1 Corinthians 9:1-18
“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?
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.
3 This is my defense to those who
sit in judgment on me.
4 Don’t we have the right to food
and drink?
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?
6 Or is it only I and
Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
7 Who serves as a soldier at
his own expense?
Who
plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes?
Who
tends a flock and does not drink the milk?
8 Do I say this merely on human
authority?
Doesn’t
the Law say the same thing?
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?
10 Surely HE says this for us,
doesn’t HE?
Yes,
this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able
to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
11 If we have sown spiritual seed
among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
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.
13 Don’t you know that those who
serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at
the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
14 In the same way, THE LORD has
commanded that those who preach THE GOSPEL should receive their living from THE GOSPEL.
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, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast.
16 For when I preach THE GOSPEL, I cannot
boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach THE GOSPEL!
17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a
reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to
me.
18 What then is my reward? Just this:
that in preaching THE
GOSPEL I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use
of my rights as a preacher of THE GOSPEL.”
