1 Corinthians 9:1-12a (NIV)
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?
Paul had been attacked by some who had come to Corinth to preach and teach, as not being a “real” apostle. These men, some of whom billed themselves as “super apostles” because of their impressive credentials, commanded exorbitant fees for their services. They belittled Paul and his associates because they did not charge the Corinthians.
But now Paul comes to his own defense, not because he took money, or because didn’t, but purely on the basis of what he had done for the Corinthians without charging them. Paul founded the Church of Corinth, staying there a year and a half on his second journey (Acts 18:1-18). So, the Christians at Corinth owed him their very souls.
Paul’s credentials as an apostle were impeccable. He had seen the risen Jesus outside of Damascus and had been commissioned for his work among the gentiles by Jesus’ own hand. And Paul had had abundant fruit in souls saved for the kingdom, including in Corinth. The Church members there should need no other evidence.
Even though Paul had not taken money from the Corinthians for his services while there, being provided for by donations from other Churches and making up any differences by working as a tentmaker with Aquilla and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3), it wasn’t because he wasn’t entitled to compensation. He was, morally and scripturally.
In a series of terse questions and short statements, Paul makes his case. The rest of the apostles were considered worthy of support, so why not he and Barnabas? He had had success in leading many to salvation and into all the blessings that go along with that, so why should he not receive a benefit from all his hard work?
Paul makes his case convincingly and conclusively. He is no less an apostle for not demanding money from the Corinthians. The price charged for ministry had never been a mark of a true apostle. Only fruitfulness and success in helping others to grow and mature in Christ was. And by those metrics, Paul definitely qualified!
Father, we still tend to judge someone’s status in the Church, not by fruitfulness in bringing others to the Lord and helping them to mature, but by other, entirely non-scriptural metrics, like the kind of clothes they wear, the kind of car they drive, the kind of house they live in, the number of books they have sold. If they look good on the outside, we figure that they must be doing well at your work. But those metrics can be deceiving. Someone can be very successful financially without being fruitful for Your kingdom. We have seen this in far too many cases of those who are financially successful at ministry, but either fail morally, destroying the faith of many of their followers, or dying or retiring, and having their whole ministry fall apart because there was no lasting root; The whole thing was built solely on their personality. Father, guard us against such faulty foundations. Help us instead to simply focus our energies on bringing people into Your kingdom, and helping them to become powerful, Spirit-filled disciples. That’s the job you’ve given us to do. That’s the work by which we will be judged. Help us to do that work first and foremost, and to do it in your power. Amen.