哥林多前书 9
1 我不自由吗？我不是使徒吗？我没有见过主耶稣吗？你们不是与主同在的结果吗？
Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work in the Lord?
2 对别人来说我或许不是使徒，但对你们来说，我至少是使徒的一份子，你们就是我作为主使徒的证据。
If to other men I am not an Apostle, yet at any rate I am one to you; for your very existence as a Christian Church is the seal of my Apostleship.
3 如果有人质疑我这一点，我会这样回答。
That is how I vindicate myself to those who criticize me.
4 难道我们没有权力吃喝吗？
Have we not a right to claim food and drink?
5 难道我们没有权利像其他使徒、主的兄弟和彼得一样，与基督徒的妻子相伴吗？
Have we not a right to take with us on our journeys a Christian sister as our wife, as the rest of the Apostles do--and the Lord's brothers and Peter?
6 难道只有我和巴拿巴必须靠工作养活自己吗？
Or again, is it only Barnabas and myself who are not at liberty to give up working with our hands?
7 哪个士兵必须支付其薪水？哪个葡萄园主不允许吃自己园子里的葡萄？哪个牧羊人不允许喝自己羊群的羊奶呢？
What soldier ever serves at his own cost? Who plants a vineyard and yet does not eat any of the grapes? Or who tends a herd of cattle and yet does not taste their milk?
8 我这样说难道是人类的观点吗？律法不也是这样说？
Am I making use of merely worldly illustrations? Does not the Law speak in the same tone?
9 摩西的律法这样写道：“牛在踩踏去谷壳的时候，不可套住它的嘴。”难道上帝说的只是牛吗？
For in the Law of Moses it is written, "Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."
10 他难道不是在指引我们吗？当然这就是说给我们听的，因为耕种之人应心存希望去耕种，收割之人应心存希望去分享收获。
Is God simply thinking about the oxen? Or is it really in our interest that He speaks? Of course, it was written in our interest, because it is His will that when a plough-man ploughs, and a thresher threshes, it should be in the hope of sharing that which comes as the result.
11 我们在你们中间播撒灵性的种子，如果我们想要从中收获一些物质好处，这算过分吗？
If it is we who sowed the spiritual grain in you, is it a great thing that we should reap a temporal harvest from you?
12 如果别人对你们享有这种权利，我们不是更有权享有吗？尽管如此，我们从未使用过这种权利。相反，我们凡事忍耐，避免妨碍基督福音的传播。
If other teachers possess that right over you, do not we possess it much more? Yet we have not availed ourselves of the right, but we patiently endure all things rather than hinder in the least degree the progress of the Good News of the Christ.
13 难道你们不知道吗？在圣殿供职之人会吃殿中的供物。侍候祭坛之人会领取他们应得的那份祭物。
Do you not know that those who perform the sacred rites have their food from the sacred place, and that those who serve at the altar all alike share with the altar?
14 主也曾这样祝福传递福音之人，应该靠福音的支持者为生。
In the same way the Lord also directed those who proclaim the Good News to maintain themselves by the Good News.
15 但我从未使用过这种权利。我这样说并非希望别人应该如此待我，因为不去寻求这样的好处是我的荣耀，我宁愿舍弃性命也不愿丢了这荣耀。
But I, for my part, have not used, and do not use, my full rights in any of these things. Nor do I now write with that object so far as I myself am concerned, for I would rather die than have anybody make this boast of mine an empty one.
16 传播福音并没有任何可以夸耀支出，因为我无法不去这么做。如果不传播福音，对我将是一场灾难。
If I go on preaching the Good News, that is nothing for me to boast of; for the necessity is imposed upon me; and alas for me, if I fail to preach it!
17 如果我自己选择这样做，就会获得赏赐。即使不是我本意选择，这职责就是对我的托付。
And if I preach willingly, I receive my wages; but if against my will, a stewardship has nevertheless been entrusted to me.
18 那么，我的赏赐是什么？那就是当我传播福音时，让大家免费获得福音，而不是要求享有传递福音应有的权力。
What are my wages then? The very fact that the Good News which I preach will cost my hearers nothing, so that I cannot be charged with abuse of my privileges as a Christian preacher.
19 我虽然自由，不服务于任何人，但我自愿成为众人的奴仆，只为让更多人听到福音。
Though free from all human control, I have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning as many converts as possible.
20 面对犹太人，我就像犹太人一样行事，以便可以说服犹太人。面对律法制约之人，虽然律法并不会管辖我，但我还是像受律法制约的人一样行事，以便说服他们。
To the Jews I have become like a Jew in order to win Jews; to men under the Law as if I were under the Law--although I am not--in order to win those who are under the Law;
21 如果一个人没有根据律法行事，我就像不受律法制约之人一样（这样做并非不遵守上帝律法，而是遵守基督的律法），从而说服未受律法制约之人。
to men without Law as if I were without Law--although I am not without Law in relation to God but am abiding in Christ's Law--in order to win those who are without Law.
22 对软弱的人，我就像他们一样软弱，以便说服软弱之人。最终我面对的人如何，我就成为怎样的人，想方设法说服一些人！
To the weak I have become weak, so as to gain the weak. To all men I have become all things, in the hope that in every one of these ways I may save some.
23 我所作的一切都是为了福音，为了与他人同享福音的福报。
And I do everything for the sake of the Good News, that I may share with my hearers in its benefits.
24 难道你们不知道吗？赛跑比赛中有很多选手，虽然大家都跑，但却只有一人能获奖吗？你们应当尽全力奔跑，以便可以获奖。
Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty.
25 参加比赛的选手，需要严格遵循训练方法。他们这样做，不过是为了赢得最终会坏掉的冠冕，我们要的却是不朽的冠冕。
But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish.
26 所以我要向正确的方向奔跑，我要准确地击打，而不是击打空气。
That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air,
27 我严格对待自己的身体，让它听我的控制，因为我不想在与所有人分享福音后，自己却没有了传递福音的资格。
but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.
