Has God really commanded that preachers be paid a regular on-going salary for serving congregations of His Church?
Well this is what most preachers will tell you that the Bible teaches, basing their defense on passages in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. The question that should be considered is this... has God commissioned that gospel-preachers receive financial and material support from a church family? Is that support to be an ongoing package of compensation and benefits or occasional gifts only when and if necessary?
To begin debating this touchy subject, I would suggest reviewing what may well be the most misquoted of all Bible verses on this subject, at 1 Corinthians 9:14. It says...
In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
Paul does appear to be saying that God has commanded that certain people should get paid to preach the gospel. Most Christians believe this verse is a command to the church to provide a regular ongoing income for an evangelist – the preaching minister.
However, is that what the passage is really saying? I would suggest it is not. Lets consider the entire context and you can then decide for yourself after examining the evidence.
First, the phrase “those who preach the gospel” does not automatically refer to a pastor, evangelist or preacher. Yet it is not unusual, in fact, it is incredibly commonplace for preachers to quote this verse as if it applies exclusively to them.
They claim that this verse is God's express command that not only empowers them, but entitles them to collect a regular income from church members, construed as mandatory, therefore church doctrine. The argument includes verse 13 which says...
Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
On the surface these passages may sound like a compelling command, but is this really what the Apostle Paul is referring to?
Actually... 1 Corinthians 9 cannot be used by preachers to defend the practice of receiving a salary. These passages are talking about traveling missionaries and other leaders who have left their home and jobs to teach and support other Christians in other towns. Since they will typically only be in a city or town for a few weeks or months, they are dependent upon the hospitality of local people in that city or town.
Ideally, even these spiritual leaders should have “mobile professions” if possible, so like Paul, they do not have to depend on the financial aid of other people, especially when it was known that most 1st century Christian communities were poor to impoverished.
Paul does not say anything that would allude to a doctrinal command that “resident preachers” are to receive support or that the church is commanded to give such support in the form of regular compensation.
We cannot ignore the critical cultural, historical, and biblical background material that must be considered to properly understand, interpret, and apply Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9:14 that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel. We need to understand the role of hospitality in the Hebrew and Roman culture and economy, we need to understand the law in Deuteronomy about borrowing a neighbors oxen, we need to understand the the role and purpose of traveling preachers, and above all, we need to properly understand the full scope of the gospel.
Considering the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 9, it gives us insight into Paul’s true feeling and concern for preaching, as he was doing, of the gospel. Paul is expounding that it would be lawful [justified] for him, and he would certainly be deserving, to accept a living from the gospel as some others were doing at the time. But, he did not avail himself of that right or exert pressure to that end, because to do so would actually hinder the gospel.
The clincher in Paul’s reasoning comes from preceding verses 11-12, which say...
11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
Many will quote verse 11 and sometimes include the first half of verse 12 to try and support receiving a regular income from the church, while completely omitting the second half of verse 12 which states: “...we did not use this right.’ On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.”
You cannot ignore part of verse 12 to support the position that Paul is saying preachers are entitled to compensation. Not surprisingly, verses 15-18 are almost never mentioned. These verses offer even more proof of Paul's strong stand against using this basic right to pressure for any level of financial support. Here’s what he says...
15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.
Paul's view culminates in verse 18:
18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
To be clear, in the second half of chapter 9, Paul puts the compensation issue from the first half of the chapter in context, focusing on evangelists/preachers having to endure all things in complete submission to the gospel, not accommodating one’s personal right to reap material benefits and make a living from the gospel.
In the context, Paul says that although it was “his right” to receive financial help from the Corinthians believers, he turned it down so as not to hinder the gospel (vs12). The responsibility is on the hearer to offer support in the form of generous gifts rather than on the teacher to demand it or even expect it.
Paul went further, in word and deed, setting himself as an example, to clearly demonstrate that he believed one’s personal right to compensation for preaching the gospel ends where the gospel of Christ begins. Specifically, Paul explained in the second half of the chapter that exercising rights to compensation would not only “hinder” the gospel, but also be a financial “burden” on the church.
So examining Paul’s words and actions on this issue in full context, it seems obvious that Paul wanted no part of anything that could be viewed as personal gain, including the exercising of his personal rights that could possibly harm the gospel message and be a financial burden on the church.
And for those who point to 1 Corinthians 9:14 and say, “the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel,” the word “commanded” is also translated, “directed” in most prominent translations. Not to mention that if the Lord did in fact command such ones to e compensated, then the man He personally ordained as an Apostle and minister of the gospel – Paul – decided to make the Lord’s command just an option? It couldn’t be sensibly argued that this is the case. Paul would never “add to or subtract” from the Lord’s commands.
The bottom line is this: If a preacher quotes 1 Corinthians 9:14 as a way to justify that the people he ministers to should pay his salary, he is using 1 Corinthians 9:14 in exactly the opposite way that Paul was using it. Paul writes 1 Corinthians 9:14 in the context of explaining why he does not take money from the people he serves. The Apostle Paul chose to pass on his right or power to accept [exert pressure] a regular financial living from the gospel so as not to hinder the gospel. This view is simply not taught today in most Christian circles.
Not to be missed, verse 18 also shows that Paul infers that those who collects money as a preaching minister as being those who CHARGE for the gospel.
Think back to a time when your preacher or congregation leadership offered a fair and balanced discussion on the entire chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians? Can’t remember? Probably because its never happen, and you have only heard the passages sited which support the view that its a congregations commanded duty to pay a preacher.
Preaching has become a lucrative profession for many who have the skills to perform in this role. Many are either poorly qualified, falling prey to greed or quickly ensnared by the dependence that comes from “secular-like” compensation packages, that ultimately strain church finances and focus more on the “man’s needs” than the gospel.
Does paying a preacher really impeed the gospel? Some would argue that without a preacher the gospel will suffer in a local community. Who will preach and teach? Others would say that the resources used to compensate a preacher would be better spent in outward evangelism which would increase the spreading of the Word. Its pretty hard to make an argument that would discredit the use of financial resources more completely in preaching the gospel (Acts1:8). After all, every Christian is to be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the gospel knows no boundaries... to the ends of the earth we are to go.
Sadly, most of us don’t do that at all or not very well, because we have abdicated that Biblical command (Matthew 28:19-20) to a paid preacher. Christians have made it evangelism by proxy.
Next time... So if salaried compensation is not commanded for a preacher, what should we do to help them?
