1 Corinthians Commentary Chapter 9 (2)

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1 Corinthians Commentary Chapter 9 (2)

Paul is an apostle with a clear inner calling.

In modern terms, that would be an inner calling, or subjective calling.

In addition, he said to the church in Corinth that you are the proof that I am an apostle, so it is an objective calling, and an apostle with a clear outer calling. 

A disciple gives birth to a disciple.

A person who does not have the discipleship of being born again according to the coming and going of Christ, becoming a new creation, having a living hope, obeying the truth, and loving with a pure heart cannot make others walk the same path as him.

Therefore, it is very important to have the qualification to boldly call on the name of the Lord by gaining freedom from sin and freedom in the truth.

Only then can we confidently declare that, like Paul, we are servants of the Lord who were sent by the Lord for the gospel.

Verse 2 “If I be not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the  seal of mine apostleship are you in the Lord.” 

The concept of sealing means recognition, guarantee, or stamping.

It means that the Corinthian church, which Paul gave birth to by testifying to the Word, guarantees that Paul was an apostle.

Therefore, each person's faith must have their own certificate like Paul.

This is the base camp of faith. And it's each person's sense of identity.

Personally, I was concerned about why the church had no emotion or testimony of biblical salvation, even though there was some revival in the church, good words, and healing of the sick.

Then, through the word, I gained confidence that I could become a minister of the word, that is, a sense of identity, from the moment when the salvation recorded in the Bible actually occurred.

Verse 3 “Mine answer  to them that do examine me is this.”

Paul makes a defense to those who question him, that is, those who judge, criticize him.

His defense is in verse 2. "doubtless I am a apostle, and the seal of mine apostleship are you."

Therefore, we should not boast only about being called by the Lord. In fact, Judas Iscariot was also called. Like Paul, we should be able to speak boldly about what we have done.

Verses 4-5 ask, “Don’t we have the right to eat and drink and the right to marry?”

In fact, the celibacy of priests and nuns is not biblical. At that time, all the apostles had wives and children. Only Paul could remain celibate.

And verse 6, “Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?”

Why don’t we have the right not to work?

At that time, the general command center of the church was Jerusalem.

And the apostles were out in the mission field.

Paul is asking, “Don’t I have the right to be in the command center like everyone else?”

In the military, it would be an administrative unit, and in a company, it would be an office, not a factory.

Paul could do that too. In today’s terms, it means he could do general assembly politics.

Only Paul traveled around Asia Minor three times. His Roman citizenship would have been very useful.

It would be a much stronger guarantee of identity than something like American citizenship.

Among the contents of verses 7-10, these are extremely basic common sense.

The hope of those who work the fields is the reward of working to be with the harvest.

However, it is good to see that those who reap a lot of the things of the flesh through ministry are dangerous.

People who are good at management should be able to clearly answer whether they are ministers or businessmen.

Verse 14 “Even so has the Lord  ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.”

It means that we should live by the gospel.

Workers have food when they work.

Matthew 10:10 “Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.”

Verse 15 “But I have not used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done to me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.”

This means that the apostle Paul should not turn his boasting into acknowledging himself.

It does not mean that he should be treated well. 

So he says, it were better for me to die.

Paul's boast was in 2 Corinthians 12:10.

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

Also in 2 Corinthians 11:30, "If I must glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities."

It is because of the truth of Christ in him.

Christ must reveal through himself, but his flesh is strong, so he is worried that he will reveal himself.

This is awe and piety.

Because awe is that one is nothing before God, and piety is that one reveals only Christ for oneself.

The spirit of the Apostle Paul's ministry is precisely in 1 Corinthians 9.

It is a confession that comes from his very roots.

Verse 16 “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is to me, if I preach not the gospel!”

In fact, it is a disaster for the Lord’s workers not to preach the gospel.

The reason they cannot preach is probably because they have nothing to preach.

However, Paul says that he has been given the mission to preach the gospel, so he must do it.

This means that if you do not have this sense of mission, you will be in woe.

Verse 17 “For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me.”

The office itself becomes a reward.

The work entrusted to me is the Lord’s reward.

If you take on a position voluntarily, it is taking it upon yourself.

For example, it is like students saying, “I will be the class president.”

However, those who do it voluntarily think that their reward is always in the future, while those who are called by the Lord and take on a position think that the position itself is a reward.

Verse 18 “What is my reward  then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I  abuse not my power in the gospel.”

What is my reward?

The blessing of being able to preach the gospel without conditions is Paul’s reward.

He is grateful for the very fact that he was given the duty of preaching the gospel, even though he does not receive anything in return.

It is natural that power appears to such people along with the gospel.

Verse 19: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I  made myself servant to all, that I might gain the more.”

He is both free and servant.

The older son in Luke 15 is a slave son, and the prodigal son is a slave as a son.

The prodigal son who returns is a free man and a slave.

And he becomes a slave of love.

However, like the older son, he is bound and works out of duty, and he is a slave who works even though a son.

Verse 20 “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law.”

Not being under the law but being under the law, it is like a person who knows how to swim saving people.

When Paul with the new covenant goes to the legalists, they know that the law is being fulfilled by the power of Christ.

The outward Christians are challenged and shamed by the inwardly Christians.

However, the immature people end up arguing with each other, trying to establish their own positions.

A free man may or may not do it, but he says that he becomes a servant of another in order to participate in the gospel of Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:23)

It is to gain others to become like himself.

Verse 24 “Know you not that they which  run in a race  run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.”

Like the runners in a race, run to receive the prize. You must run like stealing a base in baseball.

There can be only one prize winner.

Jesus Christ came to this earth and returned according to God's will, becoming the goal and method for all people to receive salvation.

Therefore, if you become one with Christ and run like a two-person, three-legged race, relying on him, you will participate in his victory and his prize.

Verse 25 “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”

The temperance spoken of here is not suffering, but self-control.

It refers to temperance and control through the power of Christ.

What is Paul’s fear in verse 27?

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest, that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Ministers should fear that they will not be recognized by themselves.

It is a great misfortune to think of oneself as useless.

However, Paul says, “I have nothing to blame myself for.”

When salt loses its flavor, the usefulness of salt is not in its name but in its power.

The reason he is not recognized by himself is because he has zeal but no goal, as in verse 26.

He is running aimlessly and fighting in vain.

“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that were beats the air.”

Paul does not boast in chapter 9 about his experience in Damascus when he was called by the Lord as a sign of his being an apostle of Christ.

He states that the content of his ministry is the evidence that he is an apostle.

If a businessman works only for profit, he will not be very successful, and if a farmer farms only for the sake of profit, he will not get very far.

In the same way, those who have been called by the Lord and sent as apostles should not do their work only for their own benefit.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

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