It is well known that Paul’s policy regarding financing his preaching seems to be inconsistent: On the one hand, Paul worked for wages in order not to receive money from the churches (Acts 18:3; 1 Cor 4:12; 1 Thess 2:9), and in particular he vehemently refused to accept financial support from the Corinthian church (1 Cor 9; 2 Cor 11:7). On the other hand, he explicitly states in his letters that he accepted money from the (Macedonian and Philippian) churches (2 Cor 11:8-9; Phil 4:10-20). If Paul’s policy was not contradictory, he must have had a criterion for deciding whether to accept or reject money from the churches. To explain what this might have been, this paper makes an exegetical argument: The money that Paul rejected was “wages” paid by the church for his “labour” of preaching, while the money that he accepted was for the needs of preaching, consisting of travel expenses and temporary support in his times of economic hardship. This means that Paul’s policy for his preaching “free of charge” was consistent. He did not receive a “salary” or “reward” from the churches for preaching the gospel of grace “for free”, but he was willing to receive necessary expenses for the same purpose.
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