July 10 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: I Corinthians 9:15-17 But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. 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.

Having explained the importance of the church providing for the material needs of its preachers, Paul now talks about why he refused to obligate the Corinthian church to take care of his needs. It should be noted here that Corinth may be the only city where Paul did not have the church provide for him. In II Corinthians 12:13 he writes to that church,

"For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you?"

So why did Paul refuse to be compensated by the Corinthians? Back in verse 12 he says that he did not want to "hinder the gospel of Christ". Apparently, Paul feared that if he accepted money from the Corinthians that he would be viewed as a greedy charlatan who was trying to take advantage of those people. In verse 15 Paul repeats that he has not taken their funds, and then states that he has not written the previous verses so that they would begin to pay him. He says that would rather die than have men "make his glorying void". His "glorying" was that he was preaching without compensation, which he chose to do so that no one could ever accuse him of being greedy of filthy lucre. It is interesting to note in verse 16 that he was not glorying in preaching the Gospel, for that was a responsibility that had been given to him by God. Matthew Henry summarized Paul's thinking this way,

"It is my charge, my business; it is the work for which I am constituted an apostle. This is a duty expressly bound upon me. It is not in any degree a matter of liberty. Necessity is upon me. I am false and unfaithful to my trust, I break a plain and express command, and woe be to me, if I do not preach the gospel."

"The reason why it was so important to him to refuse all remuneration as a minister was, that although he preached the gospel, that was no ground of boasting to him. That he was bound to do, yea, woe was denounced against him unless he did preach it. Nothing could be a ground of boasting except something which he was free to do, or not to do. He was free to receive or to refuse a remuneration for preaching; and therefore his refusal to do so was a ground of glorying, that is, a proof of integrity to which he could with confidence appeal."

Verses 17-18 are difficult to interpret. It seems that he is saying that if he was preaching because he chose to ("willingly"), then he would receive compensation or payment ("reward"). It should be noted that Paul was never unwilling to preach the Gospel. However, as he stated in verse 16, he was obligated to preach because of God's calling in his life. Therefore, he preached "against his will", and thus he had been given the stewardship ("dispensation") of the Gospel. His compensation then was that he preached without asking for money from the Corinthians, and he did not abuse the liberty that he had to expect them to meet his financial needs. Ray Steadman put it this way,

"What he is saying is simply that the thing that motivated him, the thing that drove him to work late hours at night making tents, was the sheer delight it gave him to bless and enrich someone else without taking a penny in return. It was the joy of giving that Paul was experiencing."

Those of us in the ministry need to ask ourselves, why do we do what we do? Is it for the money, or because we have been entrusted with the Gospel?