2 Corinthians 11:9
And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
On his first visit to Corinth, a city of strangers, he determined to preach freely and be chargeable to no one, lowering himself that the believers might be lifted up, keeping himself from being burdensome in all things and resolving so to continue in the regions of Achaia. When he was present with the Corinthians and in want, what he lacked was supplied by brethren who came from Macedonia. Those suppliers were the Philippian brethren, thoroughly converted believers who proved their love for the gospel by faith and works. Though in his determination to sustain himself he repeatedly declined their generosity, they would not be denied the privilege of meeting his necessities with their means while he preached at Corinth and worked for his own support.
He supported himself by manual labor with his own hands at his humble tentmaking trade, lodging and working with Aquila and Priscilla. He had learned the trade in his youth, a trade much used in that warm climate, and turned to it when his means had been spent to advance the cause of Christ, rejoicing that he could earn his livelihood so and often stating that he had provided for his own needs by his own hands. Though weak in health, he labored in ministry by day and then toiled much of the night, frequently all night, to provide for his own necessities and those of others. As an apostle and gospel laborer who had planted many churches, he had a just right to claim support from his Corinthian hearers, but he refused to be supported by them and willingly gave up that right.
He did this in part because the churches, including Corinth, were poor and pressed with poverty. He also did this because he knew the seacoast Corinthian Greeks were keen, suspicious traders trained in sharp business practices who regarded financial gain as proof of piety and regarded making money by any means as praiseworthy. He would give them and his enemies no occasion to say he preached to enrich himself or worked for personal gain, to misrepresent him, or to suspect his motives. By removing all occasion for misrepresentation, he sought to keep unjust suspicion from injuring his usefulness and success as a minister and from weakening the force of his message, for he sought not their possessions but them and would gladly expend himself entirely for them.
His course left the Corinthians inferior to other churches in nothing except that he had not been burdensome to them, while the marks of an apostle were worked among them with patience, signs, wonders, and mighty deeds despite his labor at tentmaking. He could point to this past conduct of keeping himself from burdening the church as a basis for speaking about his experience. In this self-support he gave an example to Christian ministry that dignifies and honors industry, rebukes indolence and selfish ease, and shows that work is elevating and honorable and that any work that benefits humanity or advances God's cause is honorable. This was in keeping with the instruction given through Moses that Hebrew children be trained in industrious habits and learn a trade by which to earn a living, combining religion and business, a custom still followed even by the highly educated and wealthy. While toiling he combined teaching with labor, instructing fellow workers in the way of salvation through a Savior's love and the story of the cross, and thus gained access to many he could not otherwise have reached.