9Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord? Aren’t you the result of my work for the Lord? ²Even though others may not think of me as an apostle, I am certainly one to you! You are the proof that I am the Lord’s apostle. ³That is what I say to stand up for myself when people judge me.

⁴Don’t we have the right to eat and drink? ⁵Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife with us when we travel? The other apostles do. The Lord’s brothers do. Peter does. ⁶Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have to work for a living?

⁷Who serves as a soldier but doesn’t get paid? Who plants a vineyard but doesn’t eat any of its grapes? Who takes care of a flock but doesn’t drink any of the milk? ⁸Do I say that from only a human point of view? The Law says the same thing.

⁹Here is what is written in the Law of Moses. “Do not stop an ox from eating while it helps separate the grain from the straw.” Is it oxen that God is concerned about? ¹⁰Doesn’t he say that for us? Yes, it was written for us. When a farmer plows and separates the grain, he does it because he hopes to share in the crop.

¹¹We have planted spiritual seed among you. Is it too much to ask that we receive from you some of the things we need? ¹²Others have the right to receive help from you. Don’t we have even more right to do so?

But we didn’t use that right. No, we have put up with everything. We didn’t want to keep the good news of Christ from spreading.

¹³Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple? Don’t you know that those who serve at the altar eat from what is offered on the altar? ¹⁴In the same way, those who preach the good news should receive their living from their work. That is what the Lord has commanded.

¹⁵But I haven’t used any of those rights. And I’m not writing because I hope you will do things like that for me. I would rather die than have anyone take away my pride in my work. ¹⁶But when I preach the good news, I can’t brag. I have to preach it. How terrible it will be for me if I do not preach the good news!

¹⁷If I preach because I want to, I get a reward. If I preach because I have to, I’m only doing my duty. ¹⁸Then what reward do I get? Here is what it is. I am able to preach the good news free of charge. And I can do it without making use of my rights when I preach it.

¹⁹I am free. I don’t belong to anyone. But I make myself a slave to everyone. I do it to win as many as I can to Christ.

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew. That was to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one who was under the law, even though I myself am not under the law. That was to win those under the law. ²¹To those who don’t have the law I became like one who doesn’t have the law. I am not free from God’s law. I am under Christ’s law. Now I can win those who don’t have the law. ²²To those who are weak I became weak. That was to win the weak.

I have become all things to all people so that in all possible ways I might save some. ²³I do all of that because of the good news. And I want to share in its blessings.

²⁴In a race all the runners run. But only one gets the prize. You know that, don’t you? So run in a way that will get you the prize. ²⁵All who take part in the games train hard. They do it to get a crown that will not last. But we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

²⁶So I do not run like someone who doesn’t run toward the finish line. I do not fight like a boxer who hits nothing but air. ²⁷No, I train my body and bring it under control. Then after I have preached to others, I myself will not break the rules and fail to win the prize.

Warnings From Israel’s History

10Brothers and sisters, here is what I want you to know about our people who lived long ago. They were all led by the cloud. They all walked through the Red Sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same supernatural food. ⁴They all drank the same supernatural water. They drank from the supernatural rock that went with them. That rock was Christ.

⁵But God was not pleased with most of them. Their bodies were scattered all over the desert.

⁶Now those things happened as examples for us. They are supposed to keep us from longing for evil things, as the people of Israel did.

⁷So don’t worship statues of gods, as some of them did. It is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god.” ⁸We should not commit sexual sins, as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died. ⁹We should not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did. They were killed by snakes. ¹⁰Don’t tell your leaders how unhappy you are with them. That’s what some of the people of Israel did. And they were killed by the destroying angel.

¹¹Those things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who are living at the time when God’s work is being completed. ¹²So be careful. When you think you are standing firm, you might fall.

¹³You are tempted in the same way all other human beings are. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted any more than you can take. But when you are tempted, God will give you a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Sharing in the Body and Blood of Christ

¹⁴My dear friends, run away from statues of gods. Don’t worship them. ¹⁵I’m talking to people who are reasonable. Judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶When we give thanks for the cup at the Lord’s Supper, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? When we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷Just as there is one loaf, so we who are many are one body. We all eat from the one loaf.

¹⁸Think about the people of Israel. Don’t those who eat the offerings share in the altar? ¹⁹Do I mean that what is offered to a statue of a god is anything? Do I mean that a statue of a god is anything? ²⁰No! But what is offered by those who worship statues of gods is really offered to demons. It is not offered to God. I don’t want you to be sharing with demons.

²¹You can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too. You can’t have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. ²²Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is?

The Believer’s Freedom

²³You say, “Everything is permitted.” But not everything is good for us. Again you say, “Everything is permitted.” But not everything builds us up. ²⁴We should not look out for our own interests. Instead, we should look out for the interests of others.

²⁵Eat anything that is sold in the meat market. Don’t ask if it’s right or wrong. ²⁶Scripture says, “The earth belongs to the Lord. And so does everything in it.”

²⁷Suppose an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go. Then eat anything that is put in front of you. Don’t ask if it’s right or wrong.

²⁸But suppose someone says to you, “This food has been offered to a statue of a god.” Then don’t eat it. Keep in mind the good of the one who told you. And don’t eat because of a sense of what is right and wrong. ²⁹I’m talking about the other person’s sense of what is right and wrong, not yours.

Why should my freedom be judged by what someone else thinks? ³⁰Suppose I give thanks when I eat. Then why should I be blamed for eating food I thank God for?

³¹So eat and drink and do everything else for the glory of God. ³²Don’t do anything that causes another person to trip and fall. It doesn’t matter if that person is a Jew or a Greek or a member of God’s church.

³³Follow my example. I try to please everyone in every way. I’m not looking out for what is good for me. I’m looking out for the interests of others. I do it so that they might be saved.

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