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 a free man? Or, am I not a legate? Or, have I not seen Jesus Messiah our Lord? Or, have ye not been my work in my 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.

And if I have not been a legate to others, yet I have been so to you; and ye are the seal of my legateship.

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

And my apology to my judgers, is this:

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

Have we not authority, to eat and to 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?

Or have we not authority to carry about with us a sister as a wife; just as the other legates, and the brothers of our Lord, and as Cephas?

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

Or I only, and Barnabas, have we no right to forbear labor?

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?

Who, that serveth in war, doth so at his own expense? Or who, that planteth a vineyard, eateth not of its fruits? Or who, that tendeth sheep, eateth not of the milk of his flocks?

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

Is it as a man, I say these things? Behold, the law also saith them.

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, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that thresheth. Hath God regard 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.

But manifest it is, for whose sake he said it. And indeed, for our sakes it was written: because the plougher ought to plough in hope, and the thresher in hope of fruit.

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 sowed among you the things of the Spirit, is it a great matter, if we reap from you the things of the body?

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.

And if others have this prerogative over you, doth it not belong still more to us? Yet we have not used this prerogative; but we have endured every thing, that we might in nothing impede the announcement of the Messiah.

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?

Know ye not, that they who serve in a temple, are fed from the temple? And they who serve at the altar, participate 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.

Thus also hath our Lord commanded, that they who proclaim his gospel, should live by his 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 used none of these things: and I write not, that it may be so done to me; for it would be better for me to actually die, than that any one should make void my glorying.

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 while I preach, I have no ground of glorying; because necessity is laid upon me, and woe to me, if I preach not.

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 voluntarily, there is a reward for me: but if involuntarily, a stewardship is 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? It is, that when I preach, I make the announcement of the Messiah without cost, and use not the prerogative given me 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.

Being free from them all, I have made myself servant to every man; that I might gain many:

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 with the Jews, I was as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; and with those under the law, I was as under the law, that I might gain them who are under the 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.

and to those who have not the law, I was as without the law, (although I am not without law to God, but under the law of the Messiah, ) that I might gain them that are without the 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.

I was with the weak, as weak, that I might gain the weak: I was all things to all men, that I might vivify every one.

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, that I may participate in the announcement.

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 ye not that they who run in the stadium, run all of them; yet it is one who gaineth the victory. Run ye, so as to attain.

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.

For every one who engageth in the contest, restraineth his desires in every thing. And they run, to obtain a crown that perisheth; but we, one that perisheth not.

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 for something unknown; and I so struggle, not as struggling against 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 subdue my body, and reduce it to servitude; lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a reprobate.