1 Corinthians 9:1-7 – Paul proving his apostleship

First Corinthian 9 naturally flows from 1 Corinthian 8:13, where Paul had imposed a self-limitation for the sake of the weak. Paul had served the invitation to those who felt that they could do anything without considering the weak, to adopt his position. Having said that, he probably felt that they were resistant to his proposition and were questioning the authenticity of his calling as an apostle. So here in verse 1 he began with a series of rhetorical questions that presupposed the affirmative to answer their doubts.

 

Paul wanted them to see that being an apostle he too could exercise his freedom like all others. He asserted that just because he imposed limitation on himself should not make them question his apostleship. Why? Because his apostleship was validated by his encounter with the risen Christ. Furthermore he was the one who had founded the community of believers in Corinth. They were the result of his work.  If anyone should question the legitimacy of his apostleship, it certainly should not be the Corinthians. For their existence as a community of faith in Christ was the result of his work. They were the seal of his apostleship.

 

Verse 3 shows Paul openly challenging his opponents who were scrutinizing his apostleship. They had placed him against their model image of what a wise man should be and began to doubt His calling as a genuine apostle of Christ. Here, those who opposed him were probing about his lifestyle, and his work as a tent-maker to support himself financially. Analyzing those areas, his opponents came to the conclusion that he wasn’t an apostle after all.

 

To answer them, Paul then launched another series of rhetorical questions to prove that, like all the other apostles, he too had the right to choose his lifestyle. He also had the right to eat, to have a wife and to be financially supported by the church that he had founded. But the Corinthians already knew he did not exercise those rights. He wanted them to see the difference between the right and exercising the right. His point is precisely this: he did not exercise his rights, not because he didn’t have them but because he chose not to exercise them. 

 

Some backdrop would help us to understand this passage better. In financial support, the usual arrangement was, apostles were supported by the church. Verse 6 reveals that Paul and Barnabas apparently didn’t take any support from the church. While he had the right to supports, Paul chose to work as a tent maker for his financial needs. To prove that he too had the right to receive financial support Paul used a soldier, a vine-grower and a shepherd to prove his point. Just as these had received their livelihood from their work, so also should preachers of God’s Word have the right to be supported by the church they served.

 

We cannot but see Paul as one who had put the people he served before himself. Self-aggrandizement was never in his nature. His preference had always been for his ministry and the salvation of souls, and not his own interest. His was a life of self-denial in order to serve Christ. What about us?