1 Corinthians 9:17
in 1 Corinthians 9If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 9
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For if I do this thing willingly - If I preach so as to show that my heart is in it; that I am not compelled, If I pursue such a course as to show that I prefer it to all other employments. If Paul took a compensation for his services, he could not well do this; if he did not, he showed that his heart was in it, and that he preferred the work to all others.
This site's exposition
a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me
on 1 Corinthians 9:17-18
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me: Paul distinguishes a steward acting freely from one simply carrying out a trust, and either way the stewardship itself stands, oikonomia, the same word used of household management. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel: his reward, paradoxically, is the very renunciation the chapter has been defending his right to make, preaching free of charge becoming itself the crown he seeks. The bench notes the deliberate reversal, a right proven at length only to be handed back as an offering.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Surely it is better to merit a reward than to serve as a steward. Let us not be bound by the yoke of slavery, but let us serve in charity of spirit.
A commentator
Augustine of HippoCommentary (church-history corpus) · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
Up to now I am so far restored in that glory that I confess I am ignorant not only how near I come to it but even whether I shall come to it at all. It is true I am a dispenser of eternal salvation along with my other innumerable fellow servants. "For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward." To be a dispenser of that salvation by word and sacrament is not at all the same as to be a partaker of it. Letter , To Audax.
What then shall I do, to whom the dispensation of the Word is committed? Although I am an "unprofitable servant," I have, nevertheless, received from the Lord the commission "to distribute the measure of wheat to the master's servants.".
"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! For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That when I preach the Gospel, I may make the Gospel of Christ without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the Gospel." What sayest thou? tell me. "If thou preach the Gospel, it is nothing for thee to glory of, but it is, if thou make the Gospel of Christ without charge?" Is this therefore greater than that? By no means; but in another point of view it hath some advantage, inasmuch as the one is a command, but the other is a good deed of my own free-will: for what things are done beyond the commandment, have a great reward in this respect: but such as are in pursuance of a commandment, not so great: and so in this respect he says, the one is more than the other; not in the very nature of the thing. For what is equal to preaching; since it maketh men vie even with the angels themselves. Nevertheless since the one is a commandment and a debt, the other a forwardness of free-will, in this respect this is more than that. Wherefore he saith, explaining the same, what I just now mentioned: "For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward, but if not of mine own will, a stewardship is entrusted to me;" taking the words of mine own "will" and "not of mine own will," of its being committed or not committed to him. And thus we must understand the expression, "for necessity is laid upon me;" not as though he did aught of these things against his will, God forbid, but as though he were bound by the things commanded, and for contradistinction to the liberty in receiving before mentioned. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
If the work of preaching had not been entrusted to me, but I were performing it of my own accord, then I would have a great and abundant reward. But if it has been entrusted to me, clearly I am performing it not of my …
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
To that which is objected, that such men are imitators of Gehazi, who minister spiritual things for temporal ones: to this the Gloss responds sufficiently enough on that passage of 1 Corinthians 9: A dispensation is entrusted to me: "We ought not to preach the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And so, in the next verse, another might have used that power without abusing it. But his own using it at all, he would have termed abusing it. A dispensation is intrusted to me - Therefore I dare not refrain.
For if I do this thing willingly,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Translate, "If I be doing this (that is, preaching) of my own accord (which I am not, for the 'necessity' is laid on me which binds a servant to obey his master), I have a reward; but if (as is the case) involuntarily (Ac 9:15; 26:16); not of my own natural will, but by the constraining grace of God;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
For if I do this thing willingly - If I be a cordial co-operator with God, I have a reward, an incorruptible crown, 1Co 9:25. Or, if I freely preach this Gospel without being burthensome to any, I have a special reward; but if I do not, I have simply an office to fulfill, into which God has put me, and may fulfill it conscientiously, and claim my privileges at the same time; but then I lose that special reward which I have in view by preaching the Gospel without charge to any. This and the 18th verse have been variously translated: Sir Norton Knatchbull and, after him, Mr. Wakefield translate the two passages thus: For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I am intrusted with an office without my consent? what is my reward then? to make the Gospel of Christ, whilst I preach it, without charge, in not using to the utmost my privileges in the Gospel. Others render the passage thus: But if I do it merely because I am obliged to it, I only discharge an office that is committed to me, 1Co 9:18. For what then shall I be rewarded? It is for this, that, preaching the Gospel of Christ, I preach it freely, and do not insist on a claim which the Gospel itself gives me.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| ἑκὼν | hekon | willingly | G1635 → | |
| τοῦτο | touto | this | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| πράσσω, | prasso | I do, | G4238 → | |
| μισθὸν | misthon | a reward | G3408 → | 29 times |
| ἔχω· | echo | I have; | G2192 → | 707 times |
| εἰ | ei | if | G1487 → | 508 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἄκων, | akon | unwillingly, | G210 → | |
| οἰκονομίαν | oikonomian | a stewardship | G3622 → | |
| πεπίστευμαι. | pepisteumai | I have been entrusted with. | G4100 → | 237 times |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
ἑκὼνwillingly
hekonG1635 →
τοῦτοthis
toutoG3778 →1381 times
πράσσω,I do,
prassoG4238 →
μισθὸνa reward
misthonG3408 →29 times
ἔχω·I have;
echoG2192 →707 times
εἰif
eiG1487 →508 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
ἄκων,unwillingly,
akonG210 →
οἰκονομίανa stewardship
oikonomianG3622 →
πεπίστευμαι.I have been entrusted with.
pepisteumaiG4100 →237 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Chronicles 28:9As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought.…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
- James 4:8–11
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- Matthew 7:7–8
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- Isaiah 55:6–7
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their…
- Jeremiah 29:13
Through
Matthew 10:41Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
it leads to
- 3 John 1:5–8
Beloved, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, and especially since they are strangers to you.
- 3 John 1:5–8
Through
Colossians 1:25I became its servant by the commission God gave me to fully proclaim to you the word of God,
it leads to
- Ephesians 3:2
Surely you have heard about the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
- Ephesians 3:2
Through
1 Corinthians 3:8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
it leads to
- Romans 2:6
God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”
- Romans 2:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, LETTER 47; Augustine of Hippo, Commentary (church-history corpus); Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2; Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 22; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 10 and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.