Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:3-14

Having asserted his apostolical authority, he proceeds to claim the rights belonging to his office, especially that of being maintained by it. I. These he states, 1 Cor. 9:3-6. ?My answer to those that do examine me (that is, enquire into my authority, or the reasons of my conduct, if I am an apostle) is this: Have we not power to eat and drink (1 Cor. 9:4), or a right to maintenance? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 9:1-14

9:1-14 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Even if I am not an apostle to others, I certainly am to you; you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defence to those who are trying to put me on my trial. Do you mean to say that I have not the right to eat and drink at the cost of the Church? Do you mean to say that I have not the right to take a sister about with me as wife, as the rest of the apostles and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:3

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this. These words are referred by some to the following, as if the apostle's answer lay in putting the questions he does in the next verses; but they rather seem to belong to the preceding, and the meaning to be this, that when any persons called in question his apostleship, and examined him upon that head, what he thought fit to say in answer to them, and in defence of himself, was by referring them to the famous church at Corinth, who were as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:4

Have we not power to eat and to drink? Having proved his apostleship, he proceeds to establish his right to a maintenance as a Gospel minister; which he expresses by various phrases, and confirms by divers arguments: by a "power to eat and drink", he does not mean the common power and right of mankind to perform such actions, which everyone has, provided he acts temperately, and to the glory of God; nor a liberty of eating and drinking things indifferent, or which were prohibited under the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 9:3

Mine answer to them - Ἡ εμη απολογια τοις εμε ανακρινουσιν· This is my defense against those who examine me. The words are forensic; and the apostle considers himself as brought before a legal tribunal, and questioned so as to be obliged to answer as upon oath. His defense therefore was this, that they were converted to God by his means. This verse belongs to the two preceding verses. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 9:4

Have we not power to eat and to drink? - Have we not authority, or right, εξουσιαν , to expect sustenance, while we are labouring for your salvation? Meat and drink, the necessaries, not the superfluities, of life, were what those primitive messengers of Christ required; it was just that they who labored in the Gospel should live by the Gospel; they did not wish to make a fortune, or accumulate wealth; a living was all they desired. It was probably in reference to the same moderate and... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 9:3

Verse 3 3.My defense. Apart from the principal matter that he has at present in hand, it appears also to have been his intention to beat down, in passing, the calumnies of those who clamored against his call, as if he had been one of the ordinary class of ministers. “I am accustomed,” says he, “to put you forward as my shield, in the event of any one detracting from the honor of my Apostleship.” Hence it follows, that the Corinthians are injurious and inimical to themselves, if they do not... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 9:4

Verse 4 4.Have we not power ? He concludes from what has been already said, that he had a right to receive food and clothing from them, (482) for Paul ate and drank, but not at the expense of the Church. This, then, was one liberty that he dispensed with. The other was, that he had not a wife — to be maintained, also, at the public expense. Eusebius infers from these words that Paul was married, but had left his wife somewhere, that she might not be a burden to the Churches, but there is no... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 9:1-3

The marks of apostleship. This chapter grows out of the noble utterance of self denial with which the previous one closes. The apostle illustrates and enforces the duty of curtailing our liberty in things indifferent for the sake of weaker brethren, by a reference to his own example in foregoing the right of maintenance by the Church. Was he not free? Had he not all the rights belonging to Christians, unfettered by obligations to men? Nay, more, was he not an apostle? At Corinth, as... read more

Group of Brands