Does Paul please men, or not?
Paul won’t please men at the cost of the gospel; he does please them for their good, in things indifferent, that they may be saved.
The Passages
Galatians 1:10
1 Corinthians 10:33
See Also
Romans 15:2
1 Thessalonians 2:4
The Difficulty
Paul writes, “do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). But he also writes, “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved” (1 Corinthians 10:33).
The Answer
Galatians speaks of the gospel itself: Paul wouldn’t change the message to win men’s favour, “not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). Corinthians speaks of things indifferent, such as the meat of 1 Corinthians 10, where he gave up his own liberty for others, and it gives his end: “not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” So he bids every one of us, “please his neighbour for his good to edification” (Romans 15:2). He was “far from being a man-pleaser, in the bad sense of that phrase” (Gill).
Sources
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The Apostle sets himself as an example, tho’ he was far from being a man-pleaser, in the bad sense of that phrase
Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-28 -
In the first texts, we see that Christian gentleness and self-forgetfulness which is ever ready to waive, so far as is proper, its own claims and preferences
Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the 1874 edition, 2026-10-28
