Paul, The Soul-Winner
PAUL, THE SOUL-WINNER
1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-27
Paul explains his passion to see others won for Jesus Christ.
As Paul had cleared himself of the charge of uncertain motives in not securing financial support, so he moves on to show his deep concern always to make himself available to others, even to the point of adopting certain courses of action which would be unnatural to him. Again, we may ask, what is his motivation in all these renunciations and acceptances (9:22b,23)?
He offers two explanations. First in 9:19-23, he makes it clear that in his missionary service his aim is to gain the greatest possible number of converts: “by all means [to] save some” (9:22). The reason for this passage (9:20-22a) is probably to be sought in some criticism which had been leveled against him. His opponents—justifiably enough from their viewpoint—accused him of a confused attitude to the relation between Jews and Gentiles. Sometimes he observed the Law (Acts 21:24) as though he were a pious Jew; at other times he identified himself with the Gentiles to such an extent that a rumor could circulate that he had abandoned all his ancestral heritage (Acts 21:21). Understandably Paul was under a cloud of suspicion from all quarters: did he really know his own mind? Or had he no fixed principles?
The paragraph (9:20 ff.) offers a rationale of his missionary conduct. He felt himself genuinely freed from Mosaic obligations—but if nevertheless he sometimes observed the commandments of the Law it was for the purpose of not offending Jews who were likely to become Christians, in conformity with the principle stated in 8:13.
9:24-27. In the second place, his evangelistic passion was so conscientious that he knew that when he had striven to make the gospel presentable to all, he was still left with his greatest problem himself. Christian workers and evangelists must keep a watchful eye on their own inner life, taking spiritual self-discipline as seriously as athletes observe strict rules of training, diet and self-control. Otherwise their hopes of being successful in the gospel’s service are as futile as those of the unprepared entrant for the Isthmian Games held at Corinth. His great fear (9:27) is that after doing the preaching (as an art to be learned!), in God’s eyes he should be disallowed, like a runner or boxer who gets disqualified and sees his efforts wasted.
Meditation 2 Timothy 2:5; 4:7-8.