For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
Ver. 19. That I may gain the more] The Greek word for gain signifieth also the joy and delight of the heart in gaining. It signifies also craft or guile, such as is that of the fox; which when he is very hungry after prey, and can find none, he lieth down and feigneth himself to be a dead carcase, and so the fowls fall upon him, and then he catcheth them. So must a minister deny himself to gain his hearers. κερδος because κεαρ ηδει