1 Corinthians 9:4–27

^4eDo we have no ²right to eat and drink? ⁵Do we have no right to take along ³a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, ^fthe brothers of the Lord, and ^gCephas? ⁶Or is it only Barnabas and I ^hwho have no right to refrain from working? ⁷Who ever ⁱgoes to war at his own expense? Who ^jplants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^ktends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

⁸Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? ⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, ^l“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? ¹⁰Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that ^mhe who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. ¹¹ⁿIf we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? ¹²If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

^oNevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things ^plest we hinder the gospel of Christ. ^13qDo you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the ^rtemple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? ¹⁴Even so ^sthe Lord has commanded ^tthat those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

¹⁵But ^uI have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for ^vit would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. ¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for ^wnecessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this willingly, ^xI have a reward; but if against my will, ^yI have been entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸What is my reward then? That ^zwhen I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel ⁴of Christ without charge, that I ^amay not abuse my authority in the gospel.

Serving All Men

¹⁹For though I am ^bfree from all men, ^cI have made myself a servant to all, ^dthat I might win the more; ²⁰and ^eto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the ⁵law, that I might win those who are under the law; ^21fto ^gthose who are without law, as without law ^h(not being without ⁶law toward God, but under ⁷law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; ²²ⁱto the weak I became ⁸as weak, that I might win the weak. ^jI have become all things to all men, ^kthat I might by all means save some. ²³Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

Striving for a Crown

²⁴Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? ^lRun in such a way that you may ⁹obtain it. ²⁵And everyone who competes for the prize ¹is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for ^man imperishable crown. ²⁶Therefore I run thus: ⁿnot with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ^27oBut I discipline my body and ^pbring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become ^qdisqualified.