1 Corinthians 9:1 - Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

1 Corinthians 9:1

A Pattern of Self-Denial

1 Am ^aI not an apostle? Am I not free? ^bHave I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? ^cAre you not my work in the Lord?

2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are ^athe seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this:

4 ^aDo we have no¹ right to eat and drink?

5 Do we have no right to take along¹ a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, ^athe brothers of the Lord, and ^bCephas?

6 Or is it only Barnabas and I ^awho have no right to refrain from working?

7 Who ever ^agoes to war at his own expense? Who ^bplants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^ctends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also?

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

<< 1 Corinthians 8:13

1 Corinthians 9:2 >>

1 Corinthians 9:1

Am I not free? (Ouk eimi eleuqeros). Free as a Christian from Mosaic ceremonialism (cf. I Corinthians 9:19) as much as any Christian and yet he adapts his moral independence to the principle of considerate love in I Corinthians 8:13.

Am I not an apostle? (ouk eimi apostolos). He has the exceptional privileges as an apostle to support from the churches and yet he foregoes these.

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? (ouxi Ihsoun ton Kurion hmwn eoraka). Proof (I Corinthians 15:8; Acts 9:17, Acts 9:27; Acts 18:9; Acts 22:14, Acts 22:17 f.; II Corinthians 12:1 ff.) that he has the qualification of an apostle (Acts 1:22) though not one of the twelve. Note strong form of the negative ouxi here. All these questions expect an affirmative answer. The perfect active eoraka from oraw, to see, does not here have double reduplication as in John 1:18.

Are not ye? (ou umeiv este). They were themselves proof of his apostleship.

Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing 1 Corinthians 9:1:

Acts 14:4
Acts 22:15
Acts 26:16
1 Corinthians 9:4
Galatians 1:1
Colossians 2:1

<< 1 Corinthians 8:13

1 Corinthians 9:2 >>

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A Pattern of Self-Denial

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning