Self-sacrifice

There is a connection between this subject in chapter 9 and what he was talking about in chapter 8. In that chapter he was answering their question about whether or not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to an idol. He said that because an idol is nothing, eating or not eating such meat is really a matter of indifference as far as your Christian life is concerned. But where other people are involved, it may well be that for them, it is not a matter of indifference because of the meat’s association with a pagan temple.

Paul, however, makes a distinction between the rights and the exercising of them. This is where the emphasis of Mabel Williamson’s book comes in. It is a question of laying these aside, of waiving our rights for the sake of something which we believe by the instruction of God is of far greater importance. Here is the way Paul develops it in this chapter. First of all, he talks about himself as an apostle because that is what he has to establish. He wants to show that because of his calling, he has been given certain rights to which he is entitled.

From other references we understand that two qualifications needed to be met in order to be an apostle. First of all, he had to have seen the Lord. From Acts 1 we see that an apostle was to be a witness of the Lord during the days of His ministry from the time of the baptism of John until His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. The second qualification is that an apostle needed to be chosen specifically by Christ Himself. And in the case of Matthias, who replaced Judas, he was numbered among the apostles through the casting of lots, which was used to discern the Lord’s will in the selection.

Paul gives a number of reasons why he has a right to be supported in his missionary work. First of all, in verse 7 he deals with what I would call a universal principle, which is simply that the laborer is worthy of his reward. He illustrates it in different ways. He talks about a soldier who is serving and therefore has a right to be paid. Next, he talks about a man who keeps a vineyard, and who therefore has a right to eat of its grapes when the harvest comes. Finally, he talks about a shepherd, who has a right to some of the milk of the flock. If an individual is working for a company, that individual has the right to the wages that are commensurate with that job. It is the same in Christian ministry.

Of course, that is not at all what Paul is doing. He is certainly not trying to work a situation to his financial benefit. His emphasis is entirely on the other side. Although he has these rights, he has willingly laid them aside in order that he might have the privilege of taking the Gospel to the Corinthians without cost. He does this because he does not want anybody to misunderstand his motivations.