1 Corinthians 9:18
Free of charge
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.
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.
What, then, is my reward? That proclaiming good news, without charge I will make the good news of the Christ, not to abuse my authority in the good news;
그런즉 내 상이 무엇이냐 내가 복음을 전할 때에 값없이 전하고 복음으로 인하여 내게 있는 권을 다 쓰지 아니하는 이것이로라
그런즉 나의 보상이 무엇이냐? 진실로 내가 복음을 선포할 때에 그리스도의 복음을 값없이 선포하고 이로써 복음 안에 있는 나의 권리를 남용하지 아니하는 것, 그것이로다.
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 1Cor 9:18
What then is my reward - That circumstance in my conduct for which I expect a peculiar reward from my great Master? That I abuse not - Make not an unseasonable use of my power which I have in preaching the gospel.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Preaching the gospel gave Paul nothing to boast of. So what reward is left to him? His answer is a paradox: his pay is to take no pay.
What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.
1 Corinthians 9:18Paul has just said that preaching is a necessity laid on him, a charge entrusted to him whether he wills it or not (1 Corinthians 9:16–17). A man who has only done his duty cannot claim a reward for it. So he asks what remains that is his own, and the answer is the one thing he was free to choose: to refuse what he was entitled to receive. The chapter then widens the point: "Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible" (1 Corinthians 9:19).
The gospel's word stands three times in this verse. The verb appears as a present middle participle, euangelizomenos, ‘while preaching the gospel’; the noun is the object of adapanon thēsō, ‘I may make free of charge’; and the rights Paul does not use are en tō euangeliō, ‘in the gospel’. "Reward" is , a worker's wage. "Free of charge" is , ‘without expense’: no cost laid on the hearer. The last verb, , moves between ‘to use to the full’ and ‘to misuse’.
The versions take that verb in its two directions. The KJV reads "that I abuse not my power in the gospel," the LSV "not to abuse my authority in the good news"; the BSB has "not use up my rights." Paul did not misuse his right, and he did not even use it to the full. The KJV also reads "the gospel of Christ" here, and the LSV "the good news of the Christ": "of Christ" is the Textus Receptus's reading. The BSB, without it, says "offer it free of charge"; the sense is unchanged.
Wesley takes Paul's question to mean: "That circumstance in my conduct for which I expect a peculiar reward from my great Master?" Wesley Not to abuse his power, he says, is to "Make not an unseasonable use of my power which I have in preaching the gospel" Wesley. Matthew Henry writes: "By preaching the gospel, freely, the apostle showed that he acted from principles of zeal and love, and thus enjoyed much comfort and hope in his soul" Matthew Henry.
When Jesus sent out the Twelve, He told them the worker is worthy of his provisions, and in the same charge He said: "Freely you have received; freely give" (Matthew 10:8). Paul keeps both words. Support for preachers is the Lord's command (1 Corinthians 9:14); giving the gospel without charge is the shape of the grace he himself received.
News received as a gift shows its nature best when it is passed on as a gift. Paul's way of life said without words that the gospel is not bought but given.