1 Corinthians 9:15-23 (ASV)
(ASV) 15 But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case; for it were good for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.
17 For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship intrusted to me.
18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.
19 For though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
21 to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
23 And I do all things for the gospel’s sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof.
Rights. Freedom. Bondage. As an apostle of God, Paul has rights. He, like other apostles, has the right to the companionship of a wife on his mission tours. He also has a right to receive compensation for his missionary work and travel, like the other apostles. As an apostle, Paul has a right to enjoy the basic necessities of life.
But Paul surrenders these rights to reach more non-believers with the Gospel. His goal, from which he will not be deterred, is to make disciples of Jews and non-Jew by preaching the Gospel to them without charge. Rights are not the uppermost thing in Paul’s mind. He makes this point clear in verse 23. Paul does not boast about his many rights, but about the renunciation of his apostolic rights for the sake of the Gospel,