The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1957-10-19
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
October 20, 1857
By Rev. Geo. A. Harper


Err: / Corinthians 9 Print
Corinthians 9:1, 2, 1923, 26, q
MEMORY Selection: How
then shall they call on him ir
whom they have not believed!
and how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not
heard? and how shall they
hear without a preacher? Ro-
mans 1910. There are five
great shows" in Romans 1O:14
Is. The first four are i'm the
form of questions and the last
one is an exclamation. These
"hows" deal with the publish
ing of the gospel and the fol
lowing: calling - believeing-
hearing - preaching sending
The last one is the answer to
the first four. When we consid-
er them in the order given,
the answer Is negative in each
one. When we consider these
In the reverse order and those
who have been saved and sent,
go forth to preach and bear
the good tidings, then people
will hear, then they will be-
heve and call on the name of
the Lord which will lead to
their salvation.
PAUL DEFENDS Himself:
"Am I not an apostle? am not
free? have I not seen Jesus
Christ our Lord? are not We my
work in the Lord-To begin
with Paul asserts his freedom,
he was not being compelled by
men to preach but was doing
so of his own accord through
the incentive of the Spirit of
God, TO be a real apostle one
had to be an eyewitness of the
resurrected Christ, and this
the apostle also claims. He had
seen the Lord Jesus which
qualified him for apostleship.
eff | be not an apostle unto
others, yet doubtless I am to
you: for the seal of mine apos-
tleship are We in the Lord
These people had first-hand
knowledge of the efforts Paul
had put forth In their midst,
those who had been converted
to the Christian faith were
products of the spiritual min
istry of the apostle. The proof
of seal, of Paul's apostleship
was the Corinthian church and
its membership which were
the fruit of his labor.
MINISTERS TO LIVE BY
Gifts of the Altar. ''Do We not
know that they which minister
about holy things live of the
things of the temple? and they
which wait at the altar are par
takers with the altar. This
was an old established policy
IN Israel, that the personnel
which served in the temple
and about the altar obtained
sustenance from the gifts brou-
ght in by worshippers. Paul is
saying here that the matter of
religious ministers receiving
Sustenance from the congrega-
ton is nothing new or rare, it
has been practiced from of old.
Even SO hath the Lord or
dained that they which preach
the gospel should live of the
gospel" Paul did not have to
support his contention solely
from the policy of the Jewish
priesthood, but Jesus had Civ
en- some instructions which
can be construed to support i'm
principle the same hospitality.
or compensation. The disciples
were instructed to remain in
whatever house they first
would enter, not going about
from house to house. They
were to eat such things as were
set before them, "For." said
Jesus, 3'the servant is worthy
OF his hire" Therefore, the la
Dor of a minister bestowed
spiritually upon a community
entities him to receive there
from food and other such ne
cessitieS.
PAUL SERVES for Christ
and the Gospel: "But / have
used none of these things: nei-
Their have / written these
things, that it should be 50
done unto me: for it were bet
ter for me to die, than that
any man should make my glor-
ying void" In his appeal for
ministerial support, Paul MAX
es it clear that he is not ask
ing for himself. He never had
made his gospel preaching de-
pendent upon financial CON-
pensation. and would rather
die than do so. For though I
l. 4 Il