Servant to All for the Sake of the Gospel

Though free from all, Paul makes himself servant to all so that he may win more people. He adapts to Jews, those under the law, those outside the law, and the weak—not by abandoning Christ’s moral claim, but by refusing unnecessary cultural barriers to the gospel.

Paul carefully qualifies “to them that are without law”: he is not without law toward God but “under the law to Christ.” Missionary flexibility is therefore not moral relativism. It is self-limitation governed by loyalty to Christ.

Aha: “I am made all things to all men” does not mean Paul will say anything to please anyone. It means he is willing to surrender preferences and status so that avoidable obstacles do not hide the gospel.