Paul Relinquishes Rights to Remove Gospel Obstacles

He lays the right down so the news can travel.

Paul has made no use of any of these rights, and he is not writing this to secure them. He would rather die than have anyone deprive him of his ground for boasting. If he proclaims the gospel, that gives him no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on him, and woe to him if he does not proclaim it. If he does this of his own will, he has a reward; if not of his own will, he is still entrusted with a commission. What then is his reward? That in his proclamation he may offer the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of his right.

For though he is free from all, he has made himself a servant to all, so that he might win more of them. To the Jews he became as a Jew, to those under the law as one under the law (though not himself under the law), to those outside the law as one outside the law (not outside God's law but under Christ's law), to the weak he became weak. He has become all things to all people, that he might by all means save some. He does it all for the sake of the gospel, so that he may share in its blessings. Flexibility here honors Jewish practice long enough for Jews to hear; it is not contempt for Jewish life. Becoming all things does not authorize lying, hidden agendas, cultural theft, boundary violations, or concealing unsafe beliefs.