paying wages to workers is customary in various walks of life. The ministry is no different.
The customs of society are important, but we always want to be biblical. Paul turns to Deuteronomy 25:4 to establish that paying spiritual workers is indeed biblical.
1 Corinthians 9:8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also?
1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about?
1 Corinthians 9:10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.
The Old Testament uses the proverb about not muzzling the ox while he is treading the grain to teach that a worker is worthy of his wage for the work he performs.
So far, so good; but should you receive material wages for spiritual work? It’s a fair question, answered in verses eleven through fourteen:
1 Corinthians 9:11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
1 Corinthians 9:12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?
1 Corinthians 9:14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
Both Jewish and pagan priests received material wages for their spiritual work. So should Christian workers in the Church. The Lord Himself personally established this principle.
Now Paul is ready to make his point. He mentioned it in verse twelve, saying "nevertheless we have not used this right…" Now he drives it home.
1 Corinthians 9:15 But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.
1 Corinthians 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 9:17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
1 Corinthians 9:18 What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
Paul did receive support from other Churches. Why did he feel it appropriate to relinquish support in Corinth? Apparently there was a feeling in Corinth that ministers were only in it for the money. Paul wanted to establish that he preached the Gospel out of a deep conviction; he was compelled to preach. He could "boast," in a proper way, that he gave the Gospel free of charge. This was, to him and them, a great "reward" in itself.
Paul was asking them to give up certain rights. He willingly relinquished his right to receive wages. He was not asking the Corinthians to do anything that he was himself unwilling to do.
#2 Be Like An Ambassador Who
Willingly Reserves His Rights
(v19-23)
An ambassador to a foreign country, in order to be successful, must not offend the citizens of that country or their customs. He must, in fact, learn their language and participate in their society.
These verses describe Paul’s ministry to three groups of people: Jews, Gentiles, and "the weak." To each group he was a spiritual ambassador charged with the task of "win[ning]" them to Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;
1 Corinthians 9:20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;
Again notice that Paul mentions he "was free." Like the Corinthians, he had rights and could walk in liberty. But he was willing to reserve his rights around certain people – like the Jews. They were still "under the [Old Testament] law." Without violating his own morals or diluting the message of the Gospel, Paul adopted methods to minister to Jews that would not offend them. He was free and had the right, for example, to eat pork… But he reserved that right around them – as any good ambassador would!
Paul did not parade his liberty among the Jews; neither did he impose the law on Gentiles!
1 Corinthians 9:21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;
"Those without law" is a technical phrase that identifies people as non-Jews – Gentiles who were not under the Old Testament law. Paul was able to adapt himself to the Gentiles – never in the sense of committing sin, but only in the sense of not requiring them to obey the uniquely Jewish aspects of the Bible. He ate what they ate, he went where they went, he dressed how they dressed – as any good ambassador would!
1 Corinthians 9:22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1 Corinthians 9:23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
The "weak" are Jews or Gentiles who needed simple and repeated instruction about God. To them Paul was like an ambassador to primitive people – always in order to see some get saved.
"All things to all men" is only applicable to godly behavior that has as its ultimate goal the salvation of those you are among. It is not a license to do whatever you please. The Gospel must be your motive.
A good ambassador reserves his rights. It goes with the responsibility. You are spiritual ambassadors at all times! Thus you must be ready to reserve your rights among certain people.
#3 Be Like An Athlete Who
Willingly Restrains His Rights
(v24-27)
Corinth was a sports city. The Isthmian games were held there. It will help you to understand these verses to know that the contestants in the Isthmian games had to prove that they had been in rigorous training for ten months prior to the games. The last month was spent at Corinth, with supervised daily workouts in the gymnasium and athletic fields. They took their sports seriously.
Shouldn’t Christians take their service equally seriously? Paul compares Christian service to a "race" in the Isthmian games.
1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
Athletes train and compete to win – not to lose! Paul is exhorting you to put maximum effort into serving the Lord.
1 Corinthians 9:25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
The key to the athlete is being "temperate in all things." The athlete restrains his or her liberty. Sleep, diet, daily routine, and other "rights" are willingly restrained in order to achieve maximum potential.
1 Corinthians 9:26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
Runners look to the finish line. Paul encourages you to look to the "finish" of the Gospel – winning others to eternal life! Changing sports, he compares Christian service to boxing. It is not shadow boxing – "beat[ing] the air." It’s a real boxing match against real spiritual enemies. You need to be in top spiritual shape; to do so you need to restrain your rights.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
A contestant who failed to meet the strict, ten-month training requirements… Or who cheated in their event… was "disqualified." Applying this to Christian service, Paul said that he didn’t want to preach to others about Christian service but then be disqualified because he was indulging in his rights rather than restraining himself!
"Disqualified" doesn’t mean you lose your salvation. An athlete who was disqualified was still a citizen of his country; a Christian who is disqualified is still a citizen of heaven. But you lose your effectiveness and hinder your testimony by not restraining your rights. You are a spiritual athlete whose training continues throughout this life. Your race is not over until you get to heaven; your boxing match will go the distance. Better build-up some spiritual sweat!
Conclusion
Your rights can be wrong – for others, and for you. Be like an apostle… An ambassador… An athlete. Keep your rights in the proper perspective – which is their effect on the Gospel of Jesus and on your effectiveness in winning others to the Lord.