Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 9:6

"Or I only and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working?" — 1 Corinthians 9:6 (ASV)

Paul now begins to defend himself against those who have criticized his apostleship on the ground that he had not exercised all the rights one might expect an apostle to use. He brings up certain rights that he and others, such as Barnabas, had the authority to exercise. The first one, “the right to food and drink,” means, in the context, daily provisions at the expense of the church (cf. vv.9–11). Next he claims the right to have a wife join him in his missionary travels. In referring to the “rest of the apostles” (v.5), Paul is not saying that all were necessarily married, but that at least a larger part were. The phrase “brothers of the Lord” should be taken at face value—physical brothers (i.e., half-brothers), children of both Joseph and Mary after Jesus was born (Matthew 1:18– 25; 12:46; 13:55; Acts 1:14; Galatians 1:19).

In v.6 Paul raises the practical question of his and Barnabas’s right to be supported financially in the ministry. It was Paul’s practice to support himself materially by tentmaking (Acts 18:2–3; 1 Corinthians 4:12) in order not to be a burden to the church. Some apparently misunderstood this to mean that he was not on a par with other apostles and Christian workers who depended on the church to support them. In not denying that principle, Paul asserts, by way of a rhetorical question, that he has a right to be supported.