PAUL’S EXAMPLE AS AN APOSTLE

9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the sealr of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Don’t we have the right to eat and drink?s 5 Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wifeE like the other apostles,t the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas?u 6 Or do only Barnabasv and I have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?w Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?

8 Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an oxx while it treads out grain.F,y Is God really concerned about oxen? 10 Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake,z because he who plows ought to plow in hope,aa and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop.ab 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everythingac so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ.

13 Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altarad share in the offerings of the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.ae