"This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?"
Why would Paul defend his rights here if he intends to surrender them? So why waste these five verses? It seems to fit with the previous chapter on Christian liberty. He has stated that, out of love, a Christian may need to surrender his rights for the good of a fellow-Christian. And now Paul gives an example of how he has done this himself. He goes through several things that were well within his rights to do. Then he explains that he has chosen not to claim these rights "rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ" (9:12).
So why take the time to enumerate his rights? Why show that he is giving something up? I don't believe that it was done to make other people think better of him. It was done to set an example—to show that you can sacrifice your rights for the good of others. He sacrificed certain foods. He sacrificed relationships that most people desire (and that most apostles had). And he sacrificed the remuneration that was rightly his for the ministerial work that he was doing. His example shows us that the things you give up don't have to even be morally questionable things. Love your brother, and be willing to surrender your rights for him.
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