1 Corinthians 9

We must not be like the fig-tree in the gospel, which had nothing but leaves, but like the Pomocitron, that is continually either mellowing or blossoming, it is never without fruit. It is not profession but fruit that glorifies God; God expects to have his glory from us this way…

To you that believe he is precious. St. Paul did best know Christ (1 Corinthians 9:1). Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?

A good Christian is so humble, as to oblige others; but not so unworthy, as to disobey God. Saint Paul, as far as he could with a good conscience, did become all things to all, that he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:20, 22). But he would not break a commandment to gratify any.

Resp. Corrupt nature may as the spider, suck poison from this flower, but a sober Christian who has felt the efficacy of grace upon his heart, dares not abuse this doctrine: He knows perseverance is attained in the use of means, therefore he walks holily, that so in the use of m…

Excess in the creature clouds the mind, chokes good affections, provokes lust! St. Paul did [illegible], keep under his body (1 Corinthians 9:27). The flesh pampered is apt to rebel.

(3) Ephesians 6:18, 19; Colossians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Colossians 4:17. (4) Galatians 6:6; 1 Corinthians 9:14. (5) 1 Corinthians 16:10.

For it seems that others were more diligent in the discharge of that duty, which was no less theirs, if only one sort of Elders be here intended. The Scripture is not wont to commend such persons as worthy of double honor, but rather to propose them as meet for double shame and…

Answ. It is so, both on the part of the elders or ministers themselves, of whom that duty is strictly required, and who principally therein labor and watch for the good of the flock; and on the part of the Church, for the furtherance of their faith, and obedience, by instruction…

5. On these suppositions it is that the Apostle treating of this matter makes no use of the right or law of tithing, though directly to his purpose, if it had not been abrogated. For intending to prove that the ministers of the Gospel ought to be liberally supported in their wor…

We take it for granted that the way of maintenance is changed as to the ministers of holy things under the Old and New Testament. That the law of maintenance is taken away is the highest folly to imagine, it being so expressly asserted by our Savior himself and his Apostles (Luk…

[〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]. See 2 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 9:25. The allusion is taken from their striving, wrestling, fighting, who contended publicly for a prize, victory and reward, with the glory and honor attending it.

[in non-Latin alphabet] (Romans 14:18): accepted with God, and approved with men. Hence [in non-Latin alphabet] is one rejected, disproved upon trial, reprobate (1 Corinthians 9:27; 2 Corinthians 13:5, 6; Titus 1:16). The whole is expressed (Jeremiah 6:29, 30): the bellows are b…

To speak good words, is no hard matter: this many can do in praying, in preaching, and in discourse with others, and have excellent gifts indeed, who yet are strangers to the thing that we are speaking of; and there be divers things that concu[r] to it: it may be a man has been…

And we think this arguing to be better, and more strong, than to say, That because they are not under such Discipline as was then, that therefore now they are under none at all. And plain it is, that the Apostle argues for the maintenance of the Ministry now under the Gospel, fr…

If he had been fully glorified, he could not so sensibly and plainly have made manifest the truth of his resurrection to his disciples: and therefore for their sakes and ours he is content after his entrance into glory still to retain in his body some remnants of the ignominies…

4. In times of disheartening, because of the difficulties of religion, when the use of means grows troublesome: to quicken you in your Christian course, think of the unchangeableness of God's love; all graces rise according to the proportion and measure of faith; loose hopes wea…

Such a man was Paul — he did not only spend his time in preaching to others, in keeping others' vineyards, but he looked to himself and kept his own vineyard. 1 Corinthians 9:27: 'Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.' And what an eminent instrument…

I would entreat you to consider, that, 1. Religion does not oblige you to them; that consists not in meats and drinks, and phrases and gestures; but in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 2. Religion obliges you against them, the great command of the Gospel is, L…

It seems not to consist with his wisdom to neglect that which he has seen fit to create. And though the Apostle seems to deny God's care of brutes (1 Corinthians 9), "Does God take care for oxen?" — it is true God did not in that law only take care of oxen, that is, with a legis…

The Apostles, when they were first sent through Judea, took no stipend (Matthew 10:8, 9). Neither did Paul take any at Corinth (1 Corinthians 9:18). The ministers among the Waldenses work with their hands for their maintenance.

However much these axioms may be founded in the very nature of things, yet since our Lord Jesus Christ willed nothing at all to be reverently observed in His church except on His own authority — since He alone is its head, king, and lawgiver — He has secured by His own instituti…

The Sacraments also has he given, not to be neglected, as most excellent pledges of his sure favor and mercy in Christ (Romans 4:11; 6:3, 4; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Corinthians 11:23). The order of his Church set down in his word (Hebrews 3:2; 1 Chronicles 28:12, 19; 2 Chronicles 29:2…

Is there not reason for it? Who (as the Apostle says, (1 Corinthians 9:7)) goes a warfare on his own charges? Who plants a vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof?

9. He has friends within us, every saint is a divided party. 2. The quarrel is not money, civil liberties, laws, houses, lands, nor corruptible things, yet we run and strive for pence and pounds, but here peace of conscience, an incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25), the Lord…

And as the promises are peculiar to Christ, so the persons and grace promised, both the one and the other, are due to Christ, and result from the Head, to those who in God's decree only shall be members; as righteousness, life eternal, and perseverance, are made to those that ar…

He that believes in me, the works that I do, he shall do, and greater than these (Matthew 12:50). He that does the will of my heavenly Father, the same is my brother, etc. (1 Corinthians 9:24). So run, that you may obtain (Revelation 2:2).

If by any Means I may provoke to Emulation them which are my Flesh, and might save some of them. 1 Corinthians 9:22. That I might by all means save some.

It is not without cause therefore that Paul warns the hearers of the Gospel to make their pastors and teachers partakers with them in all good things. If we (says he to the Corinthians) have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your worldly things (1 Cor…

He grants moreover that he had lived after the manner of the Jews, but yet only among the Jews. And this is it which he says in 1 Corinthians 9: when I was free from all men, I made myself servant to all men, that I might win the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might…

Verse 2. Which I preach among the Gentiles. For among the Jews he suffered the law and circumcision for a time, as the other Apostles did: I am made all things to all men, says he (1 Corinthians 9), yet ever holding the true doctrine of the gospel, which he preferred above the l…

The Corinthians were babes in Christ, and Paul feeds them with milk (1 Corinthians 3:3). To the Jew he became a Jew, to the Gentile a Gentile, that he might win some (1 Corinthians 9:18). For this cause it were to be wished, that catechizing were more used than it is of our mini…

And he compares the word and precepts of God, to a way or race; believers to runners, life eternal to the prize, God to the umpire or judge, the lookers on, are men and angels, good and bad, and the exercise of religion, is the running in this race. Read of this (1 Corinthians 9…

The Colossians are commended by the Apostle, for that they continued, and increased, in faith to God, and love to man, for the hope's sake that was laid up for them in heaven (Colossians 1:5). And Paul shows this to have been the practice, and to be the duty of all the saints of…

Let him always think and remember that he must use an invincible freedom of speech against all difficulties that are opposed to his ministry, as the Prophets and Apostles have done, without shrinking their necks out of the collar. Woe be to me, says the Apostle, if I preach not,…

Do you not know your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you are reprobates? And it is implied that it is an argument of a very blamable negligence in Christians, if they practice Christianity after such a manner as to remain uncertain of the reward, in that 1 Co…

The Apostle Paul sought assurance chiefly this way, even by forgetting the things that were behind, and reaching forth unto those things that were before, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus; if by any means he might attain unto the…

The ministers of the seven churches of Asia — doubtless some of them were bad men. Paul tells you (1 Corinthians 9:17), I keep under my body, lest when I preach to others, I myself may be a castaway. Intimating, that a man may preach to others, and may be a means to save others,…

And he himself labored with his own hands, that he might not be burdensome to others, much less would he have the chief of the Laity who abound with wealth to be maintained of the common store; and that more liberally than others: For, if by those that rule well, you shall under…

Verse 7. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for what a man sows, that shall he reap. 1 Corinthians 9:7. Who goes a warfare at any time at his own charges? Who plants a vineyard, and eats not of the fruit thereof?

Neither is it to be omitted, that there is such a coincidence in many phrases, use of words and expressions between this Epistle, and the rest of Saint Paul's, as will not allow us to grant such a discrepancy in style, as some imagine. They have many of them been gathered by oth…

(2.) Such as urged their observation as indispensably necessary to our Justification before God (Acts 15:1; Galatians 3:4). The first sort of those the Apostles bore with in all meekness; yes, and using the liberty given them of the Lord, to avoid offending of them, joined with…

The motive whereby she presses this petition, is, We will run after you: wherein we are to consider these three things. 1. What this is, to run; which is, in short, to make progress Christ-ward, and advance in the way of holiness, with cheerfulness and alacrity (having her heart…

And so also, that and the like precepts, discharging the Jews, the sowing their fields with diverse grains, &c. which though they be not wholly allegorical, but have in the letter their own truth, yet, somewhat in these beyond what appears, was aimed at by the Spirit; for, says…

And God himself tells such ignorant and foolish teachers (Hosea 4:6), Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. And as they must be able to teac…

Covetousness is one of the sins which the Apostle would not have so much as named among the saints (Ephesians 5:3). It is a sin if it reign, which is inconsistent with the truth of grace, and power of godliness, because it is idolatry (Colossians 3:5), and the Apostle tells us e…

There is something needs mortifying. Hence it was St. Paul did [illegible], beat down his body, by prayer, watching, fasting (1 Corinthians 9:27). But, is it not said, Ephesians 5:29, no man ever hated his own flesh?

It is appointed for all men once to die. Secondly, the seed is cast into the earth in hope (1 Corinthians 9:10). Were there not a resurrection of it expected, the husbandman would never be willing to cast away his corn.

O, what matter of unspeakable joy and comfort is this to upright souls! Well then, be not discharged, for you do not run as one uncertain, nor fight as one that beats the air (1 Corinthians 9:26), but the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, the Lord knows who are hi…

But God's workmen have a much harder task than they. Hence they are set forth in Scripture by the laborious ox (1 Corinthians 9:9; Revelation 4:7). Some derive the word deacon from a word that signifies dust, to show the laboriousness of their employment, laboring till evening,…

Now this life is not so much as an hour to eternity; and therefore why should we not be careful how we spend this hour, seeing it shall be with us forever according as we spend it? (1 Corinthians 9:25) Every one that strives for the mastery is temperate; now they do it to obtain…