Study 9 ("Reach out to people")
1 Cor 9:1-18 is Paul’s defence of his apostleship to a difficult church. He insists from commonsense (v.7-8), Scripture (v.8-10), natural justice(v.11-12) and Jewish custom (v.13) that he is totally entitled to material support from the Corinthians. However, he refuses to exercise this right, and takes pains to ensure that mentioning his right is not misunderstood as an attempt to exercise it. He is concerned for the purity of the gospel, which must not be sullied by greed on the part of the preacher. He will never be put in a position where his integrity is compromised by accusations of personal gain by his preaching (v.15). He will “boast” that he can present the gospel free of charge. Here we made a note that boasting is not necessarily a bad thing. Boasting that takes glory away from God and directs it to ourselves is wrong (1 Co 1:29), but boasting about one’s weaknesses to glorify God’s provision (1 ), God’s people (2 Co 1:14), and our ministry enabled by God (Ro 15:17ff) is...
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