1 Corinthians 9:7-10 (WEL) Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat its fruit? Or who feeds the flock and doesn’t drink the flock’s milk? 8 Am I just talking like a man? Or doesn’t the law say the same thing also? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox’s mouth that treads out the grain.” Doesn’t God have concern for oxen? 10 Or is He saying this for our sake? For our sake, no doubt, that it was written because the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who is threshing in hope should be partaker of his own hope.
V7 Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat its fruit? Or who feeds the flock and doesn’t drink the flock’s milk?
Three rhetorical questions regarding obvious truths. The soldier does not pay; the vine owner does eat its produce; the shepherd does drink the flock’s milk.
The principle is what service and work we do, there is a reward.
The point of these questions is explained below.
V8 Am I just talking like a man? Or doesn’t the law say the same thing also?
Now, Paul applies this principle to the Mosaic Law which has the same principle. Paul does not dream this principle up; it is contained in the Old Testament.
V9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox’s mouth that treads out the grain.” Doesn’t God have concern for oxen?
This is a quote from Deuteronomy 25:4. The ox works yet eats some of the grain that falls to the ground.
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) “In the East to the present day they do not after reaping carry the sheaves home to barns as we do, but take them to an area under the open air to be threshed by the oxen treading them with their feet, or else drawing a threshing instrument over them (compare Mic 4:13).”
(Holman Commentary) “In biblical times, at least two methods of treading grain were practiced. At times, stalks of grain were spread out over a flat, hard surface called a threshing floor. Oxen or horses dragged a weighted board across the grain by walking around and around a central post. At other times, the animals simply walked on the grain with their feet. Old Testament law did not allow farmers to muzzle the treading animals. God’s law permitted the animals to eat as they worked.”
V10 Or is He saying this for our sake? For our sake, no doubt, that it was written because the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who is threshing in hope should be partaker of his own hope.
Whatever work we do, especially serving Jesus Christ, has a hope for a reward. The rewards of faithful service happen at the Bema Seat Judgment. The rewards in this life are financial support for full-time Christian workers.
Precept Austin on verse 10: “If the plowman or thresher had no hope (no assurance) of participation in the harvest, this would be inhumane. But such was not the case in common practice, for they did have hope of sharing. The principle is clear that all the laborers in God’s field (1 Corinthians 3:9) should share in the fruit of the harvest (cf John 4:35-38).”
We learn:
- A principle of financial support for full-time Christian workers.
- God’s care for Christian workers.
Questions:
- Do you agree with what we are to learn?
- Do you support Christian workers?