1 Corinthians 9

₁Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship 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 would examine me. ₄Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ₅Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? ₆Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? ₇Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

₈Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? ₉For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ₁₀Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. ₁₁If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ₁₂If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. ₁₃Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? ₁₄In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

₁₅But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. ₁₆For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ₁₇For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. ₁₈What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel 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, that I might win more of them. ₂₀To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ₂₁To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ₂₂To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ₂₃I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

₂₄Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ₂₅Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ₂₆So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ₂₇But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.