9:15
Paul, however, had not availed himself of any of these “rights”. Nor was he now going to try and get his “back pay”! Paul is showing how unusual his behaviour was, and unusual in the sense of forgoing his rights. We are very used to talk of rights in our culture, but we would be far better off if we thought more in terms of obligations and responsibilities. In fact , Paul here seems to take pride in the fact that he has not taken any money from the Corinthians.
9:16
Paul saw his position as an apostle and a preacher of the gospel as a great gift from God. Paul did not preach the gospel because it was always what he wanted to do, or was supremely equipped to preach it. Rather, he was compelled to preach. We see this very vividly in Paul’s famous conversion story. Paul was not seeking Christ, indeed he was persecuting Christ. But Christ chose him, and Jesus did not ask Paul if he was interesting in becoming a preacher, instead He told Paul what his mission was. We have a far too man-centered view of things many times. We need to have a God-centered approach, then we will see the truth more clearly.
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