“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #102
“And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you” (1 Cor. 9:23).
Paul has made the particular sacrifices he has just finished mentioning with a particular end in mind. He was willing to be Jewish with the Jews, not under the law for those not under the law, and weak with those who were weak. He was willing to do anything (within the constraints created by the law of Christ) in order to save some of God’s elect. He did all this, he says here, for the gospel’s sake.
What is meant by that phrase “for the gospel’s sake”? Paul explains it in the next phrase—“that I might be partaker thereof with you.” The gospel is not an abstraction in the sky. The gospel is the message of God’s truth intended to bring us into fellowship with God again, and with one another. This fellowship is more than just friendly chatting in the coffee and donut time after church. The word here is a strong one—the gospel enables us to be partakers of one another. Among others, it enables us to become partakers together with Jews, Gentiles, and the weak, along with everybody else.