This passage is one of many that make me ponder what I have done with my life as a Christian as well as pastor. Have I really lived with this sense of being all in for the gospel? I am not so sure. I invite you to consider the priority the gospel has had in your life. Yes, Paul is responding to the call of God on his life to be an apostle. He writes about what that means. However, each of us has a calling from God as well. How would we express the priority that calling has had upon our lives? We need to remember that our actions speak louder than words. We may win people close to us if they see that it empowers and beautifies our lives. Such a priority in our lives is not easy. It may require some careful examination of our conduct. Our judgmental attitude toward others will not aid in that witness!
In I Corinthian 9:16-18, Paul begins with identifying his divine call to preach. 16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting. The call to be an apostle does not come from him. For an obligation (ἀνάγκη or necessity, something he must do) is laid on me, and woe (Habakkuk 2:12, Isaiah 3:11, and Jeremiah 4:13) to me if I do not proclaim the gospel (εὐαγγελίζωμαι)! Not to preach the gospel would lead to suffering woes associated with disobedience.[1] It reminds us of the characterization Jeremiah gives us of his call to proclaim the divine word, where it becomes something like a burning fire shut up in his bones. He is weary holding it within. In fact, he can do so no longer (Jeremiah 20:9). A moralist or philosopher can keep truth within by forever pondering it from its many dimensions, whereas the apostle must be a missionary for the truth.[2] The apostle must witness or confess in public to the work of God.[3] 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, then God has entrusted me with a commission (οἰκονομίαν,derived from the notion of the management of a household or of household affairs; specifically, the management, oversight, administration, of others' property; the office of a manager or overseer, as in the steward of the property of another). The word relates to a term Paul uses in 4:1-4, where he discusses stewards and stewardships. Stewards were often slaves who were house managers. Thus, they were slaves of a master but simultaneously a supervisor of other slaves.[4] In 4:1-4, Paul characterizes himself as one of the stewards of God's mysteries. Paul's use of oikonomian in verse 17 suggests that Paul is making a similar move here. Paul sees himself as one whom God has entrusted with the task of proclamation. He is a slave to God, and thus, a slave to all (9:19). His statement in these three verses echoes 1:17, where he asserts that Christ did not send him to baptize but to proclaim the gospel (εὐαγγελίζεσθαι). Moreover, in 1:21, Paul states the importance of proclamation since it is through the foolishness of proclamation that God saves those who believe. From the outset of the epistle, Paul maintains that the power of the proclamation does not rest upon eloquence or human wisdom but in the content of the proclamation which is Christ crucified (1:17, 23-24) for Christ himself is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1:24).18 What then is my reward? This comment regarding a reward is difficult to understand. Paul could be referring to preachers who did not have a call to preach but were willfully preaching because they wanted some type of compensation.[5] If so, Paul may contrast himself with them by characterizing himself as one who preaches unwillingly.[6] This contrast is not the first time Paul draws a distinction between himself and others who proclaim the gospel. For example, in the beginning of the letter, Paul distinguishes himself from those who preach eloquently, maintaining that his proclamation is not about human wisdom or sophisticated rhetoric but a "demonstration of the Spirit and of power (2:4; cf. 1:17; 2:1-5, 13). His reward is just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. We can see here the basis for the view that the apostolic gospel functioned as a given norm in the process of developing the episcopal office, a norm that alone could give validity to the office.[7]
In I Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul shows the way in which he is a slave of all. The passage shows the adaptability of Paul for the sake of the gospel. Paul has a saving purpose in his relation to others. Thus, Paul does not belong to any group but to all. He is at home anywhere. 19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win (κερδήσω, or gain, occurring five times, the purpose of his enslavement) more of them. He wants to win people to the gospel. This statement presents a contrast to what he says in 9:1 where he asserts his freedom. In 8:9-13, the proper use of freedom is to benefit others. He presents himself as an example to the Corinthians of how to use one’s freedom for the benefit of others. Though he is free, he makes himself a slave and though as an apostle he has the freedom to charge for preaching, he utilizes this freedom to make the gospel free to all (9:11-15, 18). 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. Because Paul was born a Jew, the statement presents a conundrum. His words suggest that he was not only born a Jew, but followed Jewish practices prescribed by the Mosaic Law. Nonetheless, Paul does not clarify further what he means by providing a list of specific Jewish practices he continued to follow.[8] While claiming to become under the law, Paul simultaneously maintains that he is not under the law suggesting the voluntary nature of his "becoming a Jew." It is important to note here, that for Paul the law is not evil or even impossible to keep. In fact, Paul has positive views of the law elsewhere such as in Romans 7:12 where he states that the "law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (NRSV) and in Philippians 3:6 where he contends that "as to righteousness under the law" (NRSV) he was blameless. For Paul, then, one of the problems with the law was its inability to save or give life (Galatians 3:21-22). Yet, he believed that by allowing himself to follow the practices of the law, he would be able to save those who lived under the law. 21 To those outside the law (ἄνομος) I became as one outside the law, reiterating his claim elsewhere that he is an apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:9-10). (Though I am not free from God’s law (ἄνομος Θεοῦ, or to put it in parallel construction, ‘I am not outside the law of God”) but am under Christ’s law (ἔννομος Χριστοῦ), expressing the fact that in Christ something else confronts the Mosaic Law so that its validity is at an end.[9] Behind both Torah and Christ’s law is the saving action of God. God has a “law,” but has moved from Torah to Christ for its expression. Again, the reason for his enslavement is that I might win those outside the law. Many scholars believe that Gentiles compromised the largest share of the Corinthian congregations; therefore, they would be proof of the success of the missionary endeavors of Paul. Indeed, the remarks of Paul in 12:2 in which he reminds the Corinthians that they were once "pagans ... enticed and led astray to idols" (NRSV) strongly suggests that the Corinthians were those "apart from the law." Paul discusses law and gospel in a broader context, stating that the proclamation of the gospel is above all dispute about the law, which moves on a different level. Only from the standpoint of a question that was not now that of the apostle Paul did the Reformers related what he said about the gospel to what he said about the law. They did so in such a way as to oppose them to each other as different forms of address to us. They viewed the law as an expression of the demand of God in antithesis to the gospel as promise and pronouncement of the forgiveness of sins. In Paul, we have in the law on the one side, and faith in Christ on the other, two realities in salvation history that belong to two different epochs in what God does in history.[10] 22 To the weak (in conscience, the overly scrupulous) I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. This group could consist of those he talks about in chapter 8, who are weak in conscience to idol meat. Alternatively, it could consist more broadly of those believers who still want to follow the law or of those Paul declares as weak in 1:27 -- people who are sociologically disadvantaged (cf. 1:26-31). If one follows this trajectory, however, then the weak are Christians that gives κερδήσω a different meaning than the one present with the other two groups that consist of nonbelievers. Yet, it is possible, that the weak, like the other two groups, are non-Christians whom Paul wants to convert. Moreover, the weak could also be a phrase used to characterize and summarize the plight of the other two groups -- with or without the law they are all powerless to save themselves.[11] 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share (συνκοινωνὸς become a participant or fellow partner) in its blessings. His overriding allegiance is as a partner with the gospel. He does this because the gospel is so precious to him. He declares the ultimate role the gospel plays in his life. Here is the reason for all that he does and all that he endures. In 4:11-13, Paul presents a brief résumé of an apostle who makes himself a slave to all: He is hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten, homeless, reviled, persecuted, slandered, and considered rubbish of the earth. Thus, he participates in suffering which is at the heart of the gospel message. The dual reality of suffering and blessing goes hand in hand for Paul and sheds light on his statement later in the letter in which he writes, "Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (15:58, NRSV). Remaining steadfast during suffering for the sake of the gospel ensures that one will participate not only in suffering but also in the gospel's ultimate victory.
[1] (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "First Corinthians," The Anchor Yale Bible [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 367-68).
[2] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [47.5] 607.
[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.4 [53.2] 76.
[4] (Paul W. Marsh, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979], 1356)
[5] (Paul W. Marsh, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979], 1366)
[6] (Paul W. Marsh, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979], 1366)
[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 380-1.
[8] (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "First Corinthians," The Anchor Yale Bible [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 369-70).
[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 62.
[10] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 61.
[11] (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "First Corinthians," The Anchor Yale Bible [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 371-72).
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