What Does 1 Corinthians 9:18 Mean in the King James?
What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
His reward is to make the good news cost nothing to receive.
THE MEANING
The good news is available without a price of entry. A real right to receive compensation remains real, yet its nonuse becomes the speaker’s stated reward and leaves the message unburdened.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a valid right must be exercised to count: here, its voluntary restraint is the reward.
THE ROOT
μισθός
misthos
GROWS FROM
μισθ-
misth-
The word μισθός (misthos) means wages, pay, or recompense. Its root carries the concrete sense of payment earned or owed.
The sentence gives the wage-word to a surprising outcome: the reward is not money collected, but the message left without a price. The Greek makes the reversal concrete: the compensation is the freedom to announce without charging.
ALSO GROWS
misthoō: To hire or engage for wages.
μισθόω
This wage-related verb keeps reward in the realm of concrete exchange, sharpening the surprise in the verse.
misthios: A hired worker or servant.
μίσθιος
The word describes someone whose work is tied to payment, making the speaker’s no-charge announcement stand out.
ἀδάπανον
adapanon
GROWS FROM
δαπαν-
dapan-
The family carries the sense of spending or expense; ἀδάπανον (adapanon) means without expense or cost. The initial ἀ- (a-, without) negates the cost.
“without charge” in this verse is adapanon. The word names the message as carrying no charge. That makes the hearer’s access free of a price at the point of entry.
ALSO GROWS
dapanē: Expense or cost.
δαπάνη
This noun names the expense that the verse’s word for without charge excludes.
dapanaō: To spend or expend.
δαπανάω
This verb shows the action beneath the idea of expense: something is spent, while the hearer is not charged for the message.
εὐαγγέλιον
euangelion
GROWS FROM
εὐαγγελ-
euangel-
εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) means good news. It belongs to a word-family that also describes announcing that news.
“gospel” in this verse is euangelion. The message and its announcement belong to the same word-family: the good news is bound to being spoken. Here, that announcement is made without charge.
ALSO GROWS
euangelizō: To announce or proclaim good news.
εὐαγγελίζω
This is the verb behind the verse’s preaching language, joining the act of announcing to the good news itself.
euangelistēs: An announcer of good news.
εὐαγγελιστής
The related noun names the one who carries the message outward, keeping the word-family oriented toward its transmission.
THE PATTERN
A gift reaches without obstruction when it is not made conditional on the receiver’s payment.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?THE THREAD
If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.Both verses use ἐξουσία (exousia, authority or right), rendered power in the KJV. The right remains real, while choosing not to use it keeps the good news from becoming a barrier.
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