No Choice but to Preach the Gospel (1 Cor 9:15-18)

Outline of 1 Corinthians 9:

1. I'm not using my rights (9:1-14). I have rights, but I'm not using it.
   • In defense of his apostleship (9:1-2)
   • Paul's apostolic rights (9:3-14)
2. I'm freely renouncing my rights (9:15-23)
   • Paul's apostolic restraint (9:15-18)
   • Paul's apostolic freedom (9:19-23). I'm a truly free man. [Those who want to be in control won't like such a man.]
3. Self Discipline required to renounce rights (9:24-27). Exhortation and example.

Paul renounces his rights (9:15–18): The apostolic model. From 9:4-14 Paul listed all of his rights in detail. He provided elaborate extensive explanation, and with support from Scripture, and from Jesus as to why he should absolutely be receiving financial support from them. It's his unquestionable undeniable right for them to support him, for he had ministered to them for 18 months. After all this buildup, one expects Paul to demand and insist that they pay up and pay him what they rightfully ought to give him. But, as he's stated (1 Cor 9:12b), this is the exact opposite of his intent!

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Paul never wanted anyone to be able to accuse him of preaching for money (2 Cor 2:17). Yet--by not accepting any money from them--they accused him for not being a real apostle (1 Cor 9:1), for if he was, he'd have accepted payment for his apostolic services like the other apostles (1 Cor 9:4-5, 12). Paul was indeed in a no win situation! There'd always be someone on one side or the other to judge and criticize him. Yet, he was a truly free man (1 Cor 9:19a), whose singular motivation was to preach the gospel (1 Cor 1:17, 23; 2:2; 9:17), believing that the gospel is the only power of God for salvation (1 Cor 1:18; Rom 1:16).

The dramatic climax and pivot-point of ch. 9 (1 Cor 9:15). "I'd rather die than make use of any of my rights..." (1 Cor 9:15b). The sentence in Gk halts abruptly. Then he blurts out that no one will deprive him of his "boast." He explains in 1 Cor 9:16–18. Despite all the biblical reasons to receive financial support, including Jesus' command (1 Cor 9:14), Paul won't take money because he's NOT working voluntarily as an apostle. Unlike the sophists, he won't receive fees for his services. His service is rendered to God, NOT willingly (!) but because he has been "entrusted with a commission / trust" (1 Cor 9:17). It's the image of the slave as steward (4:1–4).

Paul's divine call (1 Cor 9:16-17). Preaching the gospel was not just a job with Paul. It wasn't another way for him to make a living, just a profession. Rather, it was a divine call, an imperative call, an inescapable responsibility. He was not a preacher by choice. He was a preacher by conviction / obligation / necessity. He wasn't in it to make an easy living. Paul preaches because "necessity is laid upon me" (1 Cor 9:16; 7:26). "Necessity" ["obligation"] has been laid upon him by God. To Jeremiah, it's "something like a burning fire shut up in my bones" (Jer. 20:9). He has no choice but to proclaim the gospel. Therefore, his "reward" is, paradoxically, to make the gospel available to others "free of charge" [(1 Cor 9:18); cf. his caustic description of other preachers as "peddlers of God's Word" (2 Cor 2:17)], and NOT make use of his rights.

How is this a "reward" (1 Cor 9:18)? "In offering the 'free' gospel 'free of charge' his own ministry becomes a living paradigm of the gospel itself" (Gordon Fee). His renunciation of rights allows him to share in the pattern of Christ's own sacrificial action and thereby paradoxically to share in the life giving blessings of God.

Reference:

1. Richard B. Hays. First Corinthians. Interpretation. A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. 1997.
2. Gordon D. Fee. First Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the NT. 1987.
   
3. Richard B. Hays. The Moral Vision of the N.T. A Contemporary Introduction to N.T. Ethics. 1996.
4. M.R. De Haan. Studies in First Corinthians. 1995.