Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Paul opens today in his letter to the church at Corinth with a reminder of his role in their lives.

Apparently some people discredit him or refuse to view him as an apostle.

Some are saying he's not an apostle because he doesn't receive money from them.

But he says, the same authority that allows me the right to receive money from you is the

authority that allows me to deny money from you. You're writing me a paycheck is not what makes me an

apostle. I'm an apostle because God appointed me, not you. He goes on to list the

other things the apostles have the right to do, including have their physical needs taken care of, get married, and make their

sole living and income through ministry.

He argues that he has every right to receive support from them, but that he has chosen to

deny that right so that they can't second-guess his motives,

but it seems to backfire on him. They're second-guessing him because he's denying their money.

How ridiculous is it that he has to defend his right to not get paid.

But essentially he says,

you didn't hire me so you can't fire me.

I'm going to preach the gospel regardless.

When we get to 2nd Corinthians, we'll find out more of what's happening behind the scenes here, but in the

meantime he's restricting his own rights in order to preach the gospel to more people

without putting any kind of stumbling block in their way.

He becomes all things to all people, denying himself freedoms in order to meet

them where they are. This idea of becoming all things to all people has been wildly taken out of context.

It isn't a path to abuse God's grace.

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