Under the Law and Without Law

Question:

Please explain 1 Corinthians 9:19–22. What does Paul mean?

Answer:

The passage reads as follows:

“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:19-22).

1. What do the terms “under the law” and “without the law” mean? Where “under the law” occurs in verse 20, the first three times, the meaning is the same–under condemna­tion by the law or under sin. The term in these instances comes from the Greek words hupo nomon. “Under the law” in verse 21 comes from ennomon, in the law, or subject to the law. “Without the law” means “lawless,” “without law,” and is used of the Gentiles (Rom. 2:12), who were without God’s written law. It refers to the heathen in this text.
2. The apostle says that in his labor, he put himself in the place of others as much as possible to win them to Christ. The Jews’ prejudices were taken into consideration, as Paul, a Jew, could well do. The sinner’s con­dition was appreciated, as Paul knew what it was to be under the power of sin (See Romans 7; 1 Tim. 1:15). Those who did not know God’s law, who were ignorant of the true God, Paul met on their own ground, as a man by nature on the same level with them (See Acts 14:15-17).
3. Paul, however, says that while he did everything in his power to meet all these cases, he did not sin in so doing; he did not do evil so that good might come. He was not without law to God, for he knew God’s law. But while he was sub­ject to God’s law, he was not condemned by that law, or under that law, for he was within law to Christ. Christ had become his surety and righteousness, and he labored for all in the spirit of his Saviour so that he might win all. That is what the text is designed to teach.