1 Corinthians 9:5
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
Paul asserts his right to lead about a believing wife who travels with him and shares his missionary labor, even as the other apostles did, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas, who is Simon Peter Bar-jona, did.
Peter was married, his wife went with him on his apostolic journeys, and her mother was healed of a fever.
Ministers of Christ's church have the right to marry, and marriage does not disqualify any from being among the Lord's great laborers, for the Lord does not require celibacy.
Compulsory clerical celibacy was unknown in the days of the apostles, and the later rule forbidding priests to marry departs from the path of its claimed founder Peter.
Those who receive the gospel are to support those who proclaim it, for the Lord ordained that they should live of the gospel even as the Levitical priesthood lived by the tithes.
Words and Apostolic Setting
The claim is to the right to lead about a sister, a wife, meaning a believing wife who travels with the worker and can assist his missionary work. Cephas is Peter, Simon Peter Bar-jona. Peter was married, his wife accompanied him in his apostolic journeys, and his wife's mother was healed of a fever.
His wife was Perpetua, daughter of Sylvanus the shepherd and his wife Esther, grown to womanhood and nursing a babe at her breast. After the death of Jonas the father of Bar-jona and the removal of Sylvanus's family from Bethlehem, she lived with her husband at his commodious home at Bethsaida in sight of Galilee, larger and better equipped than most fishermen's houses, together with her parents and her husband's household. The other apostles and the brethren of the Lord likewise had wives whom they led about, though which of the apostles were married is not stated. Eleven of the apostles were married men, though Peter is the only apostle whose marriage is absolutely certain. The brethren of the Lord mentioned here are consistent with being sons of Joseph from an earlier marriage.
Paul himself was unmarried. Barnabas was an apostle alongside Paul, proving apostleship was not confined to the twelve chosen to be with Jesus. Apostle means one sent, a delegate, ambassador, and messenger who leads out, so anyone God calls and sends to a field or to lead out in a great movement is truly an apostle and the true church has apostles today.
Doctrine and Present Duty
Ministers of Christ's church have the right to marry, and marrying is not condemned in them, for the same right claimed for self as others had is asserted in the verse. Cephas is Peter, the one Rome claims as the first pope, held up as an example that might rightfully be followed in marriage, while the other apostles and even the brethren of the Lord were married men and not celibates, and Peter's wife accompanied him on his journeys. Marriage does not disqualify a person from being one of the Lord's great laborers, for the Lord does not require celibacy, and Peter was married and his wife later accompanied him in his apostolic work in keeping with the divine order of marriage honored in home, church, and state. Compulsory clerical celibacy was unknown in the days of the apostles, in direct contrast to the later prohibition and curse upon teaching that those in holy orders may marry. A church rule forbidding clergy to marry is distinct from God's law, and the unmarried priesthood departs from the path of its claimed founder and by contrary conduct condemns his manner of life, though Peter is the only apostle whose marriage is absolutely certain through his wife's mother healed of a fever, his claimed successors may do the same as he in taking a believing wife with them, and for many centuries after his death priests and bishops married and had homes.
Those who receive spiritual instruction should help provide for the needs of their teachers, and those who have received the gospel have a duty to support its ministry. The principle of supporting God's workers established under the law also applies to the gospel, for the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. Men called in the Christian dispensation to give their whole time to labor for souls constitute the Christian ministry and are to be supported in the same manner as the Levitical priesthood who ministered in sacred things and lived by the tithes, so that tithe-paying is as binding on Christians since Christ as on those before Christ.