In the ancient world, people sacrificed animals to their gods. They consumed some of the meat at religious feasts in pagan temples. Priests sold whatever they didn’t use in the public market for consumption at dinner parties in private homes.

In 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1, Paul examines whether Christians can eat food sacrificed to idols in either pagan temples or private homes. In chapter 8, he outlines theological and ethical guidelines. In chapter 10 he applies those guidelines to specific cases.

In chapter 9…

To be perfectly honest, the logic of Paul’s argument in this chapter is difficult to follow. Imagine that you are seated at the dinner table and your spouse answers the phone and carries on a discussion about issues at work. You can’t hear the person on the other end of the line, so you reconstruct what that person is saying by what your spouse is saying.

Reading 1 Corinthians 9:1–27 is a bit like that. We don’t have the letter the Corinthians wrote to Paul, so we have to reconstruct their questions on the basis of his answers. We know the issue is food sacrificed to idols (8:1). But if that’s the case, why does Paul devote chapter 9 to defending his apostleship?

Here’s how that defense begins:

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord (9:1–2).

These are rhetorical questions. If we change the interrogatives to indicatives, here’s what Paul writes:

I am free. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus our Lord. You are the result of my work in the Lord. Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Why does Paul feel the need to say these things? Why did he stress his qualifications to be an apostle? The answer seems to be that the Corinthians disagreed with Paul’s teaching because they disputed his authority. If Paul was an apostle, then his teaching would settle the matter. If not, then not.

So, Paul offered two reasons why he was qualified to be an apostle: his relationship with Christ and his relationship with the Corinthians. According to Acts 9:1–19, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Paul and commissioned him to preach the gospel to Gentiles. Hence the rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 9:1: “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” If being an eyewitness to the resurrection of Jesus is the root qualification of being an apostle, then making converts is the fruit qualification. Hence the indicative statements: “You are the result of my work in the Lord” and “you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.”

I hope this brief explanation makes the logic of Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 9 a bit clearer.