The Corinthians Are Like the Greedy Owner – Interpreting the Law of God (41)

The Corinthians Are Like the Greedy Owner

Interpreting the Law of God (41)

If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? 1 Corinthians 9:12

Paul saw himself as like the ox in Deuteronomy 25:4. He had rights, and they were being denied him by his “masters.”

The Corinthians, in Paul’s view, were like the greedy masters who took advantage of their “ox” and did not share with him from the “harvest.” Paul switches metaphors freely in making this application. He has to in order to bring out the principle of justice involved here.

Paul had worked feverishly to sow spiritual things among the Corinthians and to bring forth spiritual fruit in them. He expected them to allow him to participate in the “fruit” of his ministry, but not merely in a spiritual way. He sowed spiritual goods, and they should have repaid him with material goods to support him in his material needs as he ministered the Gospel among them.

So Paul derives yet another principle from Deuteronomy 25:4: There are larger, spiritual lessons and applications to be derived from the statutes of God as originally given. Only the Spirit of God can lead us into this depth of truth (1 Cor. 2:12, 13).

Paul was no babe in Christ; the Corinthians, however, were. Paul was an advanced student in the Holy Spirit’s school of disciple-making (Ezek. 36:26, 27), and he would thus have been well-versed in the spiritual meanings embedded in the letter of God’s Law. And even though they were but babes in Christ, Paul did not hesitate to chide the Corinthians for having failed to do their homework and to understand and follow the statutes of God’s Law for justice in their community.

What would he say to our Law-neglecting churches today?

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.