1 Corinthians 9:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how he says nothing superfluous? He could have pointed to the whole world, to barbarian nations, to land and sea. Yet he says nothing of this kind, but speaks in relation to them, and so conquers more forcefully.

What need have I, he says, to speak at great length, when even this is enough for the present matter? I do not speak of the contests I accomplished among others, but of those to which you yourselves are witnesses.

Therefore, if not from others, then from you especially I could have received support. Yet from those from whom I especially ought to have received it, since I was your teacher, from them I received nothing.

If I am not an Apostle to others, yet to you I am an Apostle. I am not saying that I am teacher of the whole world. But am I not your teacher? Why, then, did I take nothing from you, from whom I had a special right to take? By this concession he confirms his speech still more. "For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord." That is, the proof. If anyone wishes to be convinced whether I truly am an apostle, I will point to you. You are the seal and confirmation of my apostleship, for I accomplished among you all that an apostle ought to do.

Ordinarily, when a man has constant enemies, they slander him at every step and find fault with his every deed and every word. It seems that even in sleep they rave about some evil design against the one they hate.

They do not leave unnoticed a single trait in the soul of the one they persecute. So it was with the holy Apostle Paul.

Evil tongues in Corinth first spread a rumor about the holy Apostle Paul, as though he were not a true Apostle, because he had not personally seen Christ Himself in the flesh. They said he was not chosen by Christ.

Therefore, they claimed, he could not be honored equally with the Apostles who surrounded Christ on earth. Human malice did not consider it enough to cast suspicion on Paul’s apostolic ministry.

And although to others, who have not seen my powers, I am not an Apostle, yet to you, who through me received the gifts of the Spirit, I am an Apostle. You are the seal of my apostleship through the speaking in tongues which you received through the Spirit.

Believing Jews who nevertheless observed the law of Moses denied his apostleship, because he taught that neither circumcision nor Sabbath observance was necessary. To the other apostles also, who held another opinion on this disputed question, he seemed to teach something so different that they denied his apostleship. Yet for the Corinthians Paul was indeed an apostle, for they saw in him the signs of virtue.

“If I am not an Apostle to others, yet surely I am to you.” The Apostle expressed this briefly, yet at once said much about his labors in teaching, about his struggles, about sufferings of every kind for it, and about the wondrous workings of grace.

The Corinthians were true witnesses of these things, since they had seen them with their own eyes. Therefore he said, “If I am not an Apostle to others, yet surely I am to you.” If I have no other witness, your testimony is enough for me.

“For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” As proof of my apostolic merits, I have the change that has taken place in you. For by “seal” the Apostle means proof and confirmation.

So also the divinely wise John said, “He who receives His testimony” has set his seal, εσφράγισεν, that is, has confirmed, “that God is true” (Jn 3:33).

1 Cor 9:2. Brethren, you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. Paul had said before, “Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” (1 Cor 9:1). Now he proves his apostleship in a stronger way.

To make his word more trustworthy, he calls the Corinthians themselves as witnesses of his apostolic calling, saying, “Are you not my work in the Lord?” Though, he says, I may not have preached the Gospel to others, nor been their Apostle, yet I preached it to you, and was your Apostle. “If I am not an Apostle to others, yet surely I am to you.”

"If I am not an Apostle to others, yet to you I am an Apostle. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord." That is, the proof consists in those abundant spiritual gifts poured out upon the Corinthians through the apostolic preaching. "This is my defense before those who examine me," that is, before those who do not acknowledge my apostolic dignity.

Wishing to establish the obligatory force of his example of abstinence, the Apostle points to his dignity as a herald of Christ. The Corinthians, converted by him to Christ, could not doubt this dignity.

They had not only heard his word and seen the great miracles performed by him. They also bore in themselves various gracious gifts, both common and extraordinary, which had appeared in them through the faith proclaimed by the Apostle.

If the Apostle was so powerful, then he was no less free than those who, reasoning in an allegedly free way, ate things sacrificed to idols.

Pointing to his apostolic dignity in another epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle writes: “The signs of an Apostle were performed among you in all patience” (2 Cor 12:12).

Here too the Apostle passes to the same instructive thought concerning his ascetic patience. It was shown in his abstaining from the use of that to which he had a full right.

"If I am not an Apostle to others, yet surely I am to you." Others who have not seen me may still doubt whether I am an Apostle. But for you this should be evident. You have handled the apostolic power in me.

"The Apostle expressed this briefly, but said much in few words: about his labors in imparting the teaching, about his struggles and every kind of suffering for it, and about the wondrous workings of grace. The Corinthians were true witnesses of these, as eyewitnesses" (Theodoret).