1 Corinthians 9:8 Commentary and Bible Study

Am I establishing a principle on mere human authority, based on human illustrations? That is what he means. Although he gives us these illustrations as part of his inspired apostolic teaching, in case anyone is about to question the authority behind his illustrations, he derives the same teaching from the law of Moses. Where in the law of Moses does it say that preachers in the coming age of the New Testament must be supported? Well, here is where it says it, and he quotes from Deuteronomy 25:4: ‘Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.’ When you look at Deuteronomy, if you were to confine these words to their literal sense, you would say, ‘This is about being kind to your working animals. It is not about the payments of preachers. Yes, but the apostle Paul says it is. How then does Paul derive a lesson about preachers from this passage? His answer gives us a lesson in how to interpret Scripture. Primarily all Scripture has is to be applied spiritually. There are those who say that this is entirely the wrong approach. We should never do this, according to them, but should limit the text to its obvious literal meaning. We should not read back New Testament theology into Old Testament passages. We should not interpret it in a way that goes beyond what the original human author was capable of understanding. But the Scripture is a spiritual book. We are to look for spiritual principles in it all the time. This does not mean that we constantly engage in an allegorical method of interpretation, where one thing always stands for another, and where everything is treated as a symbol and assigned an arbitrary meaning. That is not how Paul arrives at the interpretation he is about to give us. Nor should we understand that he is simply making some novel use of Deuteronomy. This, he says, always was the meaning of the passage. ‘Doth God take care for oxen?’ Well in a sense he does, but that is not the point of the law. The law of Moses is given for the benefit of mankind. The law says that you must be kind to your working animals and you must provide for them, but that is only the literal, most basic level of understanding. This principle of care applies to more than just animals, in fact it applies much more strongly to those who are above the animals. What is surprising is that God should make a law for the well-being of animals, but he has. However, God is not primarily concerned about the oxen; he is concerned about training his people and teaching them this great principle. If you are going to be kind to your working animals, how much more will you be kind to your human employees and provide for them, and how much more will you be kind to those who provide the bread of heaven, who feed you from God's hand, who help you to spiritual life everlasting? To muzzle the mouth of the ox – what an apt illustration! Would you limit the preachers? Would you limit the Christian workers, so that they cannot operate and they are weakened by lack of help and support? God expects us to take these further steps in applying his word, because we should know that his purposes are not ultimately concerned with animals but with man, the only creature made in the image of God, and that man’s spiritual good is far more significant than his earthly good. It is a principle; it is a matter of moving from the lesser to the greater, and the higher we go, the more strongly the principle applies. If you teach the people to be kind to their working animals, you put into them a principle which applies all the way up the scale, and that is God's authority for the support of Christian work, says the apostle Paul.