1 Corinthians 9:12b-18 (NIV)
But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
Even though Paul had a right to be paid by the Corinthians during the year and a half he had spent with them previously, winning souls for the kingdom, planting congregations across the city, and helping those new Christians to grow and to learn how to bring even more people into the kingdom, he did not ask for or receive any pay from them. This was in sharp contrast to the Judaizer apostles who had come to them after Paul left, promising to share with them the “true” gospel, for a price.
Paul is not writing this to the Corinthians to shame them into supporting him. He has received support from other Churches, and in fact received support from other churches while he was serving in Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:8), enabling him to share the gospel with the Corinthians and not have to request a salary from them.
Paul’s main point here is that a person demanding or receiving a salary for sharing the gospel does not make them more legitimate in their apostleship than someone who shares the gospel without any request for compensation. And it does not make their gospel anymore true. In fact, the gospel of the Judaizer apostles had some serious defects!
Paul did not preach the gospel as a way to make a living (although the Scriptures point out that this is not an illegitimate way to make a living), but because he had been commissioned to spread the gospel by the risen Savior Himself. And on the basis of that commission, he could have done it dutifully. But instead, he did it eagerly, wanting to share the new life he had been given with as many people as possible, whether he received anything from them for his laborers or not.
Father, these days a lot of Christians leave the sharing of the gospel to the professional clergy. The rationale seems to be “that’s what they’re paid for”! So, a very small percentage of the people in the church do the actual work of the church, and a very small percentage of the people who could be saved, who should be saved, actually get to hear the good news in a way that they can respond to. But that’s not the model we see in the New Testament Church, where your people spread the good news far and wide whether they were leaders in the Church or not. And so, the news was spread effectively, and tons of people heard, responded, and were saved. Lord, help us to let go of our faulty, ineffective philosophy of evangelism – that it’s the pastor’s job – and take up instead Your philosophy – it’s MY job. Amen.