Note 14 at 1 Cor. 9:15: Paul certainly qualified as a minister and he was so busy with the ministry that he could have received his total income from the offerings of the ministry (see note 13 at v. 14). But he voluntarily chose not to use this right (see note 5 at 1 Cor. 9:6, p. 903). And in this verse, he made it clear that he hadn't written these things for the purpose of the Corinthians starting to support him now. He would rather die than take money from the Corinthians for his personal needs and lose his reward from the Lord (vv. 17-18).