9
1 Am
I not free?
Am I not
an apostle? Haven’t
I seen Jesus
Christ, our Lord?
Aren’t you my
work in the
Lord?
2 If
to others I
am not an apostle,
yet at least I
am to you;
for you are
the seal of
my apostleship in
the Lord.
3 My defense
to those
who examine me is
this:
4 Have
we no right
to eat and
to drink?
5 Have
we no right
to take along
a wife who
is a believer,
even as the
rest of
the apostles, and
the brothers of
the Lord, and
Cephas?
6 Or
have only Barnabas
and I no
right to not
work?
7 What
soldier ever
serves at his
own expense? Who
plants a vineyard,
and doesn’t eat
of its fruit?
Or who feeds a
flock, and doesn’t
drink from the
flock’s milk?
8 Do
I speak these
things according
to the ways of
men? Or doesn’t
the law also
say the same
thing?
9 For
it is written
in the law
of Moses, “You
shall not muzzle
an ox while
it treads out
the grain.”
Is it for
the oxen that
God cares,
10 or
does he say
it assuredly for
our sake? Yes,
it was written
for our sake,
because he
who plows ought
to plow in hope,
and he who threshes
in hope should
partake of his
hope.
11 If
we sowed to
you spiritual
things, is it
a great thing
if we reap
your fleshly
things?
12 If
others partake of
this right over
you, don’t we
yet more?
Nevertheless we didn’t
use this right,
but we bear
all things, that
we may cause
no hindrance to
the Good News
of Christ.
13 Don’t
you know that
those who serve around
sacred things eat
from the things
of the temple,
and those who
wait on the
altar have
their portion with
the altar?
14 Even
so the Lord
ordained that
those who proclaim
the Good News
should live from
the Good News.
15 But
I have used
none of these
things, and
I don’t write
these things that
it may be
done so in
my case; for
I would rather die,
than that anyone
should make my
boasting void.
16 For
if I preach
the Good News,
I have nothing
to boast about,
for necessity is
laid on me;
but woe is
to me if
I don’t preach the
Good News.
17 For
if I do
this of my own
will, I have
a reward. But
if not of
my own will, I
have a stewardship
entrusted to me.
18 What
then is my
reward? That when
I preach the
Good News, I
may present the
Good News of Christ
without charge, so
as not to
abuse my authority
in the Good
News.
19 For
though I was
free from all,
I brought myself
under bondage to
all, that I
might gain the
more.
20 To
the Jews I
became as a
Jew, that I
might gain Jews;
to those who
are under the
law, as under
the law,
that I might
gain those who
are under the
law;
21 to
those who are
without law, as
without law (not
being without
law toward God,
but under
law toward Christ),
that I might
win those who
are without law.
22 To
the weak I became
as weak, that I
might gain
the weak. I have
become all things
to all men,
that I may
by all means
save some.
23 Now
I do this
for the sake
of the Good
News, that I
may be a joint
partaker of it.
24 Don’t
you know that
those who run
in a race
all run, but
one receives the
prize? Run like
that, so that
you may win.
25 Every
man who strives in
the games exercises
self-control in
all things. Now
they do it
to receive a
corruptible crown,
but we
an incorruptible.
26 I
therefore run like
that, not aimlessly.
I fight like
that, not beating
the air,
27 but
I beat my body
and bring it
into submission, lest
by any means,
after I have
preached to others,
I myself should
be disqualified.