1 Corinthians 9:14

Note

Paul has argued from common life and from the law that those who preach deserve support. His last and weightiest reason is neither custom nor analogy: the Lord Himself has ordered it so.

Chapter 9 builds its case step by step, and the last example before this verse is the priests of Israel: "those who work in the temple eat of its food" (1 Corinthians 9:13). "In the same way" carries the argument from that order to the words of Jesus. As when he gives a command on marriage, "not I, but the Lord" (1 Corinthians 7:10), Paul here rests on what the Lord taught during His ministry. Sending out the Twelve, Jesus told them to take no bag or second tunic, "for the worker is worthy of his provisions" (Matthew 10:10). Luke has the same saying with "wages" (Luke 10:7).

The noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) appears twice. First it is what is proclaimed (to euangelion); then, with the preposition ek, it is where the living comes from (ek tou euangeliou): out of the gospel. The gospel is both the message and the means of life for those who give themselves to it. The verb for preaching here is not euangelizomai but katangellō (καταγγέλλω), ‘to proclaim, to announce publicly’, in the present participle. "Has prescribed" is diatassō (διατάσσω) in the aorist, the verb Matthew uses when Jesus "had finished instructing His twelve disciples" (Matthew 11:1). Paul uses the same verb for what he himself prescribes in all the churches (1 Corinthians 7:17); here the one who prescribes is the Lord.

The KJV ends plainly: "should live of the gospel." The LSV, "to live of the good news," keeps the same shape, and both repeat the noun as the Greek does. The BSB's "receive their living from the gospel" says what "live of" meant to an older English reader. The KJV's "ordained" and the LSV's "directed" both hear the verb as a command, not a suggestion.

Wesley sets nothing beside this verse but a reference to Matthew 10:10 Wesley. Matthew Henry draws the principle out: "Those who seek to do our souls good, should have food provided for them" Matthew Henry. A minister may lay the right aside, as Paul did, but "those transgress a precept of Christ, who deny or withhold due support" Matthew Henry.

The Didache, a church manual from around AD 100, holds both sides of this chapter together. A true prophet or teacher who settles in a congregation is worthy of his food, like the workman; but an apostle who moves on and asks for money instead of bread is a false prophet Didache. From the beginning the church kept the Lord's provision for its preachers and guarded it against greed.

In the next verse Paul says he has used none of these rights (1 Corinthians 9:15). But before he gives up the right, he makes sure the Corinthians know where it comes from. The Lord who sends the message also provides for those who carry it.