To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
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
To them that are without law, as without law,.... Meaning the Gentiles, who, though they were not without the law of nature, nor without many good civil laws, by which the more cultivated and civilized nations among them were governed, yet they were without the written law of Moses; a description of the Gentiles, usual with the Jews; see Rom 2:12.
Verse 20. And unto the Jews. In this verse, and the two following, Paul states more at length the conduct which he had exhibited, and to which he refers in . He had shown this conduct to all classes of men. He had preached much to his own countrymen, and had evinced these principles there. I became as a Jew.