Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 9:1

"Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?" — 1 Corinthians 9:1 (ASV)

Paul’s reference to the spiritual freedom we have in Christ, coupled with his claim of apostleship, leads him to expand the theme of Christian freedom and apply it in a wider context than that of sacrificial meat. His illustration is particularly pertinent because it involves himself and his important rights as an apostle and Christian worker. The four rhetorical questions in v.1 (all anticipating a positive answer) relate to freedom and apostleship, the last three specifically relating to his apostleship. Paul contends that he is an “apostle” (GK 693) and then states one of the criteria for an apostle: he had seen the Lord (Acts 1:21–22; Acts 9:3–9). (Another evidence of apostleship is working signs and wonders [2 Corinthians 12:12], which Paul had done in Corinth.) Paul then contends that his apostleship had produced spiritual work “in the Lord”—the Corinthians were the fruit of his work. He expected them to accept him as an apostle—though others did not—because they were really the seal that stamped his apostleship as genuine.