INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 9 The principal things in this chapter are the proof of the apostle's office and authority; arguments for his own maintenance, and the maintenance of Gospel ministers; reasons why he did not make use of his right and privilege in this respect: and the whole is conclude... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I NOT AN APOSTLE? AM I NOT FREE?.... The Syriac, Ethiopic, and Vulgate Latin versions, put the last clause first; so the Alexandrian copy, and some other copies; and many interpreters are of opinion that it is the best order of the words; the apostle proceeding by a gradation from the less to the... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I BE NOT AN APOSTLE UNTO OTHERS,.... This is said by way of supposition, not concession; for he was an apostle to many others; he was an apostle of the Gentiles in general; as the apostleship of the circumcision belonged to Peter, that of the uncircumcision fell to his share: but however, as if h... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE ANSWER TO THEM THAT DO EXAMINE ME IS THIS. These words are referred by some to the following, as if the apostle's answer lay in putting the questions he does in the next verses; but they rather seem to belong to the preceding, and the meaning to be this, that when any persons called in question... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE WE NOT POWER TO EAT AND TO DRINK?] Having proved his apostleship, he proceeds to establish his right to a maintenance as a Gospel minister; which he expresses by various phrases, and confirms by divers arguments: by a "power to eat and drink", he does not mean the common power and right of mank... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE WE NOT POWER TO LEAD ABOUT A SISTER, A WIFE,.... The phrase "a sister, a wife", is an Hebraism, and answers to אחתיכלה, "my sister, spouse", Song of Solomon 4:9. The Jews called their wives, sisters, not on account of religion, which also is not the meaning here; but because of the common rela... [ Continue Reading ]
OR I ONLY AND BARNABAS,.... Who were for a great while companions and fellow travellers; are we alone? are we exempted from those rights and privileges, common to others? HAVE NOT WE POWER TO FORBEAR WORKING? that is, with their hands, at their trades and occupations, to get their living by: Paul w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO GOETH A WARFARE ANY TIME AT HIS OWN CHARGES?.... Some people have done so, as did the Habessines e, and the ancient Romans f; though before the apostle wrote this, the senate had made an act, that the soldiers should have a stipend from the public; and this being now so common, and universally o... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY I THESE THINGS AS A MAN?.... After the manner of men, reasoning from things common among men, and obvious to everyone's observation: OR SAITH NOT THE LAW THE SAME ALSO? As the subject the apostle is upon was capable of being illustrated and confirmed by instances common unto, and easy of observ... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT IS WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES,.... Deuteronomy 25:4 THOU SHALT NOT MUZZLE THE MOUTH OF THE OX THAT TREADETH OUT THE CORN. The manner of threshing, or beating out the corn among the Jews, was not the same with ours; it was not done by the flail, at least not always, but by the means of oxen;... [ Continue Reading ]
OR SAITH HE IT ALTOGETHER FOR OUR SAKES,.... That is, God says this, or delivers out this law, forbidding the muzzling the ox, while it treads out the corn; not merely for the sake of the ox, but chiefly for the sake of men; and so Jarchi upon the place says, that the ox is mentioned, להוציא את אדם,... [ Continue Reading ]
IF WE HAVE SOWN UNTO YOU SPIRITUAL THINGS,.... The preachers of the Gospel are compared to sowers of seed; the seed they sow is the word of God, which is like to seed, for its smallness and despicableness in the eyes of carnal men; and yet as the seed is the choicest which is laid by for sowing, the... [ Continue Reading ]
IF OTHERS ARE PARTAKERS OF THIS POWER OVER YOU,.... Meaning not any tyrannical power and jurisdiction over them, with respect either to faith or practice; but the right of a maintenance, which either the false apostles, or the true ordinary ministers of the word there, justly claimed, and did enjoy:... [ Continue Reading ]
DO YE NOT KNOW, THAT THEY WHICH MINISTER ABOUT HOLY THINGS,.... Not the priests in the temples of the Heathen deities, as the Ethiopic version suggests; but the priests in the temple at Jerusalem, who were employed in slaying the sacrifices, taking off their skins, cutting them into pieces, laying t... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO HATH THE LORD ORDAINED,.... That is, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 10:10 it is an order and appointment of his that his ministering servants, who labour in preaching his Gospel, should be sufficiently taken care of, as to a comfortable livelihood; he has not indeed fixed it in the same w... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I HAVE USED NONE OF THESE THINGS,.... Either none of these arguments or reasons, for a minister's maintenance, taken from the reason of things, the law of Moses, the examples of the priests and Levites, and the order and appointment of Christ, in favour of himself, and that he might be provided... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOUGH I PREACH THE GOSPEL, I HAVE NOTHING TO GLORY OF,.... The sense is not, that if he preached the Gospel in order for a livelihood, and to serve his private advantage, he should have no room for glorying; since, if this was the case, he should be obliged to do it, or perish for want: but his... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF I DO THIS THING WILLINGLY,.... That is, not freely and without receiving anything for preaching, without seeking any temporal profits and advantages; nor in pure love to Christ, and the good of souls, without any fear of punishment, or hope of reward; but the apostle supposes a case which was... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS MY REWARD THEN?.... None at all, I have none to expect, hope for, or claim, in a way of debt; I am a servant intrusted by my Lord with the Gospel, and an unprofitable one I am; I do, at most and best, but what is my duty, and for that I can claim no reward: all the reward that remains is onl... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOUGH I BE FREE FROM ALL MEN,.... As an apostle, being in the highest office in the church, he had none superior to him, that could exercise any power and authority over him, and was also independent of men for his maintenance, which he got by his own hand labour: though it may be observed, tha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND UNTO THE JEWS I BECAME AS A JEW,.... That is, in religion; or with respect to some religious observances peculiar to the Jews, for he himself was really a Jew by nature; who became as one unto them in this sense, when he for their sakes circumcised Timothy at Derbe, or Lystra, purified himself a... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT LAW, AS WITHOUT LAW,.... Meaning the Gentiles, who, though they were not without the law of nature, nor without many good civil laws, by which the more cultivated and civilized nations among them were governed, yet they were without the written law of Moses; a description of... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE WEAK BECAME I AS WEAK,.... That is, to weak Christians, who were weak in faith, and had not such clear knowledge of Gospel liberty, and therefore scrupled the eating of some sorts of meat, and particularly meats offered to idols; and the apostle so far consulted the peace and edification of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS I DO FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE,.... The Alexandrian copy and some others read, "all things I do", c. and so the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions that is, he became all things to all men, and so and so to different persons; not for his own sake, for his own temporal advantage, or to curry fav... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOW YE NOT THAT THEY WHICH RUN IN A RACE,.... The allusion in this and the following verses is to the Grecian games, which consisted, among other things, of running of races, and of wrestling, combating, and fighting; and which are in this and the context particularly mentioned: and the apostle the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EVERY MAN THAT STRIVETH FOR THE MASTERY,.... Either in running a race, or in wrestling; for the word here used agrees with both, and both are in the context referred to, nor has the apostle as yet done with his allusion to running in a race; IS TEMPERATE IN ALL THINGS; contains himself from ven... [ Continue Reading ]
I THEREFORE SO RUN,.... The apostle animates the Corinthians by his own example, telling them that he ran so as he exhorted them; he ran with cheerfulness and swiftness in the way marked out for him, looking to Jesus; continuing steadfast in the profession of his faith, and discharge of his duty as... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I KEEP UNDER MY BODY,.... The allusion is still to fighters, who, by cuffing and boxing, give their antagonists black and blue eyes, which is the proper signification of the word here used: so it is said u of Menedemus, that in questions or scholastic exercises, he was so vehement and pugnacious... [ Continue Reading ]