Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Free, unpaid and in training
Paul defends his right as an apostle to be supported and explains why he has never used it, makes himself a slave to all to win more, and pictures his discipline as an athlete's training for a wreath that will not wither.
1 Corinthians 9:1-27, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul defends his rights as an apostle: like soldiers, farmers and temple priests, he and Barnabas could expect support from those they serve, and could travel with a wife who believed, as other apostles did. He has deliberately refused that support so that nothing gets in the way of the gospel. He adapts himself to Jews and Gentiles alike to win as many as he can, and like an athlete in training for a wreath he keeps his body under strict control so that he is not disqualified.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sages-and-philosophers\/","n":"Philosophers and their schools","s":"Stoics, Epicureans and other schools taught a whole way of life in lecture halls and marketplaces. A traveling teacher with a message about God would be heard, and judged, as one more philosopher.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/patrons-and-benefactors\/","n":"Patrons, clients and benefactors","s":"Favors in the Roman world came with strings. A patron gave help and protection, the client paid it back in loyalty and public honor, and rulers who gave gifts to the public were hailed as benefactors.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/trade-guilds\/","n":"Trades and trade guilds","s":"Craftsmen of one trade lived and worked in the same streets and banded together in guilds, which set standards, defended their interests and met for meals in honor of a patron god.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/athletes-and-games\/","n":"The games and the victor's wreath","s":"Greek cities held great athletic festivals, and Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games every two years, second only to the Olympics. Athletes trained for months under oath for a wreath of leaves that soon withered.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/slavery\/","n":"Slavery and slave managers","s":"Slaves were everywhere in the Roman world, from field hands to stewards who ran whole estates and handled their master's money. A master away and slaves left in charge was a familiar story.","r":""}
Philosophers lived on a wealthy patron, on fees, on begging, or, least respectable of all, on manual work, and aristocrats despised manual labor (Keener and his notes). If wealthy believers supported Paul he could be seen as their client, expected to please them (Keener and his notes). Bailey sets the two worlds side by side: rabbis had to keep a trade, while among Greeks "Intellectuals were expected to be financially independent." Carson, Moo and Morris add that the church as a whole was unhappy with Paul's leadership, which partly explains why he defends his apostleship here. Most wandering sages could not marry, but most apostles by this time were married (the cultural backgrounds notes). Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games every two years, next to the Olympics the most popular, and Paul's stay overlapped at least one (the cultural backgrounds article Athletic Imagery; Keener; the ESV Study Bible); athletes and spectators lodged in tents (Bailey). The article gives the victor's wreath as pine or withered celery, while the Zondervan dictionary names laurel, olive or pine. Boxers' leather gloves left the fingers bare, and shadowboxing was no preparation for a real bout (the article; Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introductions to 1 Corinthians 9:1-14 and 9:15-27, and on 9:6, 9:11-12, 9:19-23, 9:24-25 and 9:26-27
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Corinthians 9:5, 9:6, 9:12, 9:19 and 9:24, and article Athletic Imagery in 1 Corinthians 9
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, sections 3.2 and 3.3
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Occasion, Historical Reconstruction
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry games
