FIRST CORINTHIANS

First Corinthians 9

1 ¶ Am I not free? am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are you not my work in the Lord?

2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet surely I am to you: for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 ¶ My answer to those who examine me is this,

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, the Lord’s brothers, and Peter?

6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?

7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? who plants a vineyard, and does not eat of its grapes? or who feeds a flock, and does not drink of the milk?

8 Do you think I am saying this only on human authority? Doesn’t the law say the same thing?

9 For it is written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain. Do you think that God only cares for oxen?

10 Or does he say it solely for our sake? Without doubt, this was written for us: because he who plows and he who threshes should do so expecting to share in the harvest.

11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefit?

12 If others have the right to support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? Nevertheless we have not used that right; but endure everything, rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

13 Don’t you know that those who carry out the work of the temple, eat of the things from the temple? and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?

14 In the same way, the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.

15 ¶ But I have not made use of any of those things: and I am not writing this because I want such provision made for me now: for I would rather die than be deprived of this boast.

16 For though I preach the gospel, that gives me no reason to boast: for I am compelled to preach; yea, woe unto me, if I do not preach the gospel!

17 For if I preach willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, I am still responsible to carry out my ministry.

18 What then is my reward? Just this: that when I preach the gospel I offer it without charge, not taking advantage of my right to live by the gospel.

19 ¶ For though I am free and belong to no man, yet I have made myself a slave to everyone, that I might win more to Christ.

20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews; to those under the law, I became as one under the law (although I am not under the law), that I might win those who are under the law;

21 To those living without the law, I became as one without the law, (not without God’s law, but under the law of Christ,) that I might win those who are without the law.

22 To the weak I became as the weak, that I might win the weak: I have become all things to all men, so that by all means I might save some.

23 And I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I might share in its blessings.

24 ¶ Don’t you know that in a race all of the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

25 Everyone who strives to win exercises self-control in all they do. They to obtain a perishable crown; but we to get one that lasts forever.

26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like one beating the air:

27 Instead I buffet my body, and bring it under my control: lest there be any way that I, after having preached to others, might be rejected.