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NOTES for Co1 9:1-14

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1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
2 If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
3 Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,
4 Have we not power to eat and to drink?
5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?
7 Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
8 Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
11 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
12 If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the alter are partakers with the alter?
14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
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In this passage Paul continues the theme of the preceding one: he reminds the Corinthians that he too has to give up his freedom for the sake of love.

At first we hear echoes of accusations against Paul and of some brothers’ doubts about the authenticity of his apostleship. We see that Paul has to make some effort to accept that not everyone recognizes the fruits of his ministry. How could we, who always want the fruits of our ministry to be visible to everyone, fail to understand him? We are reading an epistle written by a living person, not by some stereotyped figure.

Having defended his apostleship, Paul explains to the Corinthians that by every logic, both human and divine, the one who proclaims the Gospel has the right to “live by the Gospel.” Yet he renounces this right, which the Apostle so admirably justifies and so clearly recognizes as his own. Absurd? No: it is logic, but the logic of the Kingdom of God, where love for one’s neighbor matters more than making sure that no one infringes upon my inalienable rights. What did it mean for Paul not to live at the expense of the Christian communities he founded? We read about this in another epistle: “working night and day, so that we might not burden any of you...” (1 Thess 2:9).

Paul apparently hopes that when the Corinthians remember his self-sacrifice, it will be easier for them to give up their freedom to eat food offered to idols if it tempts their brother (giving up such food could also mean losing a material advantage, since such meat was often distributed free of charge at pagan temples).

We see that Paul truly imitated Christ (1 Cor 11:1). Christ gave up everything for our sake, renounced all His rights, and likewise often met with misunderstanding and ingratitude. Let us remember this when we receive no recognition or are forced, for the sake of love, to give up something that rightfully belongs to us.

Other notes

 
For Co1 9:1-14
1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
2 If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
3 Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,
4 Have we not power to eat and to drink?
5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?
7 Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
8 Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
11 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
12 If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the alter are partakers with the alter?
14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
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As if defending himself before accusers unknown to us, Paul says of himself...  Read more

As if defending himself before accusers unknown to us, Paul says of himself that he too, like the other apostles, has every right to receive all kinds of support, including material support, from the churches in which his ministry takes place (vv. 4-11). The accusations may have been connected with the fact that Paul, while not formally belonging to the number of the apostles, meaning the circle of the twelve closest disciples of Jesus and Matthias, who entered that circle by lot, nevertheless considered his ministry apostolic and considered himself deserving of the same treatment from Christians as the other apostles. He emphasizes that apostleship is not formal membership in a particular historically formed circle of people, but a ministry to which God appoints a person through Jesus Christ. If the Corinthian Christians became not merely witnesses of Paul's ministry but its fruit, then they, at least, have no reason to doubt the apostleship of the one who helped them open the road into the Kingdom (vv. 1-3).

At first glance it may appear that Paul is defending certain rights of his own that others are challenging. But he immediately states that neither he nor his companions have ever used these rights, so that they would not be accused of making excessive demands and so that the ministry entrusted to them by God would not suffer from such accusations (v. 12). The matter, as can be seen, lies elsewhere. In the Corinthian church, and perhaps not only there, there were people who considered apostolic ministry too "high" and "spiritual" a matter for those who carried it out to expect such a "low" thing as material support from those who benefited from its fruits.

For Paul, however, it is obvious that no spiritual life, however intense, and no ministry, however exalted, removes the need to eat and drink. Material support for those who carry out apostolic ministry is therefore no less spiritual a task than the ministry itself (vv. 13-14). And the point is not only that such support is often the only way for ministers to devote themselves entirely to ministry without being distracted by earning their daily bread. The point above all is that material support for ministers from those who benefit from the fruits of their ministry is a response without which relations with the ministers become purely ideal, and therefore very insubstantial. Then normal spiritual life, with its real relationships and real responsibility for one another, gives way to a peculiar kind of "spiritual" parasitism that has nothing to do either with the Kingdom or with genuine spirituality.

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