to scatter · verb — aorist active indicative, 1st person plural
you
ὑμῖνhymîn
G5213
to (with or by) you
things
πνευματικὰpneumatika
G4152
non-carnal · adjective — accusative plural neuter
thing
μέγαmega
G3173
big (literally or figuratively · adjective — nominative singular neuter
if
εἰei
G1487
if · conditional particle
we
ἡμεῖςhēmeîs
G2249
we (only used when emphatic)
reap
θερίσομεν;therisomen
G2325
to harvest · verb — future active indicative, 1st person plural
your
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
things
σαρκικὰsarkika
G4559
pertaining to flesh · adjective — accusative plural neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 15:27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty…
Galatians 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Matthew 10:10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
2 Corinthians 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their…
2 Kings 5:13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have…
Malachi 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 9:3-14
Having asserted his apostolical authority, he proceeds to claim the rights belonging to his office, especially that of being maintained by it.
I. These he states, Co1 9:3-6. "My answer to those that do examine me (that is, enquire into my authority, or the reasons of my conduct, if I am an apostle) is this: Have we not power to eat and drink (Co1 9:4), or a right to maintenance? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas; and, not only to be maintained ourselves, but have them maintained also?" Though Paul was at that time single, he had a right to take a wife when he pleased, and to lead her about with him, and expec…
we . . . we--emphatical in the Greek. WE, the same persons who have sown to you the infinitely more precious treasures of the Spirit, may at least claim in return what is the only thing you have to give, namely, the goods that nourish the flesh ("your carnal things").
Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 9:11
If we have sown unto you spiritual things - If we have been the means of bringing you into a state of salvation by the Divine doctrines which we have preached unto you, is it too much for us to expect a temporal support then we give ourselves up entirely to this work? Every man who preaches the Gospel has a right to his own support and that of his family while thus employed.
John Gill on 1 Corinthians 9:11
If we have sown unto you spiritual things,.... The preachers of the Gospel are compared to sowers of seed; the seed they sow is the word of God, which is like to seed, for its smallness and despicableness in the eyes of carnal men; and yet as the seed is the choicest which is laid by for sowing, the Gospel is most choice and excellent to true believers; like seed, it has a generative virtue through divine influence; and whereas unless sown into the earth, it brings forth no fruit, so neither does the word, unless it has a place in the heart, where, as seed in the ground, its operation is secret, its increase gradual, and its fruitfulness different. The ground they sow upon is, very various;…
The Church Fathers
"If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?" Lo, he adds also a fourth argument for the duty of yielding support. For since he had said, "What soldier ever serveth at his own charges?" and, "who planteth a vineyard?" and, "who feedeth a flock?" and introduced the ox that treadeth the corn; he points out likewise another most reasonable cause on account of which they might justly receive; viz. having bestowed much greater gifts, no more as having labored only. What is it then? "if we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?" Seest thou a most just allegation and fuller of reason than all the former? for "in those instances," says he, "carnal is the seed, carnal also is the fruit; but here not so, but the seed is spiritual, the return carnal." Thus, to prevent high thoughts in those who contribute to their teachers, he signified that they receive more than they give. As if he had said, "Husbandmen, whatsoever they sow, this also do they receive; but we, sowing in your souls spiritual things, do reap carnal." For such is the kind of support given by them.
By these words the Apostle Paul sufficiently indicates, that it was no usurping unto themselves of aught beyond their due on the part of his fellow-Apostles, that they wrought not bodily, whence they might have the things which to this life are necessary, but as the Lord ordained, should, living by the Gospel, eat bread gratuitously given of them unto whom they were preaching a gratuitous grace. Their charges, namely, they did like soldiers receive, and of the fruit of the vineyard by them planted, they did, as need was, freely gather; and of the milk of the flock which they fed, they drank; and of the threshing-floor on which they threshed, they took their meat. But he speaks more openly in the rest which he subjoins, and altogether removes all causes of doubting. "If we unto you," saith he, "have sown spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?" What are the spiritual things which he sowed, but the word and mystery of the sacrament of the kingdom of heaven? And what the carnal things which he saith he had a right to reap, but these temporal things which are indulged to the life and indigency of the flesh? These however being due to him he declares that he had not sought nor accepted, lest he should cause any impediment to the Gospel of Christ.
Dictionary and topics
Carnal — Unconverted men are so called (1 Cor. 3:3). They are represented as of a “carnal mind, which is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:6, 7). Enjoyments that minister to the wants and desires of man’s animal…
Evil · .In supporting himself — .In supporting himself
Ministers · Their people are bound, to: Support them — Their people are bound, to: Support them
Reciprocity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Seed · Sowing, illustrative of: Preaching the gospel — Sowing, illustrative of: Preaching the gospel
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
1 Corinthians 9:1-12
1. Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
1. Non sum liber? non sum Apostolus? [477] nonne Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum vidi? nonne opus meum vos estis in Domino?
2. If I be not an an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
2. Si aliis non sum Apostolus, vobis tamen sum: sigillum enim Apostolatus mei vos estis in Domino?
3. Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,
3. Haec mea defensio est apudeos, qui in me inquirunt.
4. Have we not power to eat and to drink?
4. Numquid non habemus potestatem edendi et bibendi?
5. Have we not…
Behold, however, he who forbade carrying a purse and bag grants expenses and food from that same preaching. For it is added: "And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as are with them. For the laborer is worthy of his hire." If our peace is received, it is fitting that we remain in the same house eating and drinking such things as are with them, so that we may obtain earthly provisions from those to whom we offer the rewards of the heavenly homeland. Hence Paul also, receiving these very things as of little account, says: "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" And it should be noted what is added: "The laborer is worthy of his hire," because the very food for sustenance is already part of the wages of the work, so that here the reward from the labor of preaching may begin, which is perfected there in the vision of truth. In this matter it should be considered that two rewards are owed to our one work: one on the way, the other in the homeland; one which sustains us in labor, another which recompenses us in the resurrection. Therefore the reward which is received in the present ought to accomplish this in us: that we may strive more vigorously toward the subsequent reward. Therefore every preacher should not preach in order to receive a reward in this time, but should receive a reward in order to continue preaching. For whoever preaches in order to receive here a reward of either praise or gift, without doubt deprives himself of the eternal reward. But whoever desires that what he says please men so that, while what is said pleases, through those same words not he himself but the Lord may be loved, or who therefore obtains earthly provisions in preaching lest he be wearied from the voice of preaching through want—for this one without doubt nothing stands in the way of receiving the reward in the homeland, because he took expenses on the way.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
