1 Corinthians 9:17-19 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me.… His preaching was no ground of boasting (ver. 16). If he preached willingly, i.e., if it were optional with him to preach or not to preach, then it would be a ground of boasting; but if he did it unwillingly, i.e., if it were not optional with him (as was in fact the case), he was only discharging an official duty, and had nothing to boast of. That Paul preached the gospel willingly, that he esteemed it his highest joy and glory, is abundantly evident (Romans 1:5; Romans 11:13; Romans 15:15-16; 1 Corinthians 15:9-10; Galatians 1:15, 16; Ephesians 3:8). The difference, therefore, here expressed between "willing" and "unwilling," is not the difference between cheerfully and reluctantly, but between optional and obligatory. He says he had a "dispensation" or stewardship committed to him. Stewards were commonly slaves. There is a great difference between what a slave does in obedience to a command, and what a man volunteers to do of his own accord. And this is the difference to which the apostle refers. So Paul was commanded to preach the gospel, and he did it with his whole heart; but he was not commanded to refuse to receive a support from the churches. The former, therefore, was not a ground of boasting, not a thing for which he could claim the reward of special confidence; the latter was. He could appeal to it as a proof, not only of his obedience, but of the purity of the motive which prompted that obedience. A physician may attend the sick from the highest motives, though he receives a remuneration for his services. But when he attends the poor gratuitously, though the motives may be no higher, the evidence of their purity is placed beyond question. Paul's ground of glorying, therefore, was not preaching, for that was a matter of obligation; but his preaching gratuitously, which was altogether optional. He gained something by it. He gained the confidence even of his enemies. But as preaching was not optional but obligatory, he did not gain confidence by it. The principle on which the apostle's argument is founded is recognised by our Lord in Luke 17:10. (C. Hodge, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. |
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