1st Corinthians Chapter 9 verse 17 Holy Bible
For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship intrusted to me.
read chapter 9 in ASV
But if I do it gladly, I have a reward; and if not, I am under orders to do it.
read chapter 9 in BBE
For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with an administration.
read chapter 9 in DARBY
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
read chapter 9 in KJV
read chapter 9 in WBT
For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
read chapter 9 in WEB
for if willing I do this, I have a reward; and if unwillingly -- with a stewardship I have been entrusted!
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 17. - If I do this thing willingly. The word rather means "spontaneously;" "without compulsion." He was preaching willingly, but still it was in obedience to an irresistible behest (Acts 9:6, 15). I have a reward. The reward (or rather, "wage ") of such self chosen work would be the power to fulfil it (comp. Matthew 6:1). Against my will; rather, involuntarily, "under Divine constraint." A dispensation. He was appointed a "steward" or "dispenser" of the gospel, and could only regard himself at the best as "an unprofitable slave," who had done merely what it was his bare duty to do (Luke 17:10). There is no merit in yielding to a must.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(17) For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.--The previous words, "Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel," are a parenthesis; and now the writer proves the truth of his assertion--that the necessity of preaching the gospel deprives the mere act itself of any grounds of boasting--by showing that if there were no necessity there would be a ground of boasting. The argument is this:--Suppose it to be otherwise, and that there is no such necessity, then, by voluntarily undertaking it, I have a reward. The undertaking it of my own free will would entitle me to a reward. But if (as is the case) not of my free will, but of necessity, then I am merely a steward--a slave doing his duty (1Corinthians 4:1; Luke 17:7-10).A dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.--Better, I am entrusted with a stewardship.
