What does 1 Corinthians 9:19 mean when Paul says he made himself a servant of all?
Paul means he voluntarily set aside his personal rights and freedoms, becoming a bond slave to all people, so that he might win more of them to salvation. His single driving motivation was to see lost people saved, not to gain material reward or advantage from his apostleship.
Les explains that in 1 Corinthians 9:19 Paul is not exalting himself but describing his willing self-denial. Though Paul was free from all, he made himself a servant or bond slave of all, that he might gain the more. Les says Paul had only one driving desire and motivation: to see lost people saved. The Corinthian believers were themselves proof of his apostleship, having been saved out of abject paganism through his preaching. Yet Paul refused to take advantage of that tremendous responsibility by taking material reward. He did not do what he had done in Judaism, where as a Pharisee he profited more than his equals. So the verse describes Paul’s voluntary servanthood for the sake of winning people to salvation.
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.