For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
19. Though I was free from all. Εκ πάντων, that is, from all, may be taken either in the neuter gender or in the masculine. If in the neuter, it will refer to things; if in the masculine, to persons I prefer the second He has as yet shown only by one particular instance how carefully he had accommodated himself to the weak.
The apostle takes occasion from what he had before discoursed to mention some other instances of his self-denial and parting with his liberty for the benefit of others. I. He asserts his liberty (Co1 9:19): Though I be free from all men. He was free-born, a citizen of Rome.
Commenting on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew,.... That is, in religion; or with respect to some religious observances peculiar to the Jews, for he himself was really a Jew by nature; who became as one unto them in this sense, when he for their sakes circumcised Timothy at Derbe, or Lystra, purified himself at Jerusalem, shaved his head at Cenchrea, observed their sabbath...