9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?
9:2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
9:3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me.
9:4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink?
9:5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?
9:6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?
9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk?
9:8 Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?
9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
9:10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
9:11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
9:12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
9:13 Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
9:14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
9:15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast.
9:16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
9:17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.
9:18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.
9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
9:21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
9:22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
9:23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
9:26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
9:2 If to others I am not an apostle, yet surely I am to you; for you in the Lord are the seal of my apostleship.
9:3 My defense to those who examine me is this.
9:4 Do we not have a right to eat and to drink?
9:5 Do we not have a right to take along a sister as a wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
9:6 Or do only I and Barnabas not have the right not to work?
9:7 What soldier ever serves by his own wages? Who plants a vineyard and does not partake of its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not partake of the milk of the flock?
9:8 Am I speaking these things according to man? Or does the law not also say these things?
9:9 For in the law of Moses it is written: You shall not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain. Is it for oxen that God cares?
9:10 Or does He say it altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written because the plowman should plow in hope, and he who threshes, in hope of partaking.
9:11 If we have sown to you the spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap from you the fleshly things?
9:12 If others partake of this right over you, should not rather we? Yet we did not use this right, but we bear all things that we may not cause any hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
9:13 Do you not know that those who labor on the sacred things eat the things of the sacred temple, that those who attend to the altar have their portion with the altar?
9:14 So also the Lord directed those who announce the gospel to live from the gospel.
9:15 But I myself have not used any of these things; and I have not written these things that it may be so with me; for it is good for me rather to die than ? No one shall make my boast void.
9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no boast, for necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
9:17 If I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a stewardship.
9:18 What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may present the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.
9:19 For though I am free from all, I have enslaved myself to all that I might gain the more.
9:20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew in order that I might gain Jews; to those under law, as under law (though I myself am not under law), that I might gain those under law.
9:21 To those without law, as without law (though I am not without law to God but within law to Christ), that I might gain those without law.
9:22 To the weak I became weak that I might gain the weak. To all men I have become all things that I might by all means save some.
9:23 And I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
9:24 Do you not know that those who run on a racecourse all run, but one receives the prize? Run in this way, that you may lay hold.
9:25 And everyone who contends exercises self-control in all things; they then, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible.
9:26 I therefore run in this way, not as though without a clear aim; I box in this way, not as though beating the air;
9:27 But I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest perhaps having preached to others, I myself may become disapproved.