1 Corinthians 9

1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen our Lord Jesus? Aren’t you yourselves my work achieved in union with the Lord?

Am I not free? am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal that stamps me as an apostle in union with the Lord.

If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

3 The defence that I make to my critics is this:

My defence to them that examine me is this.

4 Haven’t we a right to food and drink?

Have we no right to eat and to drink?

5 Haven’t we a right to take a wife with us, if she is a Christian, as the other apostles and the Master’s brothers and Cephas all do?

Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to give up working for our bread?

Or I only and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working?

7 Does anyone ever serve as a soldier at his own expense? Does anyone plant a vineyard and not eat its produce? Or does anyone look after a herd and not drink the milk?

What soldier ever serveth at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

8 Am I, in all this, speaking only from the human standpoint? Does not the Law also say the same?

Do I speak these things after the manner of men? or saith not the law also the same?

9 For in the Law of Moses it is said – “You should not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it the bullocks that God is thinking of?

For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God careth,

10 Or is not is said entirely for our sakes? Surely it was written for our sakes, for the ploughman ought not to plough, nor the thrasher to thrash, without expecting a share of the grain.

or saith he it altogether for our sake? Yea, for our sake it was written: because he that ploweth ought to plow in hope, and he that thresheth, [to thresh] in hope of partaking.

11 Since we, then, sowed spiritual seed for you, is it too much that we should reap from you an earthly harvest?

If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?

12 If others share in this right over you, don’t we even more? Still we did not avail ourselves of this right. No, we endure anything rather than impede the progress of the good news of the Christ.

If others partake of [this] right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

13 Don’t you know that those who do the work of the Temple live on what comes from the Temple, and that those who serve at the altar share the offerings with the altar?

Know ye not that they which minister about sacred things eat [of] the things of the temple, [and] they which wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar?

14 So, too, the Master has appointed that those who tell the good news should get their living from the good news.

Even so did the Lord ordain that they which proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel.

15 I, however, have not availed myself of any of these rights. I am not saying this to secure such an arrangement for myself; indeed, I would far rather die – Nobody will make my boast a vain one!

But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case: for [it were] good for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.

16 If I proclaim the good news, I have nothing to boast of, for I am compelled to do so. Woe is me if I do not share it!

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.

17 If I do this work willingly, I have a reward; but, if unwillingly, I have been charged to perform a duty.

For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship intrusted to me.

18 What is my reward, then? To present the good news free of all cost, and so make but a sparing use of the rights which it gives me.

What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.

19 Although I was entirely free, yet, to win as many converts as possible, I made myself everyone’s slave.

For though I was free from all [men], I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews. To those who are subject to Law I became like a man subject to Law – though I was not myself subject to Law – to win those who are subject to Law.

And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

21 To those who have no Law I became like a man who has no Law – not that I am free from God’s Law; no, for I am under Christ’s Law – to win those who have no law.

to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.

22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so as at all costs to save some.

To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am 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, so that with them I may share in its blessings.

And I do all things for the gospel’s sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof.

24 Don’t you know that on a racecourse, though all run, yet only one wins the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run, that ye may attain.

25 Every athlete exercises self-restraint in everything; they, indeed, for a crown that fades, we for one that is unfading.

And every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

26 I, therefore, do not run aimlessly. I do not box like a man hitting the air.

I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:

27 No, I bruise my body and make it my slave, so that I, who have called others to the contest, will not myself be rejected.

but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.