1 Corinthians 9

CHAPTER 9

Paul Gives Up His Rights

¹Am I not ^afree? Am I not an ^bapostle? Have I not ^cseen Jesus our Lord? Are you not ^dmy work in the Lord?

²If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the ^aseal of my ^bapostleship in the Lord.

³My defense to those who examine me is this:

^4aDo we not have authority to eat and drink?

^5aDo we not have authority to take along a ¹believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the ^bbrothers of the Lord and ^cCephas?

⁶Or do only ^1aBarnabas and I not have authority to refrain from working?

⁷Who at any time serves ^aas a soldier at his own expense? Who ^bplants a vineyard and does not ¹consume the fruit of it? Or who shepherds a flock and does not ²consume the milk of the flock?

⁸Am I speaking these things ^aaccording to ¹human judgment? Or does not the Law also say these things?

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses, “^aYou shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.” Is God merely concerned about ^boxen?

¹⁰Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, ^afor our sake it was written, because ^bthe plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.

^11aIf we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

¹²If others share this authority over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we ^adid not use this authority, but we endure all things ^bso that we will cause no hindrance to the ^cgospel of Christ.

^13aDo you not know that those who ^bperform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share ¹from the altar?

¹⁴So also ^athe Lord directed those who proclaim the ^bgospel to ^cget their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have ^aused none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case, for it would be better for me to die than have anyone make ^bmy boast an empty one.

¹⁶For if I proclaim the gospel, I have nothing to boast, for ^aI am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not proclaim ^bthe gospel.

¹⁷For if I do this voluntarily, I have a ^areward; but if against my will, I have a ^bstewardship entrusted to me.

¹⁸What then is my ^areward? That, when I proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel ^bwithout charge, so as ^cnot to make full use of my authority in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am ^afree from all, I have made myself ^ba slave to all, so that I may ^cwin more.

^20aAnd to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews. To those who are under ¹the Law, as under ²the Law though ^bnot being myself under ³the Law, so that I might win those who are under ⁴the Law.

²¹To those who are ^awithout law, ^bas without law, though not being without the law of God but ^cunder the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.

²²To the ^aweak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become ^ball things to all men, ^cso that I may by all means save some.

²³So I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

^24aDo you not know that those who run in a ^brace all run, but only one receives the prize? ^cRun in such a way that you may win.

²⁵Now everyone who ^acompetes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible ^bcrown, but we an incorruptible.

²⁶Therefore I ^arun in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not ^bbeating the air;

²⁷but I ¹discipline ^amy body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.