1 Corinthians 9:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He speaks in the same way afterward. He did not say, "those who serve the altar receive from those who offer sacrifices," but, "they share in the altar." For what is offered belongs no longer to those who offer it, but to the sanctuary and the altar.

Nor did he say, "they receive sacred things," but, "they eat from the sanctuary." He expresses moderation and teaches that one must not gather possessions and become rich. By the words "they share in the altar," he does not indicate an equal division, but the support given to priests by right.

The Apostles had a much greater right, because there honor was joined to priesthood, but here there are dangers, torments, and death. Therefore the strongest of all examples was expressed in the words, "If we have sown spiritual things among you." The word "sown" points to the storms, dangers, punishments, and unspeakable calamities to which the preachers were subjected.

Yet even with such an advantage, he did not lower the Old Testament ministry or exalt his own. On the contrary, he speaks of his own with humility. He points to the advantage not in dangers, but in the greatness of the gift.

He did not say, "if we have undergone dangers or calamities," but, "if we have sown spiritual things among you." When speaking of the priests, he exalts them as much as possible and says, "those who perform sacred rites" and "those who serve the altar." By this he wishes to show their unceasing ministry and constancy.

In discussing the Jewish priests, he pointed both to the Levites and to the high priests, to both ranks, the lower and the higher. He indicated the first by the words, "those who perform sacred rites," and the second by the words, "those who serve the altar." For the same work was not entrusted to all. Lower duties were entrusted to some, and higher duties to others.

Having pointed to them all, lest someone say, "Why do you remind us of the Old Testament? Do you not know that now is the time of more perfect commandments?" he then sets forth what is most important: "So also the Lord," he says, "commanded those who preach the Gospel to live from the Gospel."

Here also he does not say, "to be fed by men." Rather, just as he said concerning the priests, "from the sanctuary" and "from the altar," so here he says, "from the Gospel." And as there he says, "to eat," so here he says, "to live," not to trade or become rich. "For the laborer," he says, "is worthy of his food" (Mt 10:10).

"Those who serve at the altar," προσεδρεύοντες, those who sit beside it, "share in the altar." This means the priests and high priests. By the word "sit beside" he indicates constant service and abiding.

He did not say that they receive sacred things, thereby indicating moderation and that one must not gather money. Nor did he say that they receive from those who offer sacrifices, but that they receive a share from the altar. For what had been offered no longer belonged to those who offered it, but to the temple and the sacrificial altar.

He said "receive a share" because the blood of the animals slain in sacrifice was poured upon the altar and the fat was burned. The priest took for himself certain remaining parts of the meat, such as the breast, the right shoulder, and some inward parts (Lev 10:14). But the sacrifices of whole burnt offering belonged to the altar alone (Lev 9:12-14).

If in the Law of Moses there was the commandment, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain” (Deut 25:4), then, as the Apostle remarks, God is not concerned about oxen, but speaks about men. Therefore, both according to human reasoning and according to the law of justice, one who serves the altar should live from the altar and benefit from the altar. The Old Testament secured the position of priests and Levites through firstfruits, tithes, and sacrifices. Jesus Christ, sending His disciples to preach, forbade them to be anxious about their food and clothing. Or, as the Apostle Paul says here, He commanded those who preach the Gospel to live from the Gospel (1 Cor 9:14). Meanwhile, the Apostle Paul already found it necessary to separate the question of serving the Gospel from the question of his own material support. Having the right and possibility to receive means of subsistence from the Corinthians, he did not use them, lest he harm the work of preaching. In his epistles he himself testifies that, not wishing to be a burden to anyone, he worked day and night (1 Cor 4:12; 2 Cor 11:8; 1 Thess 2:9; 2 Thess 3:8). The Evangelist Luke confirms that the Apostle Paul’s trade was tentmaking (Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34). This is a lofty and important example, showing the right relation between service to the spirit and material provision. Indeed, where all advantages and benefits of life are renounced for the good of neighbors, one’s own will is renounced. Sometimes even one’s life is sacrificed for the service of truth and goodness. There, to assert one’s rights to material support would be inconsistent. It would even contradict the very idea of lofty service, and therefore the spirit of the Gospel. “It would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting empty” (1 Cor 9:15), writes the Apostle. Should not every servant of the altar act in the same way when he is denied the advantages and benefits proper to his ministry? As soon as he states his claim to the material reward due to him and earned by him, he will at once be accused of extortion and greed. At the same time, people will begin to demean the very work which he serves. Neither the Gospel, nor the Apostle, nor civil law, nor sound reason, nor the examples and customs of all times forbid the servant of the altar to share in the altar and live from the altar. On the contrary, they affirm that sacred ministers have every right to this. But when the state cannot provide for the clergy, when society cannot or will not provide the priest with the means of subsistence, then the matter changes. When demanding these means by right leads to harm for God’s work, and poverty, deprivation, and inevitable suffering threaten the priest, then he must resolve even on this. This is a lofty, martyric, apostolic struggle. But the servant of the altar must not shrink from it. Above all, he must be a servant of truth, of self-denying ascetics of the spirit. “So run, that you may obtain” (1 Cor 9:24).

It is also worthy of note that the Apostle did not receive support from the Corinthians despite his poverty (see 4:11; cf. 2 Cor 11:8). This abstinence of the Apostle was conditioned by local circumstances. In Corinth, as in all Greece, almost all teachers generally lived at their disciples' expense, and some even virtually enslaved them.

Yet the Apostle Paul also had special grounds for this abstinence. Not all are bound to such abstinence, as is evident from the Savior's instructions to His disciples.

If, in the Prophet's words, we eat the milk and clothe ourselves with the wool, but do not feed the Lord's sheep, what righteousness is here? If we are fed by the bread of the altar, but do not feed those who come to it with the word of life and do not give them to drink of the spirit of prayer, what righteousness is here? If we teach others, but ourselves act contrary to our teaching, what righteousness is here?

And in such a case can our ministry be a ministry of peace for the people? In earthly kingdoms there have already been examples that, in such cases, the people began with contempt for those who serve the altar and ended with apostasy from the faith and the destruction of the altar.

We must serve the altar with all our powers and abilities, with all our time, and with our whole life. Such is the righteousness with which the priests of the Lord must be clothed.

The words "eat from the sanctuary" and "share with the altar" mean that the priesthood of that time was maintained by the sanctuary and the altar. Whatever those who offered brought, they brought it to the sanctuary and the altar. The sanctuary and the altar allotted from it to those who served.

Not everything brought in sacrifice went to the sacrificial altar, but only part of it. The Lord commanded that the parts remaining from the sacrifices be divided among those who served. By this they were maintained.

The Apostle wishes to impress this upon them: if this was so in the old Law, which was a shadow of the new, how much more should it be so in the new? But he also makes this application directly, deriving from the Lord a special ordinance on this matter. The sixth argument is from the explicit command of the Lord, 1 Cor 9:14.