ordinary christianity for the world.
Corinth, A Church Divided, 1 Corinthians 9:1-16
Poetic Praise
Questions
1 Corinthians 9:1-16
Paul begins this chapter with a series of questions. By the way, the original letters in the New Testament were not divided into chapters. Rather, like any letter they just flowed from one thought to the next. By asking questions Paul was, in effect, making statements. The implied answer to each question is yes. So Paul's statements are: I am free. I am an apostle. I have seen the Lord Jesus. You (the Corinthian church members) are my workmanship in the Lord. And finally, Paul tells them that they are the seal of his apostleship in the Lord. A seal is a mark of identity, or proof of authenticity and ownership. They themselves were the confirmation of Paul's authority, apostleship and the effectiveness of his ministry.
Paul also told them that they themselves were the "defense to those who would examine" (v. 3). him. What examination was he talking about? What defense? What proof? Who was calling for an examination or a proof? Why was Paul on the defensive here? Who was calling his apostleship into question? And why?
It helps to keep the larger context of this chapter in mind. Paul was writing to the Corinthians in response to a controversy that had irrupted in the church. That was the reason for his letter and visit.
Paul identified the underlying issue as a philosophical and/or theological dispute between two groups of people who had deep-rooted and opposing views of things. He explained the issues by talking about how the wisdom of Christ was different than and opposed to the wisdom of the world. Today we call this kind of thing competing worldviews. One group interpreted everything through the eyes of the prevailing worldview of the day — various forms of Greek philosophy. The other group interpreted everything through the eyes of Christ.
Many new believers had been added to the roles of the Corinthian church, and in the midst of their growth pains one of the church leaders was found to be involved in an illicit romantic relationship with his "father's wife" (1 Corinthians 5:1). No doubt more was going on than what had been expressed in the letters to or from Paul.
The issue that had been presented to Paul concerned a church leader who had been teaching, implicitly or explicitly, that there was nothing wrong with such a relationship because in Christ Christians were free, in Christ Christians were no longer bound by the Old Testament or by their old moral habits. We tend to think that we in our day are different than the early Christians were, but here we see that things have not changed much regarding the fundamental concerns of the churches. Such concerns are still rife in the church today.
Paul was responding to a question (or a series of questions) that the Corinthians had written to him about. That original letter has been lost, but we know about it because Paul referred to it. In chapter seven Paul wrote, "Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman'" (1 Corinthians 7:1). After answering that concern with the traditional biblical view of marriage in chapter seven, Paul clarified the issue of freedom in Christ using the concern of food sacrificed to idols in chapter eight. Yes, we are free in Christ, he said.
But there are limits to our freedom that impact more than our own salvation and morality. There are social issues that involve us in the care and concern of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Though we may be technically free to do so, we must not model behaviors that can be misunderstood by others. So, though we are free to eat food that has been dedicated to idols, though we are free to participate in pagan (popular) holiday festivals and celebrations, the better course of action, said Paul, the more mature and responsible thing to do is to avoid such activities — not because they are in and of themselves wrong or immoral, but because other Christians who are less discerning may misunderstand our actions and motivations and fall into temptation and sin as a result of misreading our actions.
Paul understood the tensions related to the issue of Christian freedom. Paul understood the ease with which the most sincere Christians can misunderstand the most basic things. On the one hand, freedom in Christ was the evangelistic cry of the Early Church in the face of political domination by the Romans and similarly in the face of religious repression by the Pharisees. The cry of freedom, then as now, was at the forefront of social and political change.
Against the tide of unrestrained freedom, Paul argued for caution and restraint. Here and elsewhere Paul argued that freedom in Christ did not mean that Christians were free to do whatever they wanted to do — even if there was nothing ultimately wrong with some particular action. But rather, Christians were free in Christ to live in obedience to Christ, free to care for and model behavior suited to the least discerning of Christ's people. Christians can err by improper evaluation of their freedom in Christ, and they can err by improper evaluation of their duties of obedience to Christ. But the danger dealt with here in 1 Corinthians lies in unrestrained freedom. Other dangers and concerns are dealt with elsewhere.
Paul's questions continue. "Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 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? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 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? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same?" (vs. 4-8).
Paul's point here is that Christian freedom incurs a cost. Again, turning Paul's questions into statements he said that Christians indeed have the right to eat and drink whatever they want. Apostles and pastors can marry just as anyone else can, and they can take their wives with them as they minister.
At this point Paul was struck with another thought. Speaking of wives, he implied that it is costly to care for a family and that those costs don't go away because one is in the ministry. Ministers (pastors) have the freedom to marry and have families, but not everyone has the means to do so without actively working to support them. Those serving the Lord Jesus Christ in ministry should not have to pay all their own expenses. It's just not realistic to try to engage in ministry and work another full-time job — and try to raise a family. Their just aren't enough hours in a day to do all that is required by all of these things.
The way that the question is phrased suggests that Paul was a little angry that he had to work a job and take the lead in the ministry of the church(es). Paul seems to be saying that it is unrealistic to expect pastors to work a secular job in order to pay for their own ministry expenses. The fact that Paul was not currently married was a blessing in this regard. It helped to keep Paul's expenses down. But Paul's experience was not to be a norm for ministry.
The synagogue model, upon which the Christian church was built, required at least ten families to establish a local synagogue. Those ten families would then contribute ten percent of their incomes for the maintenance of the ministry, which would support a Rabbi and his family. As the synagogue grew, they could then engage in other ministry projects and mission efforts as more families and funds became available. The point is that the model for church growth was not only self-perpetuating, but would encourage young men to enter into ministry without sacrificing their natural passions and desires for their own family.
Paul seemed to be suggesting that the model of church leadership that he had personally set was not the ideal. The ideal was not to roam the countryside as he had done, but to serve in an established or settled church. Paul's itinerant life as an apostle was not the norm for Christian leadership. We are to model Paul's faith, his commitment to Jesus Christ and his habits of study, prayer, etc., but not his itinerant lifestyle. That was a fluke of history.
Paul's itinerant lifestyle was the result of his former position, his drastic conversion and his change of political allegiance — and, of course, the fact that the Jews perused him relentlessly because they wanted to kill him. In Paul's day, the church was under persecution by both the Romans and the Jews. During his entire life as a Christian, Paul had been running from powerful people who sought to stop his ministry and ultimately kill him. He knew that such a life was not normal. So, in these few questions he was lobbying for churches to provide for those who would provide Christian leadership. A settled ministry by a resident pastor was to be the norm.
Paul went on with his questions. You feed your oxen, don't you? Isn't God concerned about more than oxen? You feed the plowman and the thresher, don't you? All of the workers of the fields share in the bounty of the harvest. Why should it be different in the churches? It shouldn't be. Paul was lobbying for a ministry of Christian Levites, those who collected tithes and administered local social welfare ministries, providing for the poor, widows without families, orphans, etc. These kinds of local welfare concerns were the providence of the local villages, synagogues and churches. This was the model for Christian churches that Paul taught. Obviously, local churches would help other local churches when the needs at hand were more than a local church could handle, as during the Jerusalem crisis (Romans 15:25).
In verse 11 Paul asks, "If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?" Those who focus on the spiritual aspects of the gospel still have material needs. He continued, "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" (v. 11).
Who were the others who shared in the rightful claim upon the tithes of the church that Paul referred to? The local leaders, those who were now opposed to Paul, those who were teaching false doctrine in the Corinthian church. In other words, Paul said that the Corinthians were rightly supporting their leaders, in spite of the fact that those same leaders were teaching falsehoods in their midst. And by extension, then, Paul, who came to correct the errors of the local leaders, was a legitimate recipient of the material care of the Corinthian church as well — even more so, because he was the spiritual father of the church.
And yet, in spite of that rightful claim upon the Corinthian purse, Paul did not request or receive any such care. Why not? Because he did not want to give the impression that his ministry was motivated by monetary concerns. He did not want to be perceived as a hired gun that had come in to clean up the Corinthian church. He did not want to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. In order to insure that he did not give the impression that he was in it for the money, he provided for himself. He worked another job and neither asked for nor received any compensation for his gospel work. But he wanted to make sure that they understood that his actions in this regard were not to be set up as a model for Christian ministry.
We can hear this concern in verses 13-15, "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? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 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."
This last phrase, "deprive me of my ground for boasting" is an unfortunate translation in that it is open to misunderstanding. Other translations render the phrase "make my glorifying void" (ASV), "make my reioycing vaine" (Geneva Bible), "nullify my glorying" (MKJB), "deprive me of this boast" (NIV). None of these translations do justice to this phrase. Paul was not boasting about the purity of his apostleship. As an apostle, he had a rightful claim upon some of the material wealth of the Corinthian church because he founded the church and because he was actively engage in ministry in their midst. But he was not bragging or boasting about his claim upon them or about his position as an apostle. He was not boasting about himself at all, but about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Verse 14 sums up this argument, "In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel." He was merely stating the facts. He was saying that he would rather die than have anyone or anything undermine the truth of the message that he brought to them. Paul was not in it for the money, though he had a rightful claim on compensation for his expenses. Rather, Paul was in it for the glory of God, and he would do whatever was necessary to make that point clear. So, he neither asked for nor received any compensation for his efforts. But he insisted that this was not to be a model for Christian ministry.
Finally, in verse 16 Paul said, "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!" There is no ground for personal boasting in the gospel because the gospel message is a message of both condemnation and salvation, in that order. If there is no condemnation from which to escape, then there is no need for salvation. The message of salvation contains within in, implicitly and explicitly, the understanding of a prior condemnation. Another way to say it is that the gospel message rightly preached convicts both the hearers and the preacher. The gospel truth applies to everyone. Paul was not an exception. He had nothing to boast about in and of himself. The gospel laid the necessity for salvation upon Paul just as much as it laid it on anyone else.
Paul's confession, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel" points to the fact that the gospel message is not a message of universal blessing upon all people. Woe is an expression of grief that issued from Paul's realization that God's curse was upon those who would not respond to the message of salvation in Christ Jesus. Yes, the gospel is a message of good news. But the news is good only if it is received and acted upon. To ignore the message of salvation in Christ means that God's prior covenant with humanity, the covenant that Adam had broken, the covenant that had brought all humanity into sin and damnation, was still in effect apart from Jesus Christ.
It is in the context of this prior covenant that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. Because all humanity and all children in perpetuity are party to Adam's covenant, though not all people realize or accept it, it is already in effect for all humanity. Because all people are descendants of Adam — and later of Noah — all are involved in God's covenant. Another way to say the same thing is that all people are sinners. We are sinners because of Adam's broken covenant. All people are sinners, and all stand in the need of Christ's redemption. No one is exempt.
And what was the gospel that Paul preached? He summed it up for the Colossians: "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister" (Colossians 1:21-23).
Sinners have been reconciled through Christ's death on the cross in order that they may be sanctified and presented to God. Christians are Christ's gift to God, given to God for the glory of God — sanctified, holy and blameless before the judgment of God.
The Lord greatly blessed Paul's efforts. May He bless ours, as well. May the Lord bless you and preserve you from the only other option in the face of His judgment. Lord, have mercy.
