Good evening. Please turn with me in your bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. The 9th chapter of 1st Corinthians.
We are continuing our slow march through this impactful letter of godly encouragement and wisdom from the Apostle Paul to the struggling little church in the Greek city of Corinth. As we’ve seen most recently in chapter 8, Paul is now answering their questions with regard to freedom.
The specific question at hand was whether or not they could eat meat that had been sacrificed to some pagan idol. Some of the brothers, which we might call the stronger ones, the more mature ones, correctly believed that they were free in Christ to eat the idol-meat. Others, which might be called the weaker brothers, had serious concerns about eating idol-meat, and serious concerns about others eating it. So they asked Paul to weigh in.
Significantly, Paul’s instruction is relevant to us today, not because we have the same question about idol meat, but we have a whole host of related issues. Issues that deal with ethical concerns not explicitly addressed in scripture. These are the gray areas, the secondary issues, the areas that we call Christian liberty, or Christian freedom.
Paul’s argument was that although the stronger brothers were indeed free to eat the idol meat, their sin came in their lack of love for their weaker brothers. They were exercising their genuine liberty, genuine rights in a way that was not lovingly considering the weaker brothers and sisters in the flock, and in doing so they were tempting the weaker brother to violate their own conscience, and thus causing them to stumble.
And then we come to chapter 9, which at first appears to be a bit of a rabbit trail by Paul. Paul, in chapter 9, defends his own apostolic ministry, and his own freedom. But upon closer inspection, Paul is merely taking the principles from chapter 8 and applying them to his own life and ministry. He’s defending the legitimacy of his own rights, his own freedoms, and then demonstrating how willing he was to give up his own rights for the sake of the gospel, and for the sake of loving others well.
But before we get into that, let’s begin by reading chapter 9, verses 1-18, which I hope to cover tonight. 1 Corinthians 9:1-18:
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,[a] 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.
I plan tonight to just work through the text, explain what Paul is saying, and then try to make some observations along the way, a few applications, and let the Holy Spirit apply it to our hearts as He sees fit. This passage is laying a few foundations that will be built upon in the subsequent sermons, so some of the things that we look at tonight, might not be fully unpacked until later sermons.
But let’s begin by looking at verses 1-2 where Paul begins his defense of his own status as an Apostle. Paul says,
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
Paul begins by defending his own Apostleship, his status as an apostle. He was one of the few people that the Lord had specifically revealed himself to, and whom was specifically commissioned by Christ and inspired by the same.
It’s worth noting here that the apostolic status is not a repeatable one. There are some people even today, just as there were some in Paul’s day, who fancied themselves to be apostles. You can watch on TV or hear on the radio of Apostle so-and-so. But that’s just plain wrong. The apostles were eye-witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. Nobody alive today has such credentials.
Further, the apostles were commissioned by Christ. Not everyone who witnessed the resurrection was automatically an apostle. They had to be called, commissioned into such a role.
Furthermore, the apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak and write the word of God. They were tasked with speaking God’s truth on His behalf.
Witness, commission, and inspiration. That’s what makes an apostle.
We could look at Acts 22 and see all three of these marks of an apostle. You don’t have to turn there, I’ll read it to you, but you’re free to go back and read it later to confirm what I am saying. Paul recounts his own conversion and commissioning in Acts 22, starting in verse 12:
“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ [There is the eyewitness part] …skipping to verse 12
12 “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will [there’s inspiration], to SEE the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for him [there is the commission] to everyone of what you have seen and heard.
Paul was an eye witness, was inspired with divine knowledge and insight, and was commissioned by God to serve the church in a special way.
So going back to 1 Corinthians 9, Paul starts his string of rhetorical questions, at least 16 of them by my count, he starts by asking am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? Am I not an eye-witness of the resurrected Lord? He’s asking them, am I not in possession of rights myself? Of course, is the implied answer. Of course he has these rights.
And then he moves on to the fruit of his ministry. 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.
He’s asking them, “does my ministry not bear fruit?” Of all people, you, the Corinthians, should be able to testify to the legitimacy of my apostleship, for you are the proof. You are the seal of my apostleship, testifying to the rightfulness of my ministry, and serving as the verification of his status.
Others had come into Corinth, claiming to be Apostles, and sought to undermine Paul’s status as an apostle. Put Paul simply has to point the finger back to the Corinthian church as simple evidence of his status. And that’s what he does.
That takes us to verse 3:3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. Paul’s having to build his case, his defense, his apologia, for his rights. And what are these rights? Verse 4:
4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Most simply, Paul is teaching that he has a right to maintenance. Or a right to earn a living, to be compensated for his status and work as an apostle. To take the principles from chapter 8, he is the stronger brother, who has a legitimate freedom, a genuine right to this maintenance. And that right is not only his, but it extends to others. Verse 5:
5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,[a] as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
Now, this is a side note, but notice how this verse is totally contradicting what the Roman Catholic church says, both about marriage, and about Mary. The Roman Catholic church says that celibacy, that taking a vow never to marry and to remain chaste for all of life, is the necessary requirement for pastors and priests, and popes for that matter. But that’s the opposite of what Paul says here.
While we’re on the topic of flawed Roman Catholic teaching, notice Paul’s language of the “brothers of the Lord” later in the verse. Jesus had brothers, and Mary had other children, as other places in the gospels makes clear, Like Matthew 12 and Mark 3. Unlike what the Roman Catholic church claims about the perpetual virginity of Mary, Paul was under no such illusion.
Indeed, Paul here defends his right and the right of other apostles to take along a wife in their ministry. Forced celibacy is extra-biblical, is un-biblical, and brings unnecessary temptation for the man of God.
Further, Paul knew that it is of great gain for a man of God to have his wife along-side of him in ministry. Paul and Peter and Barnabas could marry a believing woman and be greatly serve, greatly aided in their ministry to the churches. And if Paul chose to do so, would not his wife also deserve to be care for by the church? That’s the point. And that’s where we get to some application for us.
God calls men to be set apart to be preachers and teachers, pastors in churches, and he also calls missionaries and evangelists to serve the body of Christ. And these men deserve to be compensated for their work, whenever the congregation can do so. Some churches can’t, or they can’t fully support, but where the means are available, the men should be compensated, and should be supported well enough that the wife, and by extension, the family of these men are cared for.
I’m exceedingly grateful for a congregation that is able and willing to give generously so that I can care for my family, and devote my time and energy to the work of the Lord. I am not forced to take a second job, and limit the amount of time in study and prayer for the preaching of the Lord, and that is to your benefit.
We’re all called to give generously so that the church of God can be nourished by men who have time and energy devoted to the word of God and to prayer. We have to be on guard against the temptation to neglect such a duty, for in doing so, we not only neglect the quality of the pastoral work done among us, to our own detriment, but also contradict the will of God, as we will soon see.
But moving on, Paul points out that the Corinthian church had, apparently already extended such a right to maintenance to others. Verse 6: 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
The Corinthians were apparently willing to give others such a right. Maybe it was Apollos, or some others not named earlier in the letter. But his question asks: Does this right not also extend to me and Barnabas? The implied answer is: of course, it does.
Now, starting in verse 7 we get to his explanation of WHY he has this right. And we will see first, that he possesses these rights because they are consistent with expectations. These rights are consistent with expectations. Verse 7:
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?
He starts with the soldier. The mercenary soldier of his day. Does a soldier get hired for no pay? Of course not. Neither does the vineyard owner plant a vineyard and not partake of some of the produce. Neither does a shepherd not get to taste of some of the fruit of his shepherding, the milk. Thus, Paul would say, it’s the same with a minister of God. He’s laboring, and it is consistent with expectations that he would be compensated for such. These are genuine rights of Paul.
But he goes further, Paul’s rights are consistent with the Law. Paul says his rights are consistent with the Law. Verse 8:
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?
Paul here quotes from Deuteronomy about not muzzling an ox who is treading grain. This same passage is quoted in 1 Timothy as well, in a passage expressing similar rights of compensation for a minister.
He asks another rhetorical question at the end of verse 9: does God write this verse because he’s concerned about the oxen? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? The point is that if God is concerned about the oxen getting his due, would it not certainly apply even more in this case, the case of the laborers commissioned by the Lord? Of course, it would.
The plowman plows with hope of sharing in the fruit of his labor, and the thresher threshes in the hope of sharing in the reward. Paul has the right to plow in the field of ministry, so that he can also share in the reaping from it. But he doesn’t stop there.
In verse 12, we see Paul’s rights are consistent with their practice. His rights are consistent with their practice. I mentioned this above, so we won’t linger here long, but he says:
12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
If other apostles have this right, do I not also? Of course, you do, Paul, is the implied answer.
We’ll come back to the second half of verse 12 in a minute, but look at verse 13 and see Paul’s next argument that his rights are consistent with custom. His rights are Consistent with Custom. 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?
The temple workers, both in the Old Testament, and in their day in Corinth, were compensated and fed by their work in the temple. The Levitical priests were not given an inheritance of land in Canaan like the rest of the tribes were. They didn’t have a place to go and earn their own living off of the land. Rather, they were expected to be cared for by the people that they served in the temple. In fact, whenever the priests were forced to go and feed themselves off of the land, then we see the people of God in very bad shape, for the worship of the Lord in the temple was being neglected.
The same would be true today. There are churches that are not giving to the work of God in a generous way, and forcing the man of God to go get another job to make ends meet and care for his family. Now, not all bi-vocational pastors are in this boat. Some are serving the Lord faithfully wherever they can. But when a pastor is forced to be bi-vocational because of the stinginess and greed of the people of God, that is a terrible mark against the church.
I pray none of us ever gets into the mindset of failing to be generous with our money just because we have some difference of opinion or preference with church leadership. Some try to do that. They don’t like some decision or some direction of the pastors or deacons, and so they try to exert their leverage by withholding their giving. That’s a dangerous place to be.
If the man is of upstanding character, like the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3, then why would we not be generous to him, trusting him to be wisely using the money and being generous and hospitable himself? It’s not the job of the sheep to keep a shepherd humble by keeping him in rags, and it’s to the sheep’s own detriment to try and do so. But enough on that.
Moving on, Paul has argued that his rights are consistent with expectations, with the law, with practice, and with custom. Now, let’s see that Paul’s rights are also consistent with the Lord’s own teaching. His rights are Consistent with the Lord’s teaching. Look at verse 14 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Paul says his rights are legitimate because the Lord Jesus ordained the principle. We don’t know if Paul is referring to Jesus’s instruction to the 70 that he sent out in Luke 10, or to some other unrecorded teaching that Jesus gave, perhaps in the days between his resurrection and ascension, or at some other time. In any case, Jesus himself personally taught this, and so the Corinthians who would deny Paul the right of maintenance would deny the explicit teaching of Jesus.
So, there is Paul’s defense. His apology for his right to maintenance, and a few comments about the implied responsibilities for us in churches today. Let’s move on to the rest of the passage and see Paul’s example for us. Paul’s example for us.
And Paul’s example for us is clear. If you look back at the latter half of verse 12 we see Paul say, 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.
Similarly, look at Verse 15:
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.
This introduces Paul’s theme that will run through the remainder of this chapter, into our sermons in the coming weeks. And that theme is a clear willingness from Paul to forsake, even legitimate rights, for the sake of the gospel.
He says he’s willingly forgoing his right to compensation so that the gospel will not be hindered. He was a tent-maker by trade, and would do that on occasion to earn money, so that he wouldn’t be a burden to the churches, and so that nobody could make any accusations upon him.
Nobody could say that Paul was in it for the money. His gospel was able to remain unhindered by such accusations. That’s a high bar.
How willing am I to forgo my legitimate rights so that others would be unable to tarnish the gospel? How quick am I to forsake my rights for the sake of loving others well?
That’s a question for all of us. Are we so thankful to God for the grace of forgiveness found in Christ, that we’d be willing to let go of our rights if it served to love others well, and to speed the gospel along?
If I’m honest, I don’t like to think about that. I like my rights and my freedoms. I like having my just due. I like my liberty. And I don’t like it when somebody tries to impinge upon my freedom.
I push back. I seek to justify. I clamor, and demand, and argue my own freedom and my own righteousness.
But that’s not the way. That’s not what we’re called to. And that’s not what Christ did. Christ had the right to life more than any person who had ever lived. It was his by birth and by merit. And yet what did he do?
He didn’t demand his rights. He didn’t argue for his freedoms, even though they were his to claim. In fact, he didn’t even open his mouth. Isaiah 53:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
Because he loved his people with a perfect love, he was our supreme example of laying down rights for the good of another.
And because he was silent about his rights, we can be forgiven for demanding ours.
Because he was willing to forgo freedom, we can have true liberty.
Because his mouth was silent, we can be forgiven for opening ours in sin.
That’s the gospel, and that’s the good news that so transformed Paul that he’d be willing to suffer greatly for the good of the people of God, and for the spread of the gospel. I hope you know this gospel, and believe in it. I hope you know this savior. For if you do, you too have been forgiven of your selfishness and pride. You’ve been forgiven of thoughtlessly demanding your rights to the detriment of others.
And if you haven’t trusted in this Christ, then know that you have earned something for yourself. You have something coming to you by right. But it’s not freedom. You’re guaranteed the right of eternal punishment and death for your sin. You’ll spend eternity in hell, tasting of your right to judgement, because you selfishly demanded your rights and freedoms in this life. Don’t remain enslaved to sin, earning your eternal right of death.
Instead, come to Christ, and he will grant you freedom, a right to eternal life, a right that can never be taken from you, and is yours only in Christ Jesus.
