CHAPTER 9
Am I
not
free?
Am I
not
an apostle?
Have I not seen
Jesus
our
Lord?
Are
you yourselves
not
my
workmanship
in
the Lord?
Even if
I am
not
an apostle
to others,
surely
I am
to you.
For
you
are
the
seal
of my
apostleship
in
the Lord.
Have we
no
right
to take along
a believing
wife,
as
do
the
other
apostles
and
the
Lord’s
brothers
and
Cephas?
Who
serves as a soldier
at his own
expense?
Who
plants
a vineyard
and
does not eat of
its
fruit?
Who
tends
a flock
and
does not drink
of
its
milk?
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?
Isn’t
He actually speaking
on our behalf?
Indeed,
this was written
for
us,
because
when the
plowman
plows
and
the
thresher threshes ,
they should
also expect
to share in the harvest.
If
we
have sown
spiritual seed
among you,
is it too much
for us
to reap
a material harvest
from you?
If
others
have
this
right
to your support,
shouldn’t
we
have it all the more?
But
we did not exercise
this
right.
Instead,
we put up with
anything
rather than
hinder
the
gospel
of
Christ.
Do you not know
that
those who
work
in the
temple
eat of
its food,
and those who
serve
at the
altar
partake
of its
offerings?
In the same way,
the
Lord
has prescribed that
those who
preach
the
gospel
should receive their living
from
the
gospel.
But
I
have not used
any
of these rights.
And
I am not writing
this
to suggest that
something
be done
for
me.
Indeed,
I
would rather
die
than for
anyone
to nullify
my
boast.
Yet
when
I preach the gospel,
I
have
no reason
to boast,
because
I
am obligated to preach.
Woe
to me
if
I do not preach the gospel!
If
my
preaching
is voluntary,
I have
a reward.
But
if
it is not voluntary,
I am still entrusted with
a responsibility.
What
then
is
my
reward?
That
in preaching the gospel
I may offer
it
free of charge,
and so
not
use up
my
rights
in
preaching
it.
Though
I am
free of obligation
to
anyone,
I make myself a slave
to everyone,
to
win
as many as possible.
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),
to
win
those
under
the Law.
To those
without the Law
I became like one
without the Law
(though I am
not
outside the law
of God
but am
under the law
of Christ),
to
win
those
without the Law.
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 of them.
Do you not know
that
in
a race
all
the
runners
run,
but
only one
receives
the
prize?
Run
in such a way
as to
take the prize.
Everyone
who
competes in the games
trains with strict discipline.
They do it
for
a crown
that is perishable,
but
we do it for a crown
that is imperishable.
No,
I discipline
my
body
and
make it my slave,
so that after I have preached
to others,
I myself
will not be
disqualified.