Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Corinthians 9:13

"Know ye not that they that minister about sacred things eat [of] the things of the temple, [and] they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar?" — 1 Corinthians 9:13 (ASV)

Do you not know.—The Apostle now turns to an argument that would carry weight with them as Christians. The rights of the ministry to be supported by the Church have already been established by appealing to ordinary life and the Jewish law; furthermore, it has been stated that the Apostle, though possessing that right, did not, for wise reasons, use it.

There is one higher step in the argument: this was not only a principle of Jewish law that Christ might have abrogated, but it was a provision of the Jewish economy that Christ Himself formally perpetuated.

They who minister...—Better, They which minister about the holy things eat from the temple, and they which serve at the altar have their share with the altar.

The first part of this passage refers to the general principle that the priests engaged in the Temple services were supported from the various offerings brought there. The second clause more definitely alludes to the particular fact that when a sacrifice was offered on the altar, the sacrificing priests, as well as the altar, had a share of the animal (Leviticus 6:26; Leviticus 7:6; Numbers 5; Numbers 18; Deuteronomy 10:18). A suggestion that the allusion might be to the custom of heathen priests is wholly inadmissible, as that would have no force for Christians and would entirely destroy the sequence of the next verse.