Context No. 3077 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 9:1-7: in context

1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3My defense to those who examine me is this: 4Have we no right to eat and to drink? 5Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work? 7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?

Paul defends his apostleship: am I not free? Have I not seen the Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? And then he lays out his rights: the right to be fed and supported by the churches, to take a believing wife along on his travels, to be paid for his labor. He backs it with homely examples: no soldier serves at his own expense, no one plants a vineyard without eating its fruit, no shepherd tends a flock without drinking its milk.

Paul is establishing that he has every right to be materially supported by the churches he serves. The one who labors deserves his living, and Paul could rightly claim it. And yet, as the chapter goes on, he chooses to lay these rights down for the sake of the gospel. He first establishes the right precisely so that his surrender of it will be seen as a free choice, not a necessity. There is a lesson coming about giving up legitimate rights for the good of others, but first the right itself is real and acknowledged.

Do I recognize the legitimate rights I have, and am I willing, like Paul, to lay them down freely when doing so serves the gospel and others?

Sources

1 Corinthians 9:7: "What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn't eat of its fruit?"
1 Timothy 5:18: "The laborer is worthy of his wages."
1 Corinthians 9:12: "We didn't use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ."