1 Corinthians 9: To win the race you must participate in it.

(NRSV, 1989)

In chapter nine, Paul uses himself as an example for those Corinthians who are lording their under freedom over others. Keep in mind these people’s statement: “Everything is permissible for me.”

Both slavery and freedom were ever present in the Roman world. Roman citizens, like Paul, had not fear of enslavement within the Empire; however, this is not true for others. Freedom in Paul’s world contained two ideas: freedom from and freedom for. It was the freedom from slavery and the freedom for exercising one’s rights. Paul discusses both of these elements here in this chapter. 

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

As we learned in last chapter, certain members of the Corinthian church had rightly declared that they were free to eat anything that they desired; this included food that had be offered as sacrifices to idols. Paul was concerned that their laissez faire attitude would hinder the spiritual growth of other members of the congregation. Paul’s agrees that Christians are free to act as they see fit but that every choice that they make may not be beneficial to them. And based upon many other topics the apostle discusses in this letter, it is a safe assumption that their eating habits were not the only things with which they were taking liberties.

In these first two verses, Paul is calling into question the Corinthian’s understanding of Christian freedom. Even though he is a Roman citizen—and thus free from slavery and free to exercise his rights—Paul explains here that his freedom does not derive from Rome but from his apostleship; in other words, he is free because of Jesus. His encounter with Christ freed him to do the work of the evangelist, and they are the only proof of this that is necessary. These Corinthians believed they had been made free to do whatever they wanted—like any good Roman would—but Paul tells them otherwise. 

My defense to those who examine me is this: Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas? Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?

As any Roman would have the freedom to exercise his or her rights, so does Paul as an apostle of Christ. He has the right to marry, the right to eat and drink, the right to get paid for his work, and the right to reap the benefits of the harvest. 

Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing? For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen? Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ.

“Is God really concerned about oxen [getting their rightful wage]?” Paul tells the Corinthians that he deserves to “reap material benefits” from them since he has laid the foundation of Jesus Christ in their hearts (back in chapter 3). Like the soldier and the vinedresser and the shepherd and, even, the ox, he is free to claim any benefit as his right. Yet he hasn’t chosen to exercise this right. Instead, he endures “everything so that [he] will not hinder the gospel of Christ.” Just because you can, it doesn’t mean that you’ll benefit from it; and just because you can doesn’t mean you should. And to beat that dead horse just a little more:

Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar?  In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.

Paul has not said these things to the Corinthians to guilt them into providing him with financial support. In fact, he would rather die “than for anyone to deprive [him] of [his] boast!” This may be a little bit of an over exaggeration, but his point is that if he took even the smallest payment from them, his witness—his example—would be for nothing. His boast is not in what he has done through his own choice but what has been accomplished through him by God. He says:

 For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast!

He expounds on this further:

For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach—and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel.

Paul does not take pride in himself or his choice to preach. If he did, he wouldn’t be much of a witness. Here he tells us that he is compelled by Christ to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. He is commissioned—or called—to do so, and it has, therefore, become his responsibility. And a person should not receive praise for doing what he or she is supposed to do. 

Remember Paul’s story. He didn’t want anything to do with Jesus; he was a sworn enemy of the church, yet on that fateful day, Jesus Christ compelled him to preach the gospel to the nations of the world. How funny that this Jew-of-Jews was commissioned to love the Gentiles. This, Paul states in verse eighteen is his only reward: to forgo his rights as a follower of Jesus Christ and “To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge”. But to be clear, Paul gives up much more than his freedom for the exercise of his rights; he also gives up his freedom from slavery and submits to Christ’s yoke. 

Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law. To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.

What Paul tells the Corinthians that he has done will seem delusional and wrong in a culture that elevates identity above everything else. In his self-enslavement to Christ and to his calling Paul’s identity no longer matters to him. What he was, a Jew, doesn’t matter, and who the Corinthians are, Gentiles, doesn’t mat...