Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:14
Preachers of all idologies, denominations, sects, and backgrounds love this text! They gladly seize upon this verse as the justification for their pay. When we apply this verse to the full-time workers among our Assemblies, we agree fully that these workmen are indeed worthy of their hire. This text enables these workers to trust in the Lord to provide for their temporal needs. And it reproaches us for being slack in our support of these workers, many of whom could do with a better exercise on our part to support them. Perhaps a good New Year’s resolution would be for us to take better care of the Lord’s servants who are amongst us. Yes, these dear brethren have scriptural authority for being supported through the fellowship of the Lord’s people. But does this verse apply to all preachers everywhere?
Notice the qualifier for those who would live of the Gospel; they must be preachers of the Gospel. That automatically disqualifies those who serve in the pulpits of most of the denominations around us. The closest many of them ever get to the Gospel is to read a few verses of Scripture once in awhile. Their sermons have nothing to do with the Gospel. They major on such things as good living, being tolerant of the differences of others, and of being good supporters of their church. Most of these men and women don’t even know what the Gospel is, let alone preach it. They are blind leaders of the blind, lost leaders of the lost, and ignorant leaders of the ignorant. Because they do not preach the Gospel, they have no right to claim our text as their authority to be paid for what they do.
Who has the right to live of the Gospel? Only the preachers of it. But what happens outside of God’s Assemblies has nothing to do with us. We cannot answer for what those churches and organizations do that gather outside the scriptural authority that we claim in Matthew 18:20. Who they pay and how much they pay is their business and no affair of ours. We have a responsibility to make sure that the Gospel is preached, and that those who preach it are adequately compensated. When there are Gospel series that we can attend, we should attend if possible. And we should attend with more than just our presence. Financial support, encouragement, hospitality, these are all part of support for the Gospel. This is our responsibility toward those who preach it. -Jim MacIntosh