1 Corinthians 9:1-18
Paul Surrenders His Rights
1 Am a I not an apostle? Am I not free? b Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? c Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are d the 1 seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 e Do we have no 2 right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along 3 a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, f the brothers of the Lord, and g Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I h who have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever i goes to war at his own expense? Who j plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who k tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, l "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." 4 Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that m he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 n If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? o Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things p lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 q Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the r temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so s the Lord has commanded t that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
15 But u I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for v it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for w necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, x I have a reward; but if against my will, y I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What is my reward then? That z when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel 5 of Christ without charge, that I a may not abuse my authority in the gospel.