1 Corinthians 9

The Rights of an Apostle

1Am I not 1an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus 2Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3This is my defense to those who examine me. 4Do we not have a right to eat and to drink? 5Do we not have a right to take along a wife who is a sister in Christ, as do the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6Or is it only Barnabas and I who must work to support ourselves? 7Who at any time serves as a soldier while supplying his own provisions? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat 3of its fruit? 4Or who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?

8Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same thing? 9For in the law of Moses it is written, “Yoʋ shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned, 10or does he speak entirely for our sake? Yes, this was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes 5in hope ought to partake of his hope. 11If we have sown spiritual blessings among you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12If others have a share in this right over you, do not we have it even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure everything so that we may not give any hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 13Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat of the temple sacrifices, and those who attend to the altar have a share in the altar sacrifices? 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.

15But I have not used any of these rights, and I am not writing this so that such may be done in my case. For I would rather die 6than have anyone deprive me of my reason for boasting. 16If I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach, and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. 17If I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if I do it under compulsion, it is because I have been entrusted with a responsibility. 18What then is my reward? That when I preach, I may present the gospel 7of Christ 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 servant to all, in order to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, so that I might win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the 8law, so that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became like one outside the law (though I am not outside the law of God but under the law of Christ), so that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became 9like one who is weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I might save some. 23I do 10this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

24Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25Every athlete who competes exercises self-control in all things. They do so to receive a perishable wreath, but we do so to receive an imperishable crown. 26Therefore I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27but I discipline my body and make it my slave, lest somehow after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.