OF MUZZLES AND OXEN: DEUTERONOMY 25:4 AND 1 CORINTHIANS 9:9

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2006 by Verbruggen, Jan L

1. The context. In 1 Cor 9:9, Paul is quoting Deut 25:4 in the midst of an argument in which he is trying to prove that he and Barnabas have the right to benefit from the labor of their ministry. As ministers of the word, they should be supported by the believers to whom they minister. To strengthen his argument, he uses examples from everyday life. A soldier is paid by the army in which he serves (1 Cor 9:7). A man who plants a vineyard also reaps the benefits of his work, the grapes produced by the vineyard. A man who tends a flock gets to drink from the milk that the flock produces. In at least the first example, we find a clear case where one man is in the service of someone else and that person rewards him for his service. In the second example, the fact that the owner of the vineyard partakes of the fruit of his vineyard does not need to be stated since this is an obvious fact. However, if the man is a servant and taking care of the vineyard of his master, it would require further explanation that he is indeed allowed to eat from the grapes when he is hungry. The third example is of the hired hand who is tending someone else's flock. Although it is not his flock, he still has the right to drink from the milk of the flock when he is thirsty. All these examples accentuate the fact that a workman needs to be justly sustained while he is working.

In the next verse Paul writes, "Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing?" (1 Cor 9:8). Paul is not denigrating human experience, when he states ... (translated by the NIV as "a human point of view"), but he is actually using it to stress the fact that not only does human common sense argue for this but the Law follows the same reasoning. He continues by quoting from the Law of Moses (Deut 25:4) as an example of the previous argument. Paul ends the verse by stating: "God is not concerned with oxen, is he?" In the verses that follow, Paul makes a link between the oxen threshing the grain unmuzzled and his own situation of ministering the Word of God and being allowed to be supported by the ministry. It is, of course, this interpretation that has drawn most discussion by scholars.

2. Various interpretations of 1 Cor 9:9ff. Over the years, scholars have postulated different interpretations of these verses, with far-reaching conclusions for the area of exegetical methodology. We will now look at the various interpretations in greater detail.

a. Sensus plenior. The interpretation that comes closest to this is the one from F. F. Bruce:33

His argument may clash with modern exegetical method and western sentiment, but he must be allowed to mean what he says: The animal creation, according to Gen. 1:28ff, exists for man's benefit; the commandment of Deut 25:4 (while it was certainly to be fulfilled literally) was accordingly given for man's benefit, so that plowman and thresher should profit by the crop for which they labour and, more particularly that workers in God's field should reap some material benefits from those among whom they have sown spiritual good.34