1 Corinthians 9
1Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my work in the Lord? 2Even if I am not an Apostle to others, I certainly am to you; for you are the seal that authenticates my apostleship in the Lord.
3My defense to those who would interrogate me is this: 4Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5Do we not have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the rest of the Apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?
8Am I saying these things from a merely human perspective? Does the Law not also say these things? 9For in the Law of Moses it is written: “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is God concerned only about oxen? 10Or does he say this entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for us, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material support from you? 12If others share in this claim on you, do we not have a greater one? But we did not use this right. Instead, we endure everything so that we do not place any obstacle in the way of the Good News of the Christ. 13Do you not know that those who perform the sacred rites eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the Good News should get their living from the Good News.
15But I have used none of these rights. And I am not writing this so that such things might be done for me. I would rather die than—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting! 16For if I preach the Good News, I have no reason to boast; a necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Good News! 17For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, I am simply fulfilling a stewardship entrusted to me. 18What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may offer the Good News free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win over more of them. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews. To those under the Law I became as one under the Law (though I myself am not under the Law), so that I might win those under the Law. 21To those without the Law I became as one without the Law (not being without God’s law but within Christ’s law), so that I might win those without the Law. 22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all things for the sake of the Good News, so that I may become a fellow-partner in it.
24Do you not know that in a stadium the runners all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may seize it. 25Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a crown that withers, but we to receive one that is deathless. 26Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one hitting the air. 27Instead, I pummel my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.