1 Corinthians 9:4-6

The rights P. vindicates for himself and his fellow-labourers in the Gospel, are (a) the right to maintenance; (b) to marriage; (c) to release from manual labour. (a) μὴ οὐκ ἔχομεν; “Is it that we have not?” ironical question, as in 1 Corinthians 11:22 “Of course we have”. P. writes in pl [1282] collegas includens (Bg [1283]), the ἀποστολὴ suggesting οἱ λοιποὶ mentioned in the next ver. ἐξουσίαν φαγεῖν καὶ πεῖν (later Gr [1284] for πιεῖν), “right to eat and drink,” sc. as guests of the Church: see Mark 6:10; Luke 10:7; Luke 22:30. The added καὶ πεῖν, and the illustrations of 1 Corinthians 9:7; 1 Corinthians 9:13, show that the obj [1285] of the two vbs. is not the idolothyta, but the material provision for Christ's apostles, supplied by those they serve (1 Corinthians 9:11); this ἐξουσία is analogous to, not parl [1286] with, that of 1 Corinthians 8:9, belonging not to the ἐλεύθερος as such, but to the ἀπόστολος; cf. the Didaché, 13, “Every true prophet is worthy of his food”. George Fox characteristically notes the moderation of the demand: “The Ap. said ‘Have I not power to eat and to drink?' But he did not say, ‘to take tithes, Easter reckonings, Midsummer dues, augmentations, and great sums of money'.” ἐξουσίαν, as a verbal noun, governs the bare inf [1287], like ἔξεστιν. (b) Paul claims, in order to renounce, the ἐξουσίαν ἀδελφὴν γυναῖκα περιάγειν the “right to take about (with us) a sister as wife” i.e., a Christian wife: brachyology for “to have a Christian sister to wife, and take her about with us”. ἀδελφὴν is obj [1288], γυναῖκα objective complement to περιάγειν, on which the stress lies; “non ex habendo, sed ex circumducendo sumtus afferebatur ecclesiis” (Bg [1289]). The Clementine Vg [1290] rendering, mulierem sororem circumducendi (as though from γυν. ἀδελφ.), gives a sense at variance both with grammar and decorum, not to be justified by Luke 8:2 f. This misinterpreted text was used in defence of the scandalous practice of priests and monks keeping as “sisters” γυναῖκες συνεισακτοί, which was condemned by the Nicene Council, and often subsequently; so Jerome (Ep. 23, ad Eustoch.), “Agapetarum pestis … sine nuptiis aliud nomen uxorum … novum concubinarum genus” (see Suicer's Thesaurus, s. vv. Ἀγαπητή, Ἀδελφή). From the ὡς καὶ clause it appears that “the rest of the App.,” generally speaking, were married, and their wives often travelled with them; the “forsaking” of Luke 18:28-30 was not final (in the parl [1291] Matthew 19:28 f., Mark 10:28 ff., γυνὴ does not appear); according to tradition, John however was celibate. “The brothers of the Lord” were also orthodox Jews in this respect (on their relationship to Jesus, see Lt [1292], Essay in Comm [1293] on Galatians); indeed, they came near to founding a kind of Christian dynasty in Jerus. “And Cephas,” separately mentioned as the most eminent instance of the married Christian missionary. The association of the ἀδελφοὶ τ. Κυρ. with the ἀπόστολοι does not prove that they were counted amongst these, or bore this title of office: while distinguished from the latter by their specific name (cf. Galatians 1:19), they are linked with them as persons of like eminence; see the position of James in Acts. (c) The third ἐξουσία, μὴ ἐργάζεσθαι, Paul and his old comrade Barnabas had laid aside. Barn. had stripped himself of property at Jerus. in the early days (Acts 4:36 f.); and he and P. together, in the pioneer mission of Acts 13 f., worked their way as handicraftsmen. Now separated, they both continued this practice, which was exceptional μόνος ἐγὼ κ. Βαρνάβας. The allusion implies wide-spread knowledge of the career of Barn., which ends for us at Acts 15:39. Notwithstanding the παροξυσμὸς in which they parted, the two great missionaries remained in friendly alliance; cf. Paul's reff. to Mark, Barnabas' cousin, in Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11. For ἐργάζομαι, as denoting manual labour, see parls.; a cl [1294] usage, like that of Eng. workmen. This third ἐξουσία was the negative side of the first (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:9, also 2 Corinthians 11:9, and ἀδάπανον θήσω of 18 below). The three rights in fact amount to the one which Paul argues for in the sequel: he might justly have imposed his personal support, and that in the more expensive character of a married man, upon the Christian communities for which he laboured, thus sparing himself the disadvantages and hardships of manual toil.

[1282] plural.

[1283] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[1284] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1285] grammatical object.

[1286] parallel.

[1287] infinitive mood.

[1288] grammatical object.

[1289] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[1290] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[1291] parallel.

[1292] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1293] commentary, commentator.

[1294] classical.