1 Corinthians 9:3

Contextual Overview

³ Some people want to judge me. So this is the answer I give them: ³ This is my defense to those who would examine me. ³ Myne answer to them that axe me is this. ³ My defense to those who examine me is this. ³ This is my defense to those who would examine me: ³ My defense to those who examine me is this:³ This is the answer I give people who want to judge me: ³ My defense to those that examine me is this. ³ My answer to them that examine me is this, ³ This is my defense to those who would examine me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

answer: Acts 22:1, Acts 25:16, Philippians 1:7, Philippians 1:17, 2 Timothy 4:16,*Gr.

them: 1 Corinthians 14:37, 2 Corinthians 10:7, 2 Corinthians 10:8, 2 Corinthians 12:16-19, 2 Corinthians 13:3, 2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 13:10

Reciprocal: 1 Corinthians 9:1 - I not an

Cross-References

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Have many children; grow in number and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blisside Noe and hise sones, and seide to hem, Encreesse ye, and be ye multiplied, and fille ye the erthe;

Genesis 9:1
And God blesseth Noah, and his sons, and saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth;

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this. These words are referred by some to the following, as if the apostle's answer lay in putting the questions he does in the next verses; but they rather seem to belong to the preceding, and the meaning to be this, that when any persons called in question his apostleship, and examined him upon that head, what he thought fit to say in answer to them, and in defence of himself, was by referring them to the famous church at Corinth, who were as particular persons, and as a church, his work in the Lord, and everyone of them as so many seals of his apostleship; he being the first preacher of the Gospel to them, the founder of them as a church, and the instrument of their conversion.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mine answer - Greek Ἡ ἐμὴ ἀπολογία Hē emē apologia. My “apology;” my defense. The same word occurs in Acts 22:1; Acts 25:16; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 1:7, Philippians 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:16; 1 Peter 3:15; see the note at Acts 22:1. Here it means his answer, or defense against those who sat in judgment on his claims to be an apostle.

To them that do examine me. - To those who “inquire” of me; or who “censure” and condemn me as not having any claims to the apostolic office. The word used here ἀνακρίνω anakrinō is properly a forensic term, and is usually applied to judges in courts; to those who sit in judgment, and investigate and decide in litigated cases brought before them; Luke 23:14; Acts 4:9; Acts 12:19; Acts 24:8. The apostle here may possibly allude to the arrogance and pride of those who presumed to sit as judges on his qualification for the apostolic office. It is not meant that this answer had been given by Paul before this, but that this was the defense which he had to offer.

Is this - This which follows; the statements which are made in the following verses. In these statements (1 Corinthians 9:4-6, etc.) he seems to have designed to take up their objections to his apostolic claims one by one, and to show that they were of no force.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 9:3. Mine answer to them — Ἡ εμη απολογια τοις εμε ανακρινουσιν· This is my defence against those who examine me. The words are forensic; and the apostle considers himself as brought before a legal tribunal, and questioned so as to be obliged to answer as upon oath. His defence therefore was this, that they were converted to God by his means. This verse belongs to the two preceding verses.