1 Corinthians 9:18 - Exposition

What is my reward then? The answer is that it was not such "wages" as would ordinarily be considered such, but it was the happiness of preaching the gospel without cost to any. I abuse not; rather, I use not to the full, as in 1 Corinthians 7:31 . It may be said that this was a ground of boasting, not a reward. It was, however, a point to which St. Paul attached the highest importance ( 1 Thessalonians 2:9 ; 2 Corinthians 11:7-12 ; Acts 20:33 , Acts 20:34 ), and he might therefore speak of it, though almost with a touch of half unconscious irony, as his "fee." There is no need to adopt the construction suggested by Meyer: "What is my reward? [none] that I may preach gratuitously;" or that of Afford, who finds the reward in the next verse.