Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Corinthians 9:4

"Have we no right to eat and to drink?" — 1 Corinthians 9:4 (ASV)

Have we not power, exousian. Have we not the right? The word power here is evidently used in the sense of right, (Compare to John 1:12, margin); and the apostle means to say that though they had not exercised this right by demanding maintenance, yet it was not because they were conscious that they had no such right, but because they chose to forgo it for wise and important purposes.

To eat and to drink; that is, to be maintained at the expense of those among whom we labour. Have we not a right to demand that they provide us with proper support? By the interrogative form of the statement, Paul intends more strongly to affirm that they had such a right.

The interrogative mode is often adopted to express the strongest affirmation. The objection urged here seems to have been this: "You, Paul and Barnabas, labour with your own hands (Acts 18:3). Other religious teachers lay claim to maintenance and are supported without personal labour. This is the case with pagan and Jewish priests, and with Christian teachers among us. You must be conscious, therefore, that you are not apostles and that you have no claim or right to support."

To this, Paul's answer is: "We admit that we labour with our own hands. But your inference does not follow. It is not because we do not have a right to such support, and it is not because we are conscious that we have no such claim, but it is for a higher purpose. It is because it will do good if we do not urge this right and enforce this claim." That they had such a right, Paul proves at length in the subsequent part of the chapter.