1 Corinthians 9

1 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?

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 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.

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

3 That is how I vindicate myself to those who criticize me.

My answer to those who examine me is this:

4 Have we not a right to claim food and drink?

Have we not the right to eat and drink?

5 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?

Have we not the right to lead about a sister wife, as the other apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

6 Or again, is it only Barnabas and myself who are not at liberty to give up working with our hands?

Or, have I only, and Barnabas, no right to leave off working?

7 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?

What man ever serves as a soldier, at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and eats not of its fruit? Or who tends a flock, and eats not of the milk of the flock?

8 Am I making use of merely worldly illustrations? Does not the Law speak in the same tone?

Do I speak these things as a man? Or does not the law, also, say the same?

9 For in the Law of Moses it is written, "Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."

For it is written in the law of Moses: You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain? Has God a care for oxen?

10 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.

or does he say it wholly for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, it was written: that he that plows should plow in hope, and that he that thrashes should thrash in hope of partaking.

11 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?

If we have sown, for your benefit, things that are spiritual, is it a great thing that we reap your carnal things?

12 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.

If others partake of this right over you, should not we rather? But we have not used this right: but we endure all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of the Christ.

13 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?

Do you not know that those who are engaged about sacred rites have their living from the temple? and that those who attend upon the altar are partakers with the altar?

14 In the same way the Lord also directed those who proclaim the Good News to maintain themselves by the Good News.

So, also, the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.

15 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.

But I have availed myself of none of these things; nor do I write these things that it should be so done to me. For it would be better for me to die, than that any one should make my boasting vain.

16 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!

For though I preach the gospel, I have no cause for boasting; for a necessity is laid upon me; yes, alas for me, if I preach not the gospel.

17 And if I preach willingly, I receive my wages; but if against my will, a stewardship has nevertheless been entrusted to me.

For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, an apostolic stewardship has been intrusted to me.

18 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.

What, then, is my reward? That, while I preach, I may make the gospel of Christ to be without charge, in order that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.

19 Though free from all human control, I have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning as many converts as possible.

For, though I am free from all men, yet have I made myself a servant to all, that I may gain the more.

20 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;

And to the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews: to those who are under law, as under law, (not being myself under law, ) that I might gain those who are under law;

21 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.

to those who are without law, as without law, (not being myself without law to God, but under law to Christ, ) that I might gain those who are without law:

22 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.

to the weak I became like one who was weak, that I might gain the weak: I have become all things to all men, that I may, by all means, save some.

23 And I do everything for the sake of the Good News, that I may share with my hearers in its benefits.

And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may share its benefits with you.

24 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.

Know you not that all the runners in the race-course run the race, but that one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain the prize.

25 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.

Every combatant in the public games is temperate in all things: they, indeed, that they may obtain a corruptible, but we, that we may obtain an incorruptible crown.

26 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,

I, therefore, so run, not as with uncertainty; I so aim my blows, not as one that beats the air;

27 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.

but I put my body under severe discipline, and bring it into subjection, lest, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.