NETtext - I Corinthians - 9

9:1  Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

9:2  If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the confirming sign of my apostleship in the Lord.

9:3  This is my defense to those who examine me.

9:4  Do we not have the right to financial support?

9:5  Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?

9:6  Or do only Barnabas and I lack the right not to work?

9:7  Who ever serves in the army at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not consume its milk?

9:8  Am I saying these things only on the basis of common sense, or does the law not say this as well?

9:9  For it is written in the law of Moses, "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." God is not concerned here about oxen, is he?

9:10  Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest.

9:11  If we sowed spiritual blessings among you, is it too much to reap material things from you?

9:12  If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving?But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

9:13  Don't you know that those who serve in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar receive a part of the offerings?

9:14  In the same way the Lord commanded those who proclaim the gospel to receive their living by the gospel.

9:15  But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. In fact, it would be better for me to die than - no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting!

9:16  For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

9:17  For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if I do it unwillingly, I am entrusted with a responsibility.

9:18  What then is my reward? That when I preach the gospel I may offer the gospel free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights in the gospel.

9:19  For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people.

9:20  To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law.

9:21  To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God's law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law.

9:22  To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.

9:23  I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.

9:24  Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win.

9:25  Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.

9:26  So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air.

9:27  Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.