What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 9:21?

To those without the law

Paul opens by naming the people group he is seeking: “To those without the law.”

• In Scripture, that phrase points to Gentiles who never received Moses’ commands (Ephesians 2:12; Romans 2:14).

• They lived apart from Israel’s covenant privileges and had no written code directing them to the one true God (Acts 14:16).

• Paul’s heart beats for them because Christ’s commission reaches “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

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I became like one without the law

“I became like one without the law” shows Paul’s deliberate, loving flexibility.

• He set aside uniquely Jewish practices—dietary restrictions, ritual washings, and calendar observances—whenever those customs would create needless barriers (Acts 15:19–21; Galatians 2:3).

• He conversed in their cultural language, quoting their poets and reasoning in their marketplaces (Acts 17:22-28).

• Yet he never altered the gospel itself; only his manner adapted so Gentiles could hear without distraction (1 Corinthians 10:32-33).

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(though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ)

Paul quickly guards against misunderstanding.

• God’s moral law still binds him; liberty is not license (Matthew 5:17-19; Romans 8:3-4).

• He now lives “under the law of Christ,” summed up in loving God and neighbor (John 13:34; Galatians 6:2).

• Any cultural concession stops where God’s clear commands begin; holiness is never negotiable (1 Peter 1:15-16).

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to win those without the law

The purpose behind every adaptation is crystal clear: “to win those without the law.”

• Paul’s ambition is that Gentiles “turn from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18) and receive the righteousness revealed in the gospel (Romans 1:16).

• He gladly relinquishes personal rights so others may gain eternal life (1 Corinthians 9:12; 10:33).

• His strategy models the Savior who “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

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summary

Paul’s words paint a balance: cultural flexibility plus unwavering obedience. He moves freely among Gentiles, laying aside Jewish customs that might hinder them, yet he remains firmly within God’s moral boundaries, ruled by the law of Christ. All of it serves one overriding goal—bringing those outside the law into the saving embrace of Jesus.