“But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die , than that any man should make my glorying void.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Corinthians 9:15 Mean?
"It were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void." Paul declares he would rather die than lose the one thing he boasts in: preaching the gospel free of charge. His refusal to accept payment from the Corinthians isn't just a policy — it's his glory, his point of pride, the one boast he'll defend with his life.
The intensity — "better to die" — reveals how deeply Paul's identity is connected to free gospel preaching. He has the right to be paid (verses 4-14). He refuses to use it. And the refusal isn't reluctant frugality — it's passionate identity. Taking money would void his glorying, and voiding his glorying is worse than death.
The word "glorying" (kauchema) means ground of boasting, reason for pride. Paul's pride is specifically that he preaches without charging. The unpaid ministry is his distinctive — the thing that separates him from other apostles and gives him a clean conscience. Remove it, and he'd rather be dead.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What is your 'glorying' — the thing you'd rather die than lose?
- 2.Why does Paul connect his identity so deeply to free preaching specifically?
- 3.What's the difference between a principle you hold and a principle that holds you?
- 4.How does Paul's intensity about free ministry challenge casual attitudes toward calling?
Devotional
Better dead than paid. Paul would literally rather die than accept money for preaching the gospel. Not because money is wrong — he defends other ministers' right to be paid. But because his identity is built on one thing: free gospel. Remove the 'free' and you've removed his glory.
The intensity is startling. This isn't a financial preference. It's an identity statement. Paul has found the one boast he'll defend to the death: I preach without charging. The gospel I deliver costs the recipient nothing because it cost me everything. That sacrifice IS the ministry. Take it away and you've taken away what makes Paul Paul.
Every person has a glorying — something they'd rather die than lose. For Paul, it's the purity of free preaching. Not the preaching itself (he'll preach regardless). The free part. The refusal to be financially entangled with the people he serves. The clean conscience of a minister who can't be accused of greed.
What's your glorying — the one thing so central to your identity that losing it would be worse than death? Not the thing you should value most (that answer is easy). The thing you actually value most. The thing that, if someone took it, would void your sense of self.
Paul found his. It was gospel freedom. What's yours?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of,.... The sense is not, that if he preached the Gospel in…
But I have used none of these things - I have not urged and enforced this right. I have chosen to support myself by the…
Neither have I written, etc. - Though I might plead the authority of God in the law, of Christ in the Gospel, the common…
Here he tells them that he had, notwithstanding, waived his privilege, and lays down his reason for doing it.
I. He…
St Paul's use of his Christian liberty is restrained by the thought of the needs of others
15. But I have used none of…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture