Who are those who are "under the law" in 1 Corinthians 9:20?

Verses 20-22. "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew," etc. He here expands and illustrates this master principle of his action as a wise winner of souls.5 As a man in Christ, he belonged no more to any category of natural standing or description; but in the spirit of a love which seeks its object everywhere,6 he would put himself indifferently upon any footing which might give him a more ready access to his wish. Among Jews, therefore, he was as a Jew. How he acted on this principle, and with what discouraging effect, we are told in the inspired narrative of his earlier work.7 Receiving hatred for his love, he learnt in that school conformity to Him who had once endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.8 But while tender to the Jewish conscience, he withstood their doctrinal pretensions like a rock. He was "to them that were under law as one under law, though himself in nowise under law."9 The class here referred to comprises not born Jews only, but all of any nation who had learnt and acknowledged the doctrine of Moses Himself standing fast in the liberty with which Christ had made him free, he would willingly conform to legal usages, and submit to legal restraints, if by so doing he could gain a more willing ear for his Gospel among those who bore still upon their necks the yoke of bondage.

The parenthesis in verse 20 does not appear in our Authorized Version. But it should be there. "As under the law (not being myself under law) that I might gain them that are under the law." In verse 21 the parenthesis is quite evident, being printed in brackets. In the New Translation it is rendered, "not as without law to God, but as legitimately subject to Christ." This signifies that when Paul approached the man under law, he observed the conventions which the law imposed, so as not to offend their susceptibilities — everything in fact, so long as it did not deny the fact that he himself was not under the law. When he approached the man without law he did so on that basis. Only he was always careful to let it be seen that he himself was not a lawless man but rightly subject to the Lord. It is evident then that the Apostle really studied the people that he approached, and their idiosyncracies, so that he might avoid everything which would needlessly prejudice them against the Message that he brought. He was far removed from that mistaken spirit that would say, "God can save and take care of His own elect," and as a result almost hurl the Gospel at people's heads, without much care as to the result.

237 After the second word "law" in verse 20, there is a clause left out, which is, "not being myself under law." It is recognised as in the text by all who have examined it. He puts subjection to Christ in the place of being under law. All that he means by "to them that are under the law, as under law," is some such thing as that he would not eat pork, if sitting at table with a Jew. Timothy was circumcised on some such principle. He had no right to be circumcised. It was an arbitrary act (for his father was a Greek), unless he wished himself to be a Jew. Paul yielded to the Jewish Christians in that case, and did it to please them; but notice that the moment he got into a scrape about it, not one of those he sought to please shewed his face to help him. In dealing with Jews he adapted himself to them, but directly that the Jews made the law necessary, he withstood them. He would not give in about Titus, because they were making it necessary. But here in Paul's own case there was no necessity; it was his own adapting himself to them, and just what we all ought to do. His action at Jerusalem was a further case. The Spirit had told him not to go up, and he could not do anything right there, though nothing wrong either. It was merely to please himself, and under other people's advice, doing this and that after he had left all such things entirely.

We may learn from this to avoid and resist the notion that there can be but one principle to govern our conduct. It is not so, if the relationships and the circumstances of the parties wholly differ. Wisdom in that case would rather seek from God's word the Spirit's instruction for our guidance in each case respectively. Nature and tradition constantly tend to a dead level, which is as far as possible from the wisdom of God, in which we are called to judge and act. A principle however true and sound, as for instance not to circumcise Titus, might entirely fail to meet Timothy's case whom grace circumcised to stop the mouths of Jews though the letter of the law would rather have put him away than circumcise him. Routine is sure to mislead in the things of God. An eye single to Christ and His grace will discover the true way, and grace knows where to be inflexible and when to yield. It was the wise procedure of one who, free from all made himself bondman to all that he might gain the more; who became to the Jews as a Jew in order that he might gain the Jews, to those under law as under law (not being himself under law) in order that he might gain those under law, to those without law as without law (not as without law to God but as lawfully subject to Christ) in order that he might gain those without law.

And this spirit of service went even further; for he would use every effort to adapt himself to the circumstances of those to whom he brought the gospel. If theirs was a Jewish background and culture, he would adapt himself to this. If they were under law, he would from this viewpoint deal with them, with the object of presenting Christ. If they were without law, he would leave aside the question of the law's claims in his contacts with them, but use their own viewpoint by which to win them to Christ. Not that he would be lawless, "but in lawful subjection to Christ," as is a more exact translation. If they were weak, he would come down beside them, to show them the weakness that finds its answer of strength in Christ, and to gain them for Him. Being "made all things to all men" was by no means giving up proper moral principles but sacrificing his own comfort and natural preferences in order to enter into the circumstances of others.

"For being free from all, I made myself bondman to all, that I might gain the most. And I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; and to those under law, as under law, not being myself under law, that I might gain those under law; to those without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain those without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; to all I have become all things, that by all means I might save some. And all things I do for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow-partaker of it." (Vers. 19-28.) How bright a reflection of the spirit of the gospel! The apostle was ready to yield at every side where Christ was not concerned. He was free, but free to be a bondman of any and everyone, in order that he might gain, not ends of his own, but the most possible for Christ. Hence among the Jews he raised no question about the law. His heart was set on their salvation; he would not be turned aside by legal questions. He became as a Jew; but while he declares that to those under law he was as under law, he carefully guards his own standing in grace by the clause left out in so many of the more modern copies, "not being myself under law," that he might gain those under it. Such was the only gain he sought — not theirs, but them; and them for God, not to mould after any opinions or prejudices of his own.

He was just the same with the Gentiles. (Compare Gal. 4:12.) Such is the elasticity of grace. "To those without law, as without law," while he carefully adds, not being without law to God, but duly or legitimately subject to Christ, that he might gain those without law. It is in vain to speak of natural character or education. If there ever was a soul rigidly bound by Pharisaic tradition within the straitest limits, it was Saul of Tarsus. But if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation. The old things passed; behold they are become new. Such was Paul the apostle; and so he lived, laboured, and speaks to us livingly. He would not wound the scruples of the feeblest; nay, to the weak he became weak, that he might gain the weak; in short, he could, and does, say, "to all I am become all things, that I may by all means save some." It was not, as some basely misuse his words, to excuse tampering with the world, and so spare one's own flesh, which is really to become the prey of Satan. His was self-sacrifice in a faith which had only Christ for its object, and the bringing of every soul within one's reach into contact with His love.

Now Christ having come, redemption having been accomplished, and the Spirit having been given, believers are not under the law, nor are they even "under law," as to the principle of their relationship with God. They are rather "under grace" (Rom. 6:14), and "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" sets them free from "the law of sin and death." Thus they are kept "under law to Christ" or "legitimately subject to Christ" (1 Cor. 9:21), and enabled to fulfil all the righteous requirements of the law (Rom. 8. 4) — not as thereby attaining or maintaining a position before God, but rather as the fruit of the grace that has set them already in the position of richest favour.

In 1 Cor. 9:20 there is an addition of great importance. It formerly read, "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," etc. The Revisers have restored the clause omitted after "as under the law;" viz., "not being myself under law." Many of our readers know that all competent scholars have long confessed that this clause was most unjustifiably rejected; but it is a great gain in the interests of the truth to have it now brought before the mass of believers in this country. Rightly interpreted, it is the settlement of that hotly-contested question as to whether the Christian is still under law; for while no additional evidence is needed for those who understand what Christianity is, and the truth of the Christian's position, the new place into which he is brought through the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord, it is of immense importance, in dealing with candid souls, to be able to point to the fact, that the apostle Paul himself carefully states that he himself was not under the law, which. is not, as he explains, to be "without law to God; but under law [a different word altogether from what he had employed before — one meaning "enlawed;" i.e. brought under authority] to Christ"

One passage more shall be cited under this head, to substantiate the conclusion already reached. In describing how he became all things to all men, the apostle says that he became "to them that are under the law, as under the law," and then adds (in a clause omitted from the received text, but acknowledged by all competent to form a judgment as genuine), "not being myself under law,"* an assertion which is implied in the next verse; for he proceeds, "To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,)" — "under the law to Christ" being a very different phrase from the usual term "under the law." It is, in fact, ennomos cristo; translated by some, "enlawed to Christ;" by others, "legitimately subject to Christ." (1 Cor. 9:21.) Be this as it may, it is very evident that the apostle here insists upon his entire freedom from the law; and that, if he were under the law as his rule of life, he could not have used the language we have discussed.

From this passage it will be seen that the law is of universal application; that is, not limited in its use to the Jew, for inasmuch as it expresses the will of God respecting the conduct of men as such, whenever it became known among the Gentiles, it brought with it a corresponding increase of responsibility, just as the light of Christianity does in a higher degree, wherever it has penetrated. This is, of course, a different thing from having the special responsibility attached to being under the law as the Jew was, having taken this place nationally at Mount Sinai and having been formally and definitely put under it by God, which the Gentiles never were. Hence the latter are constantly spoken of as "without law," having only the light which conscience afforded, for this was their case originally. To those that are "without law" the apostle became as without law, not being lawless (anomos) towards God, but under subjection (ennomos) to Christ; so in Romans 2, "As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified; for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves" (vv. 12-14). It is quite true that the Gentiles have for the most part put themselves under the law and confounded it with Christianity, so that they, that is those of them contained in what is called Christendom, can hardly be spoken of now as without law, though they are not under it in the strict sense in which it can be affirmed of the Jew; but that, as has been already stated, especially in their present position and knowledge of its character, does not deprive it of the force of its application to them or take away the guilt that follows, where it is despised; nor is it intended in these pages to call this effect of it in question, but that the distinction between it and Christianity should be distinctly marked. The Christian, as we have already seen, is not under it on the special and higher ground of his association with Christ.