1 Cor. 9:9. For in the law of Moses it is written: "You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain."
He confirms the desired point abundantly, which is why he brings up the example of oxen as well.
1 Cor. 9:9. Does God take care of oxen?
What then? Does He truly not care? He does care, but not so as to give laws about them. Therefore, by His concern for dumb animals He was suggesting something else, namely He was training the Jews in caring for their teachers. From this we also learn that everything said in the Old Testament about dumb animals serves for the edification of people.
1 Cor. 9:10. Or does He say it assuredly for our sakes? Yes, for our sakes this was written.
He used the word "certainly" (πάντως), as about a universally acknowledged matter, so as not to give the listener occasion to object anything.
1 Cor. 9:10. For he who plows ought to plow in hope.
That is, the teacher must cultivate the field of hearts and labor with the hope of recompense and reward.
1 Cor. 9:10. And he who threshes ought to thresh in hope of partaking of his expectation.
From sowing he passed to threshing, so as to express by this as well how many labors the apostles have: for they both plow and thresh. Since the one who plows only hopes, while the one who threshes already partly enjoys as well, he said that the one who threshes receives what he expects. And lest someone say: "What then? For such great labors of the apostles you assign them a reward consisting only in receiving sustenance?" he added: "in hope," that is, of future blessings, so that one should hope for those blessings as well, and besides that also eat and drink at the expense of the disciples.
1 Cor. 9:11. If we have sown spiritual things in you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
Here he proves the justice of the cause. You, he says, repay unequally for what you have received. For we sowed in you spiritual things, and you repay us with carnal things. Is this a great thing?
1 Cor. 9:12. If others have authority over you, do we not even more?
He hints at certain false teachers who took from them shamelessly and of their own accord. Therefore he did not say: if others take, but: "have authority over you," that is, they lord it over you, rule over you, order you about like slaves; do we not have all the more right, we who are true apostles?
1 Cor. 9:12. However, we did not use this authority.
Though we have the authority to eat and drink at your expense, yet we did not make use of this authority, lest you be led into temptation. But you do not abstain even from food offered to idols, so as not to lead the weaker among the brethren into temptation through this!
1 Cor. 9:12. But we endure all things, lest we cause any hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
Lest anyone should say: "you had no need, therefore you did not take," he says: although we find ourselves in great hardship, we nevertheless endure all things—both hunger, and thirst, and nakedness—so that no hindrance, that is, no delay, should arise for the Gospel and the preaching.
1 Cor. 9:13. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat from the sanctuary?
Not satisfied with the above example, he brings another passage from the Law to prove that he had the right to receive from his disciples. Since the commandment about oxen had been explained by him in a figurative sense, he says that the Law literally commands that those who perform sacred rites should be fed from the sanctuary, that is, the Levites, who are lower in rank than the priests. And he did not say "they are fed by those who offer," but "from the sanctuary," so that neither would those who receive be ashamed, as being fed by people, nor would those who give become puffed up.
1 Cor. 9:13. That those who serve the altar (προσεδρεύοντες — those who sit beside it) receive a share from the altar?
That is, priests and bishops. By the word "attending" he indicates constant service and abiding. And he did not say that they take what is sacred, pointing to moderation and to the fact that one should not accumulate money. Nor did he say that they take from those who offer sacrifices, but "take a share from the altar." For what was offered belonged not to those who brought it, but to the temple and the altar. He said "take a share," because the blood of the animals slain in sacrifice was poured out upon the altar, the fat was burned, and the remaining certain portions of meat, such as the breast, the right shoulder, and certain entrails, the priest took for himself (Lev. 10:14). But the burnt offerings belonged to the altar alone (Lev. 9:12–14).
1 Cor. 9:14. So also the Lord commanded those who preach the Gospel to live from the Gospel.
Those who preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel. He named the strongest proof of all at the end. Why, he says, do I present now one thing, now another? The Lord so commanded, having given a law in agreement with the Old Testament (Luke 10:7). As he said above: to be nourished "from the sanctuary," so here too: not from those being instructed, but "from the Gospel," so that those who provide nourishment would not become proud. It is not you, he says, who nourishes him, but his work — the Gospel. And he said "to live," not to trade, nor to accumulate wealth.
1 Cor. 9:15. But I have not used any of these things.