1 Cor. ix. 14.
Editorial footnote · The Instructor, THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE INSTRUCTOR. / BOOK II. / CHAPTER I. ON EATING. · Original source
Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary
1 Corinthians 9
1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord?
2If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3My defense to those who examine me is this:
4Have we no right to eat and to drink?
5Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
6Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work?
7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
8Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing?
9For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares,
10or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.
11If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?
12If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.
13Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar?
14Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.
15But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.
16For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News.
17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
18What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
19For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
20To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;
21to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.
22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win.
25Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
26I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
Early Christian texts and source notes
1 Cor. ix. 20, 21.
Editorial footnote · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE MISCELLANIES. / BOOK I. / CHAPTER I. PREFACE—THE AUTHOR’S OBJECT—THE UTILITY OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 24–27.
Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 4, Preface or unspecified section · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 9, 10; cf. Deut. xxv. 4.
Editorial footnote · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK II. / CHAPTER IV. THE GOD OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, AND THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, IS THE SAME GOD. · Original source
Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9 and Deut. xxv. 4.
Editorial footnote · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE LATIN. · Original source
Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9, 10.
Editorial footnote · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE LATIN. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 9, 10.
Editorial footnote · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE GREEK. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 19.
Editorial footnote · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / BOOK VI. / CHAPTER XV. DIFFERENT DEGREES OF KNOWLEDGE. / Philosophy and heresies, aids in discovering the truth. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 19, etc.
Editorial footnote · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / BOOK VII. / CHAPTER IX. THOSE WHO TEACH OTHERS, OUGHT TO EXCEL IN VIRTUES. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 19–25.
Editorial footnote · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / BOOK IV. / CHAPTER XV. ON AVOIDING OFFENCE. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 22.
Editorial footnote · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / BOOK V. / CHAPTER III. THE OBJECTS OF FAITH AND HOPE PERCEIVED BY THE MIND ALONE. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 17.
Editorial footnote · Answer to the Letters of Petilianus, WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY. / BOOK THIRD. / Chapter lv · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 15.
Editorial footnote · On Baptism, Against the Donatists, WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY. / BOOK FIFTH. / Chapter xiv · Original source
Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 27.
Editorial footnote · Against Celsus, The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2 / BOOK V. / Chapter XLIX. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 26.
Editorial footnote · Against Celsus, The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2 / BOOK VII. / Chapter LII. · Original source
1 Cor. ix. 8.
Editorial footnote · Against Celsus, The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2 / BOOK II. / Chapter III. · Original source
Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9, 10, and Deut. xxv. 4.
Editorial footnote · Against Celsus, The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2 / BOOK IV. / Chapter XLIX. · Original source
Chap. xiv.—16. Accordingly we find the apostles using the expressions, "My glorying," though it was certainly in the Lord; and "Mine office," and "My knowledge," and "My gospel," although it was confessedly bestowed and given by the Lord; but no one of them ever once said, "My baptism." For neither is the glorying of all of them equal, nor do they all minister with equal powers, nor are they all endowed with equal knowledge, and in preaching the gospel one works more forcibly than another, and so one may be said to be more learned than another in the doctrine of salvation itself; but one cannot be said to be more or less baptized than another, whether he be baptized by a greater or a less worthy minister. So when "the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like;" if it be strange that it should be said, "Men were baptized after John, and are not baptized after heretics," why is it not equally strange that it should be said, "Men were baptized after John, and are not baptized after the envious," seeing that Cyprian himself bears witness in his epistle concerning envy and malignity that the covetous are of the party of the devil, and Cyprian himself makes it manifest from the words of the Apostle Paul, as we have shown above, that in the time of the apostles themselves there were envious persons in the Church of Christ among the very preachers of the name of Christ?
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · On Baptism, Against the Donatists, WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY. / BOOK FIFTH. / Chapter xiv · Original source
Chap. lv.—67. A minister, therefore, that is a dispenser of the word and sacrament of the gospel, if he is a good man, becomes a fellow-partner in the working of the gospel; but if he is a bad man, he does not therefore cease to be a dispenser of the gospel. For if he is good, he does it of his own free will; but if he is a bad man,—that is, one who seeks his own and not the things of Jesus Christ,—he does it unwillingly, for the sake of other things which he is seeking after. See, however, what the same apostle has said: "For if I do this thing willingly," he says, "I have a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me;" as though he were to say, If I, being good, announce what is good, I attain unto it also myself; but if, being evil, I announce it, yet I announce what is good. For has he in any way said, If I do it against my will, then shall I not be a dispenser of the gospel? Peter and the other disciples announce the good tidings, as being good themselves. Judas did it against his will, but yet, when he was sent, he announced it in common with the rest. They have a reward; to him a dispensation of the gospel was committed. But they who received the gospel at the mouth of all those witnesses, could not be cleansed and justified by him that planted, or by him that watered, but by Him alone that gives the increase. For neither are we going to say that Judas did not baptize, seeing that he was still among the disciples when that which is written was being accomplished, "Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples." Are we to suppose that, because he had not betrayed Christ, therefore he who had the bag, and bare what was put therein, was still enabled to dispense grace without prejudice to those who received it, though he could not be an upright guardian of the money entrusted to his care? Or if he did not baptize, at any rate we must acknowledge that he preached the gospel. But if you consider this a trifling function, and of no importance, see what you must think of the Apostle Paul himself, who said, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." To this we may add, that according to this, Apollos begins to be more important, who watered by baptizing, than Paul, who planted by preaching the gospel, though Paul claims to himself the relation of father towards the Corinthians in virtue of this very act, and does not grant this title to those who came to them after him. For he says, "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." He says, "I have begotten you" to the same men to whom he says in another place, "I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, and I baptized also the household of Stephanas." He had begotten them, therefore, not through himself, but through the gospel. And even though he had been seeking his own, and not the things of Jesus Christ, and had been doing this unwillingly, so as to receive no reward for himself, yet he would have been dispensing the treasure of the Lord; and this, though evil himself, he would not have been making evil or useless to those who received it well.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Answer to the Letters of Petilianus, WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY. / BOOK THIRD. / Chapter lv · Original source
Our book will not shrink from making use of what is best in philosophy and other preparatory instruction. “For not only for the Hebrews and those that are under the law,” according to the apostle, “is it right to become a Jew, but also a Greek for the sake of the Greeks, that we may gain all.” Also in the Epistle to the Colossians he writes, “Admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.” The nicety of speculation, too, suits the sketch presented in my commentaries. In this respect the resources of learning are like a relish mixed with the food of an athlete, who is not indulging in luxury, but entertains a noble desire for distinction.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE MISCELLANIES. / BOOK I. / CHAPTER I. PREFACE—THE AUTHOR’S OBJECT—THE UTILITY OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS. · Original source
“For this is habitual to the wicked,” says Empedocles, “to wish to overbear what is true by disbelieving it.” And that our tenets are probable and worthy of belief, the Greeks shall know, the point being more thoroughly investigated in what follows. For we are taught what is like by what is like. For says Solomon, “Answer a fool according to his folly.” Wherefore also, to those that ask the wisdom that is with us, we are to hold out things suitable, that with the greatest possible ease they may, through their own ideas, be likely to arrive at faith in the truth. For “I became all things to all men, that I might gain all men.” Since also “the rain” of the divine grace is sent down “on the just and the unjust.” “Is He the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Gentiles? Yes, also of the Gentiles: if indeed He is one God,” exclaims the noble apostle.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / BOOK V. / CHAPTER III. THE OBJECTS OF FAITH AND HOPE PERCEIVED BY THE MIND ALONE. · Original source
Wherefore also the heresies of the Barbarian philosophy, although they speak of one God, though they sing the praises of Christ, speak without accuracy, not in accordance with truth; for they discover another God, and receive Christ not as the prophecies deliver. But their false dogmas, while they oppose the conduct that is according to the truth, are against us. For instance, Paul circumcised Timothy because of the Jews who believed, in order that those who had received their training from the law might not revolt from the faith through his breaking such points of the law as were understood more carnally, knowing right well that circumcision does not justify; for he professed that “all things were for all” by conformity, preserving those of the dogmas that were essential, “that he might gain all.” And Daniel, under the king of the Persians, wore “the chain,” though he despised not the affliction of the people.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / BOOK VI. / CHAPTER XV. DIFFERENT DEGREES OF KNOWLEDGE. / Philosophy and heresies, aids in discovering the truth. · Original source
12. This point, indeed, is not to be passed by without notice, viz. that there are certain passages of Scripture where this “body,” as we termed it, i.e. this inferential historical sense, is not always found, as we shall prove to be the case in the following pages, but where that which we termed “soul” or “spirit” can only be understood. And this, I think, is indicated in the Gospels, where there are said to be placed, according to the manner of purification among the Jews, six water-vessels, containing two or three firkins a-piece; by which, as I have said, the language of the Gospel seems to indicate, with respect to those who are secretly called by the apostle “Jews,” that they are purified by the word of Scripture,—receiving indeed sometimes two firkins, i.e. the understanding of the “soul” or “spirit,” according to our statement as above; sometimes even three [firkins], when in the reading [of Scripture] the “bodily” sense, which is the “historical,” may be preserved for the edification of the people. Now six water-vessels are appropriately spoken of, with regard to those persons who are purified by being placed in the world; for we read that in six days—which is the perfect number—this world and all things in it were finished. How great, then, is the utility of this first “historical” sense which we have mentioned, is attested by the multitude of all believers, who believe with adequate faith and simplicity, and does not need much argument, because it is openly manifest to all; whereas of that sense which we have called above the “soul,” as it were, of Scripture, the Apostle Paul has given us numerous examples in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. For we find the expression, “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.” And afterwards, when explaining what precept ought to be understood by this, he adds the words: “Doth God take care for oxen? or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written; that he who plougheth should plough in hope, and he that thresheth, in hope of partaking.” Very many other passages also of this nature, which are in this way explained of the law, contribute extensive information to the hearers.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE LATIN. · Original source
12. But as there are certain passages of Scripture which do not at all contain the “corporeal” sense, as we shall show in the following [paragraphs], there are also places where we must seek only for the “soul,” as it were, and “spirit” of Scripture. And perhaps on this account the water-vessels containing two or three firkins a-piece are said to lie for the purification of the Jews, as we read in the Gospel according to John: the expression darkly intimating, with respect to those who [are called] by the apostle “Jews” secretly, that they are purified by the word of Scripture, receiving sometimes two firkins, i.e., so to speak, the “psychical” and “spiritual” sense; and sometimes three firkins, since some have, in addition to those already mentioned, also the “corporeal” sense, which is capable of [producing] edification. And six water-vessels are reasonably [appropriate] to those who are purified in the world, which was made in six days—the perfect number. That the first “sense,” then, is profitable in this respect, that it is capable of imparting edification, is testified by the multitudes of genuine and simple believers; while of that interpretation which is referred back to the “soul,” there is an illustration in Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians. The expression is, “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn;” to which he adds, “Doth God take care of oxen? or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this was written: that he that plougheth should plough in hope, and that he who thresheth, in hope of partaking.” And there are numerous interpretations adapted to the multitude which are in circulation, and which edify those who are unable to understand profounder meanings, and which have somewhat the same character.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE GREEK. · Original source
If Celsus had read the Scriptures in an impartial spirit, he would not have said that “our writings are incapable of admitting an allegorical meaning.” For from the prophetic Scriptures, in which historical events are recorded (not from the historical), it is possible to be convinced that the historical portions also were written with an allegorical purpose, and were most skilfully adapted not only to the multitude of the simpler believers, but also to the few who are able or willing to investigate matters in an intelligent spirit. If, indeed, those writers at the present day who are deemed by Celsus the “more modest of the Jews and Christians” were the [first] allegorical interpreters of our Scriptures, he would have the appearance, perhaps, of making a plausible allegation. But since the very fathers and authors of the doctrines themselves give them an allegorical signification, what other inference can be drawn than that they were composed so as to be allegorically understood in their chief signification? And we shall adduce a few instances out of very many to show that Celsus brings an empty charge against the Scriptures, when he says “that they are incapable of admitting an allegorical meaning.” Paul, the apostle of Jesus, says: “It is written in the law, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he that plougheth should plough in hope, and he that thresheth in hope of partaking.” And in another passage the same Paul says: “For it is written, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” And again, in another place: “We know that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea.” Then, explaining the history relating to the manna, and that referring to the miraculous issue of the water from the rock, he continues as follows: “And they did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” Asaph, moreover, who, in showing the histories in Exodus and Numbers to be full of difficulties and parables, begins in the following manner, as recorded in the book of Psalms, where he is about to make mention of these things: “Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.”
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Against Celsus, The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2 / BOOK IV. / Chapter XLIX. · Original source
We, however, when we do abstain, do so because “we keep under our body, and bring it into subjection,” and desire “to mortify our members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence;” and we use every effort to “mortify the deeds of the flesh.”
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Against Celsus, The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2 / BOOK V. / Chapter XLIX. · Original source