In verse 7 Paul asked
a rhetorical question. The answer to that question was certainly no. The
apostle wasn’t saying that he had sinned. He wanted them to know that he didn’t
miss the mark just because he didn’t receive any financial support from them.
In Paul’s day, when a speaker refused to receive honorarium, he was considered
to be a cheap imitator of speakers with quality. Speakers with greater insights
were purported to have demanded exorbitant fee for their service. The apostle could
have demanded top billing. But he was frowned upon just because his service was
free of charge
A worldly philosopher had taught that a teacher’s teaching would
not worth anything if he was not paid anything. Paul’s critics might have adopted
that argument. They maligned Paul’s teachings saying it wasn’t worth anything
since Paul didn’t charge anything. His service given free of charge was a proof
of inferiority. He was accused of being a non-conformist. Paul’s reply to them
was that he didn’t charge anything because he didn’t speak for money. His whole
objective was to serve the people.
Paul argued that he was not opposed to receiving money. In verse
8 he implied that he was being supported by other churches. And that support was
enough to see him through his mission in Corinth. He didn’t want the new
believers in Corinth to think that he was a freeloader. In verse 9, he said
that when he was with them he was in need, but He chose not to burden them. The
word burden is a medical term, where a person would be anaesthetized and numbed
in those area of his body that required a surgery on it.
Paul didn’t want the money he could have taken to have a
numbing effect on them till they would be blocked from receiving the truth. Even
though he was in need at that time, he chose not to burden them. And his need
was fully supplied by the brethren who came from Macedonia. So he could continue
not to burden the Corinthians. Here Paul was making an oath that as far as the
truth about Christ was in him, he would continue to minister the Gospel to the
whole Achaia free of charge.
In verse 11 Paul was probably answering their accusation
that he didn’t love them. They had insinuated that he loved the Macedonians that’s
why he accepted their support. He didn’t love the Corinthians that’s why he did
not receive their support. Paul insisted that his policy in Corinth of not
taking their money was not because he didn’t love them but the contrary. It’s
because he truly loved them.
Money wasn’t everything to this great apostle. Some people
peddle the Gospel but Paul refused to have that label hanged on him. He was a
true servant of God, not a mercenary. Like his Lord and Master, Paul gave his life
in serving others, would we? Like Paul, let us gladly spend and be spent for
the sake of the Gospel.
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