NOTES for Co1 9:15-26

“I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” This is probably one of the apostle Paul's best-known sayings. Because it is so familiar, it does not jar the ear and is quite calmly allowed to pass us by. But if we stop and think, what does it mean to become all things to all people? What is Paul talking about? Is this a kind of chameleon-like mimicry? Is it an attempt to adapt oneself to a person in order to manipulate him? Or is it something else after all? There is probably no aim to manipulate. There is, however, an aim: to understand. To enter inwardly into another person's situation, to speak with him in his own language not in order to win his favor, but because that person's language matters to you. It is then that Paul becomes all things to all people—when he tries to understand each person and to feel as the other feels. Then he can speak “from heart to heart.” For we can hope to be understood only if we ourselves understand the person with whom we are speaking.