1 Corinthians 9:7-14 Who goes a warfare any time at his own charges? who plants a vineyard, and eats not of the fruit thereof? or who feeds a flock… This is a favourite text with Paul (1 Timothy 5:17, 18). If Paul wrote this twice we may be sure the words were often on his lips; and if the Holy Spirit has twice put this fragment of the old law into the New Testament, we may be sure the lesson is an important one. The text is racy and suggestive. I. MINISTERS AND THEIR WORK. 1. They are a distinct class. Have a function all their own like oxen. 2. Their work is humble. 3. And hard. 4. And requiring patient routine. 5. And withal of vital importance. II. THE SAVIOUR HAS TAKEN CARE FOR THEIR SUPPORT. They have the same wants as other men, but are not at liberty to supply them in the same way: they are oxen whose strength is spent in the service of others. Therefore the Master laid down His will as to their temporal support. "The labourer is worthy of his reward" (ver. 14). Both charity and ordinary bargain are excluded by this rule: the matter is raised to a higher level altogether. III. THE RULE IS REASONABLE (ver. 11). Whatever a man pays for his Bible there is no kind of proportion between the money given and the thing got: the wealth of the world could not buy one text of the Word of God: the money is the equivalent only of paper, printing, binding. So conversion, sanctification, organised fellowship, godly training of the young, the Lord's Day, the sacraments, comfort in sickness and death — are things which man cannot buy, because man cannot give them. All the more reasonable, therefore, that the simple and inexpensive channel by which God dispenses them to us and sends them on to coming generations should be maintained. IV. THE SUPPORT SHOULD BE GENEROUS. While the ox is working he will not be the worse for all he can eat: let him not be muzzled. Muzzling is poor economy, and not even just. All the more should this part of Bible teaching be plainly uttered, because the true minister will be ready to forego even righteous claims rather than allow God's message of love with which he is charged to be discredited by urging these (vers. 15-19). The minister should receive freely — not what his education, time, gifts, may be worth in the market, for gain and bargain have no place here — but what is needed to maintain his position. There should be nothing so grand about him as to estrange him from the poorest, and nothing so mean about his dress or personal habits as to render him unfit for the most refined society; for, like the gospel, he belongs to no one class of society, but stands equally related to all (Philippians 4:10-19). (A. M. Symington, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? |
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