1 Corinthians 9:16
Woe to me if I do not preach
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
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 may proclaim good news, it is no glorying for me, for necessity is laid on me, and woe is to me if I may not proclaim good news;
내가 복음을 전할지라도 자랑할 것이 없음은 내가 부득불 할 일임이라 만일 복음을 전하지 아니하면 내게 화가 있을 것임이로라
내가 복음을 선포할지라도 자랑할 것이 없나니 이는 필연적으로 내가 해야 하기 때문이라. 만일 내가 복음을 선포하지 아니하면 참으로 내게 화가 있으리로다!
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 1Cor 9:15-23 as a whole
It is the glory of a minister to deny himself, that he may serve Christ and save souls. But when a minister gives up his right for the sake of the gospel, he does more than his charge and office demands. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley
Nothing on this verse itself.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Paul will not make preaching itself a ground for boasting, because it is not something he chose. It was laid on him. In a single sentence he says what his calling felt like from the inside.
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 9:16Paul has just said that he has used none of his rights to support, and that "I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast" (1 Corinthians 9:15). What, then, is his boast? This verse first says what it is not. The fact that he preaches is no credit to him. The next verse explains: willing or unwilling, he has been entrusted with a charge; and verse 18 at last names his reward.
The verb appears twice, in two forms. The first, ean euangelizōmai, is a present subjunctive: the preaching Paul does day after day, ‘even if I go on preaching’. The second, ean mē euangelisōmai, is an aorist subjunctive: ‘if I should fail to preach’. Between them stands the reason: , necessity, "is laid upon" him (epikeitai), like a load set on the shoulders. Then comes the prophets' cry, ouai, "woe." Jeremiah had tried to keep silent, but "His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones" (Jeremiah 20:9).
The KJV has "for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" Its "necessity is laid upon me" keeps both the Greek noun and the picture of a burden. The BSB's "I am obligated to preach" puts the same thing in plain modern English. The LSV, "it is no glorying for me," stays close to the Greek kauchēma, a ground of boasting. In verse 17 the KJV's "a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me" renders , the office of a household steward; the BSB has "I am still entrusted with a responsibility." A steward does not boast that he does what he was given to do.
Wesley's note on these verses explains what it would be worse than death to do: "To give occasion to them that seek occasion against me" Wesley. Matthew Henry draws the line Paul draws between duty and what goes beyond it: "But when a minister gives up his right for the sake of the gospel, he does more than his charge and office demands" Matthew Henry.
The necessity began on the road to Damascus. The Lord told Ananias of the man who had come to arrest believers: "This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel" (Acts 9:15). For the former persecutor the call was not an option among others. It was a burden laid on him by grace.
Those who bring the gospel are not selling ideas of their own. The message belongs not to the one who speaks but to the One who sent him, and that is why Paul could not keep it to himself.