For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me: yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! (17) For if I do this willingly I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. (18) What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority inn the gospel. (19) For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;…………….(22) to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to ll men, that I might by all means save some. (23) Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to address problems in the church he founded in Corinth – problems in the main of unity in the Church. Disunity arose from the cult of personality in that Church – also discord among Christians even to the point of suing in the courts – and discord from the false teaching of men who were critical of Paul. From these problems of favoritism, infighting and false teaching came disunity, envy, wrath and strife – all symbolic of the terrible stresses in the early church.
The object of the verses we study today is to talk about winning people to Christ which was at the heart of Paul’s ministry. He tells his readers that preaching the gospel is nothing that he feels he can boast of – God chose him for that mission and Paul felt he had no say in his ministry – even further, woe to him if he should not be obedient to God. He describes himself as bondholder and servant of Christ – in other words, Paul was all in.
As a Christian, some things or actions were neither good nor bad – a gray area – and Paul describes his style which was to present himself to his audience in a way to gain their interest and attention. Through Christ, Paul was not bound to Jewish tradition, customs or ceremonies including following dietary laws of the Jews. But he makes himself “all things to all men” in order to save souls for Christ – when Paul was with the Jews he adopted the customs of the Jews. (Paul was Jewish, and a rabbi, so this was acceptable behavior to the Jews and got them to listen to Paul’s arguments for the gospel of Christ Jesus.)
For the Gentiles, he is not saying he is disregarding God but is under the law of Christ. He was talking ceremony here: things like eating with the Gentiles and eating any food that might be offered. Paul would not do things that would offend the Gentiles. Paul never set aside the truth though. He set aside personal liberties to reach all men.
The Apostle Paul limited his freedom by love of another. He didn’t want the Corinthians to think that he was doing an end run – saying one thing and meaning another and he is telling them in this letter that his motive in setting some of his liberty aside was to live a life of self denial and self control and to do all to remove any hindrance to preaching the gospel of Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Winning people to Christ was at the heart of Paul’s ministry.
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