Plowing in hope; necessity vs choice; all things to all (1 Cor 9)

the divine Jeremiah who says to them: Break up your fallow ground, clearly for the reception of seeds, about which it is written: The sower went out to sow (Jeremiah 4:3; Matthew 13:3). And after sowing the newly broken ground he says: I watch the seeds, lest the birds of the heaven come and take the seed; and when it bears fruit and makes fruits of righteousness and when it is already white toward harvest, it is then permitted me to take. For he will not be scandalized when he remembers how much I have toiled that I may plow his soul, that I may sow, how I persisted up to the point his seed came finished to the threshing floor. And for this reason it is permitted me to take foods from him. But I have not by all means used the authority; yet I do this in hope, to present the produce to the master of the house; for I am a farmer; not that I may take into my own storehouses the things owed to be rendered to God. Then teaching something about the same the apostle says: If we sowed spiritual things for you, is it a great thing… and what follows.

For if I proclaim the gospel, it is no ground for me to boast; for necessity is laid upon me; and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship (1 Corinthians 9:16–17). We are taught that whatever we do from necessity has no boast; but whatever we do by choice, with no necessity laid on, these things have a boast. For example: the one who does not commit adultery or murder does not have a boast, but the one who lives as a virgin; for he did not come to virginity from necessity but from choice. And where "woe" stands beside if I do not do it, I have no boast. Therefore he says: If I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. Again we are taught something catholic. Some things we do willingly with the whole soul; some things we do, yet not willingly nor with the whole soul, but from grief or from necessity. Of the things done by us willingly there is a reward; of the things done, yet as from grief, there is neither reward nor punishment. For example: I give alms; if willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I am not charged with those who hear: I was hungry and you did not give me to eat, and what follows (Matthew 25:42). This then is the reward: that where I have authority I may not do it.

For though I am free from all, I enslaved myself to all, that I might gain the more; and I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those under the law as under the law—though not myself under the law—that I might gain those under the law; to those without law as without law—not being without law toward God but under Christ's law—that I might gain those without law; I became to the weak as weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all, that by all means I might save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow-sharer in it (1 Corinthians 9:19–23). To be free from all is of a perfect apostle. For someone can be free from fornication but a slave of anger, free from love of money but a slave of empty glory; he can be free from one sin but a slave of another. But to say "being free from all" is of a perfect apostle—such as Paul was. And according to what is before us the sense is such: I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews—for being free from Judaism I enslaved myself to Jews, that I might gain Jews; being free from being under the law I made myself as under the law, that I might gain those under the law. For Paul would go down into synagogues of Jews, would go in to them, would do according to their customs without harm, not sharing their pretense but hunting some from them. Some have asked what the difference is of those under the law beside the Jews; we say then that those under the law are other than Jews, as Samaritans. To those without law as without law: he came to Athens; he found philosophers there; he used not prophetic words nor legal ones, but wherever there was a lesson from Greek preparatory education he, recalling it, spoke to Athenians; for he says: as also some of your own poets have said, for we too are his offspring (Acts 17:28). There to those without law he became as without law, that he might gain those without law. And again he says: going through and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed: To an unknown god. What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you (Acts 17:23). And through these he begins to hand on reverence for God. To those without law then as without law, not being without law toward God. Not in condescending to them did I do any lawlessness, but I kept myself under Christ's law, that I might gain those