1 CORINTHIANS 9
Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-27
One of the issues that Paul had, with some of the Corinthian church members at least, was that they questioned his authority. Who was Paul to tell them what to do? They thought that they had better claim to be apostles than he did. This was because, as with other topics, they applied the standards of the secular world to church affairs. People in authority in secular Corinth acted in a superior way; they lorded over their subjects and considered themselves to be better. Leadership was a matter of being a master not a servant. So Paul’s servant attitude was seen as weakness, he was looked upon as being soft. Paul also denied his freedom in Christ in order to serve others, and again, that was seen as weakness.
Paul’s first point was the he was an apostle, not because he was in a leadership role, but because he had seen Jesus Christ. That is what an apostle was. Of course, the disciples had spent time with Jesus but Paul’s circumstances were slightly different. He had not met Jesus during Jesus’ life and ministry, but he did meet him on the road to Damascus which we saw in Acts 9:1-19. And because he was an apostle he had rights to receive benefits from churches (vv4-6). In the society of the time rights were to be prized and exercised freely to the advantage of those that had them over those that did not. But Paul showed the Christian way. “I have not used any of these rights” (v15). Paul was demonstrating the servant ministry that Christ himself spoke of, “For the son of man came not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45). Once again, the Corinthians had got things the wrong way round and did not realise how Jesus turns the standards of this world upside down.
So, if Paul had a servant ministry did that mean that was not free? Not at all, said Paul, “I am free and belong to no man” (v19). The point is that Paul – and all Christians – have chosen a servant ministry to promote the gospel, to win people for the Kingdom. So Paul becomes like a Jew to win Jews for Jesus, for Gentiles (those not having the law (v21)), he becomes like a Gentile to win Gentiles for Jesus. “I have become all things to all men so that I might save some for the sake of the gospel” (v23).
The encouragement is for us to have the same attitude as Paul. It is a poor witness when church leaders are seen to be exercising authority over others and presenting themselves as ‘better’ than ordinary church members. That was a real problem in Corinth and in can be a problem in today’s church as well. We should all have a servant ministry that is aimed, not at making ourselves look good, but for bringing people to Jesus.