The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Single meaning of a text but many (endless?) number of applications

Greetings!
I have been absent from the board for about 5 years, but I found that I could log in, so I hope it's OK just to jump straight in.
I'd like to put an alternative point of view. Consider Deut. 25:4. 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.' Well that's pretty clear. I'm sure I've never muzzled an ox, and I certainly hope no one here has! But in 1 Cor. 9:9, Paul applies the text to the support of Gospel ministers, and adds, 'Is it Oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt.......'

So it appears that support of ministers is not merely an application, but the primary purpose of the verse, and that it always has been.