1 Corinthians 9:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Tell me, what are you saying? If you preach the Gospel, there is no boast for you, but if you teach the Gospel without payment, then there is? Does this mean the latter is greater than the former? By no means. But in another respect the latter has an advantage, namely that the first is a commandment, while the latter is a work of my own choice.

What is done beyond the commandment deserves a great reward. What is done according to the commandment is not like this. In this respect the latter is greater than the former, not in the very essence of the deed.

For what, indeed, can compare with preaching? It makes them like Angels. Yet since preaching is for them an obligation and duty, while unpaid preaching is a work of voluntary zeal, in this respect the latter is greater than the former.

What are you saying? Is your boast not in preaching the Gospel, but in preaching without payment? Is the latter better than the former? No, he says. Preaching the Gospel has been commanded me. It is my duty. If I fulfill it, there is no perfection in that. But if I do not fulfill it, woe to me, for I will be beaten much as one who does not do his Master’s will (Lk 12:47). To preach without payment, however, is a work of free choice, and therefore praiseworthy. The words "necessity is laid upon me" are not said to remove free will. They distinguish it from the freedom to take support and from the fear of punishment for failing to fulfill one’s duty.

Moreover, if I preach the Gospel, no gratitude is due me for this, and I have no boast. That is, this is not in my will, but necessity lies upon me from Him who sent me. Woe to me from His judgment if I do not preach the Gospel.

As the Lord said: when you have done all that was commanded you, say, “We are unworthy servants, for we have done what we ought to have done” (Lk 17:10). “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” For a servant is sent by his master, not according to his own will. If he is bound by anything, he is driven on by his master’s rod. Thus Moses, despite his unwillingness, was sent by the Lord to Pharaoh (Ex 4:14), and Jonah was compelled to preach in Nineveh (Jon 1:3).

"For if I preach the Gospel, I have no boast; for necessity is laid upon me." I do this as a slave, serving the Master. No servant thinks highly of himself when he does what his master has commanded. "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel," because to resist the Master is a deed worthy of punishment.

In this section the apostle discloses his right or authority (vv. 12 and 18) to require from the Corinthian Christians, and generally from his spiritual children, full provision for his life (v. 14). He has the right “to reap material things” from them (v. 11), to receive food from them (v. 13), and, of course, all else that is necessary. This passage of the Epistle should instruct those who censure the Orthodox clergy for receiving compensation for the performance of rites.

All pastors of the Church ought to regard in this way the great work entrusted to them, the preaching of the word of God. Woe to them if they turn aside from this sacred and great work entrusted to them.

In explaining where and how a hindrance to the spread of preaching could arise if he accepted recompense from the Corinthians, the Apostle points to the possibility of reproaches that could lower his holy apostolic dignity.

This reproach could have appeared simply by placing the Apostle alongside other teachers, who usually taught the Corinthians in order to obtain the means of life for themselves. Sharply rejecting the possibility of such a humiliating view of the preachers of Christianity, which was equivalent to condemning them to death, the Apostle seems to fear the opposite. Namely, he fears that someone might think he is too concerned about reward for himself, and says: "If I preach the Gospel, I have no boast."

If I preach the Gospel, I do not thereby deserve special praise, "for necessity is laid upon me." This is my duty. "I do this as a slave serving his master. No slave thinks highly of himself when he merely carries out what his master has commanded" (Theodoret).

"For necessity is laid upon me" must not be understood as though he did this against his will. May it not be so. Rather, it means that an obligation lies upon him, in contrast to the freedom either to receive or not to receive. I must preach the Gospel, whether I wish it or not. It is my duty. But to preach the Gospel at my own expense is an act of freedom. Whenever I wish, I do this. Here there is room for praise, because one freely chooses what has not been commanded.