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Text -- 1 Corinthians 9:11 (NET)

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Context
9:11 If we sowed spiritual blessings among you, is it too much to reap material things from you?
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Dictionary Themes and Topics: SPIRITUAL THINGS | SCRIBES | One Another | Minister | Evil | ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, VI-X | CARNAL | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Robertson , Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Calvin , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
, Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Barclay , Constable , College , McGarvey , Lapide

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 1Co 9:11 - -- Is it a great matter? ( mega̱ ). The copula estin has to be supplied. Note two conditions of first class with ei , both assumed to be true. On pne...

Is it a great matter? ( mega̱ ).

The copula estin has to be supplied. Note two conditions of first class with ei , both assumed to be true. On pneumatika and sarkika see note on 1Co 2:14 note on 1Co 3:3. This point comes out sharply also in Gal 6:6.

Wesley: 1Co 9:11 - -- As is needful for our sustenance? Do you give us things of greater value than those you receive from us?

As is needful for our sustenance? Do you give us things of greater value than those you receive from us?

JFB: 1Co 9:11 - -- 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 ...

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").

Clarke: 1Co 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 hav...

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.

Calvin: 1Co 9:11 - -- 11.If we have sown unto you spiritual things There was one cavil remaining — for it might be objected, that labors connected with this life should ...

11.If we have sown unto you spiritual things There was one cavil remaining — for it might be objected, that labors connected with this life should without doubt have food and clothing as their reward; and that plowing and thrashing yield fruit, of which those that labor in these things are partakers; but that it is otherwise with the gospel, because its fruit is spiritual; and hence the minister of the word, if he would receive fruit corresponding to his labor, ought to demand nothing that is carnal. Lest any one, therefore, should cavil in this manner, he argues from the greater to the less. “Though food and clothing are not of the same nature with a minister’s labors, what injury do you sustain, if you recompense what is inestimable with a thing that is small and contemptible? For in proportion to the superiority of the soul above the body, does the word of the Lord excel outward sustenance, 486 inasmuch as it is the food of the soul.”

TSK: 1Co 9:11 - -- sown : Mal 3:8, Mal 3:9; Mat 10:10; Rom 15:27; Gal 6:6 a great : 2Ki 5:13; 2Co 11:15

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Co 9:11 - -- If we have sown unto you spiritual things - If we have been the means of imparting to you the gospel, and bestowing upon you its high hopes and...

If we have sown unto you spiritual things - If we have been the means of imparting to you the gospel, and bestowing upon you its high hopes and privileges; see the note at Rom 15:27. The figure of "sowing,"to denote the preaching of the gospel, is not unfrequently employed in the Scriptures; see Joh 4:37, and the parable of the sower, Mat 13:3 ff.

Is it a great thing ... - See the note at Rom 15:27. Is it to be regarded as unequal, unjust, or burdensome? Is it to be supposed that we are receiving that for which we have not rendered a valuable consideration? The sense is, "We impart blessings of more value than we receive. We receive a supply of our temporal needs. We impart to you, under the divine blessing, the gospel, with all its hopes and consolations. We make you acquainted with God; with the plan of salvation; with the hope of heaven. We instruct your children; we guide you in the path of comfort and peace; we raise you from the degradations of idolatry and of sin; and we open before you the hope of the resurrection of the just, and of all the bliss of heaven; and to do this, we give ourselves to toil and peril by land and by sea. And can it be made a matter of question whether all these high and exalted hopes are of as much value to dying man as the small amount which shall be needful to minister to the needs of those who are the means of imparting these blessings?"Paul says this, therefore, from the reasonableness of the case. The propriety of support might be further urged:

(1) Because without it the ministry would be comparatively useless. Ministers, like physicians, lawyers, and farmers, should be allowed to attend mainly to the great business of their lives, and to their appropriate work. No physician, no farmer, no mechanic, could accomplish much, if his attention was constantly turned off from his appropriate business to engage in something else. And how can the minister of the gospel, if his time is nearly all taken up in laboring to provide for the needs of his family?

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 he great mass of ministers spend their early days, and many of them all their property, in preparing to preach the gospel to others. And as the mechanic who has spent his early years in learning a trade, and the physician and lawyer in preparing for their profession, receive support in that calling, why should not the minister of the gospel?

\caps1 (3) p\caps0 eople in other things cheerfully pay those who labor for them. They compensate the schoolmaster, the physician, the lawyer; the merchant, the mechanic; and they do it cheerfully, because they suppose they receive a valuable consideration for their money. But is it not so with regard to ministers of the gospel? Is not a man’ s family as certainly benefited by the labors of a faithful clergyman and pastor, as by the skill of a physician or a lawyer, or by the service of the schoolmaster? Are not the affairs of the soul and of eternity as important to a man’ s family as those of time and the welfare of the body? So the music-master and the dancing master are paid, and paid cheerfully and liberally; and yet can there be any comparison between the value of their services and those of the minister of the gospel?

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 t might be added, that society is benefited in a "pecuniary"way by the service of a faithful minister to a far greater extent than the amount of compensation which he receives. One drunkard, reformed under his labors, may earn and save to his family and to society as much as the whole salary of the pastor. The promotion of order, peace, sobriety, industry, education, and regularity in business, and honesty in contracting and in paying debts, saves much more to the community at large than the cost of the support of the gospel. In regard to this, any man may make the comparison at his leisure, between those places where the ministry is established, and where temperance, industry, and sober habits prevail, and those places where there is no ministry, and where gambling, idleness, and dissipation abound. It is always a matter of "economy"to a people, in the end, to support schoolmasters and ministers as they ought to be supported.

Reap your carnal things - Partake of those things which relate to the present life; the support of the body, that is, food and raiment.

Poole: 1Co 9:11 - -- By spiritual things the apostle meaneth the doctrine and sacraments of the gospel; which are called spiritual things, because they come from hea...

By spiritual things the apostle meaneth the doctrine and sacraments of the gospel; which are called spiritual things, because they come from heaven, they affect the soul and spirit of a man, they tend to make men spiritual, they prepare the soul for heaven. By carnal things he means things which only serve our bodies, which are our carnal, fleshly part. From the inequality of these things, and the excellency of the former above the latter, the apostle argueth the reasonableness of ministers’ maintenance from their people, they giving them quid pro quo, a just compensation for such allowance, yea, what was of much more value; for there is a great disproportion between things spiritual and things carnal, the former much excelling the latter: so as the minister of the gospel had the odds of them, giving people things of a much greater and more excellent value, for things of a much less and inferior value.

Haydock: 1Co 9:11 - -- Is it a great matter? The apostle is here speaking of what he had given to the Corinthians, and what he had received from them; and this he does und...

Is it a great matter? The apostle is here speaking of what he had given to the Corinthians, and what he had received from them; and this he does under the comparison of the sower and the reaper. Can any of you think it hared that we receive some part of your temporal goods, when we have bestowed upon you spiritual: nevertheless, we have not used this power, but we bear all things, &c. (ver. 12.) (Estius)

Gill: 1Co 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...

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; some of their hearers are like the wayside, careless, ignorant, and on whom no impression is made; others are like the stony ground, who though for a while they express some affection and liking, yet not having the root of grace in them, whenever persecution arises, forsake the hearing of it; others are like the thorny ground, which are at first very promising, and greatly reformed, but inwardly full of the cares and lusts of the world, which choke the word, and make it unfruitful; and others are like the good ground, who are made good by the grace of God, understand the word, receive it, hold it fast, and in whom it is fruitful: sowing requires skill and art, and so preaching the Gospel does, and that more than human; and is constantly in its returning season to be attended to, notwithstanding the winds and clouds, and so the ministry of the word, notwithstanding all reproaches, persecutions, and afflictions; and as the same sort of seed, without mixture, and in plenty, is to be cast into the earth, so the same pure and unmixed Gospel of Christ is to be preached, and that without keeping back any thing that is profitable: and once more, as the sower, when he has cast his seed into the earth, waits long and with patience for its springing up and increase, so do the faithful dispensers of the Gospel: and what they sow or minister is of a spiritual nature; it comes from the Spirit of God, he is the dictator of it; he by his gifts qualifies men to preach it, and by his power makes it effectual to the souls of men; and through it conveys himself to them, as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification: the matter of the Gospel is spiritual; it contains spiritual doctrines, such as justification, pardon of sin, adoption, regeneration, &c. and are what concern the souls and spirits of men, and their spiritual and eternal welfare:

is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? meaning temporal ones, what concern the flesh, the body, the outward man, and the support thereof. The argument is from the greater to the less, and much the same with that in Rom 15:27. The difference between carnal and spiritual things is very great; the one has a vastly superior excellency to the other; and therefore if for carnal things men receive spiritual ones, they can be no losers thereby, but must be gainers; nor should it be thought any hardship or burden upon them, or any great and wonderful thing done by them, to support and maintain such who are so useful to their souls, and the spiritual welfare of them.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

Geneva Bible: 1Co 9:11 ( 7 ) If we have sown unto you spiritual things, [is it] a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? ( 7 ) An assumption of the arguments with...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Co 9:1-27 - --1 He shows his liberty;7 and that the minister ought to live by the Gospel;15 yet that himself has of his own accord abstained,18 to be either chargea...

MHCC: 1Co 9:1-14 - --It is not new for a minister to meet with unkind returns for good-will to a people, and diligent and successful services among them. To the cavils of ...

Matthew Henry: 1Co 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. Th...

Barclay: 1Co 9:1-14 - --At first sight this chapter seems quite disconnected from what goes before but in fact it is not. The whole point lies in this--the Corinthians who c...

Constable: 1Co 7:1--16:13 - --III. Questions asked of Paul 7:1--16:12 The remainder of the body of this epistle deals with questions the Corin...

Constable: 1Co 8:1--11:2 - --B. Food offered to idols 8:1-11:1 The Corinthians had asked Paul another question, evidently in a combat...

Constable: 1Co 9:1-27 - --2. Paul's apostolic defense ch. 9 The absence of the key phrase "now concerning" is the clue tha...

Constable: 1Co 9:3-14 - --Apostolic rights 9:3-14 The issue of Paul's right to their material support underlies this whole pericope. "Philosophers and wandering missionaries in...

College: 1Co 9:1-27 - --1 CORINTHIANS 9 B. THE RIGHTS OF AN APOSTLE (9:1-27) 1. Paul's Rights as Apostle (9:1-6) 1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesu...

McGarvey: 1Co 9:11 - --If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things? [What was earthly support in comparison with the rich...

Lapide: 1Co 9:1-27 - --CHAPTER 9 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER i. He proceeds to show by his own example how offences are to be avoided, and he says that he had refused to accep...

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Introduction / Outline

Robertson: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) First Corinthians From Ephesus a.d. 54 Or 55 By Way of Introduction It would be a hard-boiled critic today who would dare deny the genuineness o...

JFB: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) The AUTHENTICITY of this Epistle is attested by CLEMENT OF ROME [First Epistle to the Corinthians, 47], POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 11], and...

JFB: 1 Corinthians (Outline) THE INSCRIPTION; THANKSGIVING FOR THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH; REPROOF OF PARTY DIVISIONS: HIS OWN METHOD OF PREACHING ONLY CHRIST. ...

TSK: 1 Corinthians 9 (Chapter Introduction) Overview 1Co 9:1, He shows his liberty; 1Co 9:7, and that the minister ought to live by the Gospel; 1Co 9:15, yet that himself has of his own acco...

Poole: 1 Corinthians 9 (Chapter Introduction) CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 9

MHCC: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) The Corinthian church contained some Jews, but more Gentiles, and the apostle had to contend with the superstition of the one, and the sinful conduct ...

MHCC: 1 Corinthians 9 (Chapter Introduction) (1Co 9:1-14) The apostle shows his authority, and asserts his right to be maintained. (1Co 9:15-23) He waved this part of his Christian liberty, for ...

Matthew Henry: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians Corinth was a principal city of Greece, in that partic...

Matthew Henry: 1 Corinthians 9 (Chapter Introduction) In this chapter the apostle seems to answer some cavils against himself. I. He asserts his apostolical mission and authority, and gives in his suc...

Barclay: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL The Letters Of Paul There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letter...

Barclay: 1 Corinthians 9 (Chapter Introduction) The Unclaimed Privileges (1Co_9:1-14) The Privilege And The Task (1Co_9:15-23) A Real Fight (1Co_9:24-27)

Constable: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) Introduction Historical Background Corinth had a long history stretching back into the...

Constable: 1 Corinthians (Outline) Outline I. Introduction 1:1-9 A. Salutation 1:1-3 B. Thanksgiving 1:4-9 ...

Constable: 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Bibliography Adams, Jay. Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presb...

Haydock: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE, TO THE CORINTHIANS. INTRODUCTION. Corinth was the capital of Achaia, a very rich and populous city...

Gill: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS This was not the first epistle that was written by the apostle to the Corinthians, for we read in this of his having ...

Gill: 1 Corinthians 9 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 9 The principal things in this chapter are the proof of the apostle's office and authority; arguments for his own mai...

College: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) FOREWORD Since the past few decades have seen an explosion in the number of books, articles, and commentaries on First Corinthians, a brief word to t...

College: 1 Corinthians (Outline) OUTLINE I. INTRODUCTION - 1:1-9 A. Salutation - 1:1-3 B. Thanksgiving - 1:4-9 II. DISUNITY AND COMMUNITY FRAGMENTATION - 1:10-4:21 A. ...

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