If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?
Parallel translations
- WEB If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?
- KJV If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
- NKJV If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
- NASB If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
- NLT Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If Paul sowed spiritual blessings among the Corinthians, it is hardly too much to reap material support from them. Spiritual giving fairly warrants material return.
Overview
Paul presses the fairness of the exchange: he has given them the immeasurable riches of the gospel; receiving from them ordinary material provision would be a small and just thing. The contrast between "spiritual" and "fleshly" (material) things highlights how modest the minister's claim really is. This reinforces the legitimacy of the support he nonetheless declines for the gospel's sake.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Rom 15:27They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings.
- Gal 6:6Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word must share in all good things with his instructor.
- 2 Cor 11:15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.
- Matt 10:10Take no bag for the road, or second tunic, or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his provisions.
- 2 Kgs 5:13Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’?”
- Mal 3:8–9Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 9:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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