1 Corinthians 9
9
Paul Is Like the Other Apostles
1I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus our Lord. You people are all an example of my work in the Lord. 2Others may not accept me as an apostle, but surely you accept me. You are proof that I am an apostle in the Lord.
3Some people want to judge me. So this is the answer I give them: 4Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5Do we not have the right to bring a believing wife with us when we travel? The other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Peter all do this. 6And are Barnabas and I the only ones who must work to earn our living? 7No soldier ever serves in the army and pays his own salary. No one ever plants a vineyard without eating some of the grapes himself. No person takes care of a flock of sheep without drinking some of the milk himself.
8This is not only what men think. God’s law says the same thing. 9Yes, it is written in the law of Moses: “When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth and keep it from eating.”# Quotation from Deuteronomy 25:4. When God said this, was he thinking only about oxen? No. 10He was really talking about us. Yes, that Scripture was written for us. The one who plows and the one who works in the grain should hope to get some of the grain for their work. 11We planted spiritual seed among you. So we should be able to harvest from you some things for this life. Surely this is not asking too much. 12Other men have the right to get something from you. So surely we have this right, too. But we do not use this right. No, we put up with everything ourselves so that we will not stop anyone from obeying the Good News of Christ. 13Surely you know that those who work at the Temple get their food from the Temple. And those who serve at the altar get part of what is offered at the altar. 14It is the same with those who tell the Good News. The Lord has commanded that those who tell the Good News should get their living from this work.
15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this now to get anything from you. I would rather die than to have my reason for bragging taken away. 16Telling the Good News is not my reason for bragging. Telling the Good News is my duty—something I must do. And how bad it will be for me if I do not tell the Good News. 17If I preach because it is my own choice, I should get a reward. But I have no choice. I must tell the Good News. I am only doing the duty that was given to me. 18So what reward do I get? This is my reward: that when I tell the Good News I can offer it freely. In this way I do not use my right to be paid in my work for the Good News.
19I am free. I belong to no man. But I make myself a slave to all people. I do this to help save as many people as I can. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew. I did this to help save the Jews. I myself am not ruled by the law. But to those who are ruled by the law I became like a person who is ruled by the law. I did this to help save those who are ruled by the law. 21To those who are without the law I became like a person who is without the law. I did this to help save those people who are without the law. (But really, I am not without God’s law—I am ruled by Christ’s law.) 22To those who are weak, I became weak so that I could help save them. I have become all things to all people. I did this so that I could save some of them in any way possible. 23I do all this because of the Good News. I do it so that I can share in the blessings of the Good News.
24You know that in a race all the runners run. But only one gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! 25All those who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a crown. That crown is an earthly thing that lasts only a short time. But our crown will continue forever. 26So I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something—not just the air. 27It is my own body that I hit. I make it my slave. I do this so that I myself will not be rejected after I have preached to others.
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1 Corinthians 9
9
Servant Leadership Wins Over All
1Am I not free? Am I not an emissary? Have I not seen Yeshua our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
2If to others I am not an emissary, at least I am to you—for you are the seal of my office of emissary in the Lord.
3My defense to those who examine me is this.
4Don’t we have the right to food and drink?
5Don’t we have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other emissaries and the Lord’s brothers and Kefa?
6Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to not work?
7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink its milk?
8I don’t say these things merely as a man, do I? Doesn’t Torah also say these things?
9For it is written in the Torah of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.” Is it the oxen that concern God,
10or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the one plowing ought to plow in hope and the one threshing in hope of a share in the crop.
11If we sowed spiritual things into you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
12If others have a share in this claim over you, shouldn’t we even more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we put up with all things so that we cause no hindrance to the Good News of Messiah.
13Don’t you know that those who perform the holy services eat from the Temple, and those who wait on the altar receive a share at the altar?
14So also the Lord ordered those who proclaim the Good News to get their living from the Good News.
15But I have used none of these things, and I am not writing these things so it will happen this way in my case—for I would rather die than let anyone deprive me of my reason to boast.
16For if I proclaim the Good News, I have no reason to boast—for pressure is put on me and woe to me if I don’t proclaim the Good News!
17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have been entrusted with a commission.
18What then is my reward? That when I preach, I may present the Good News free of charge, not making use of my right in the Good News.
19For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win over more of them.
20To the Jewish people I identified as a Jew, so that I might win over the Jewish people. To those under Torah I became like one under Torah (though not myself being under Torah), so that I might win over those under Torah;
21to those outside Torah, like one outside Torah (though not being outside God’s Torah but in Messiah’s Torah), so that I might win over those outside Torah.
22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win over the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that by all means possible I might save some.
23I do it all for the sake of the Good News, so that I might be a fellow partaker of it.
24Don’t you know that in a stadium the runners all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win!
25Every competitor exercises self-control in all respects. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we do it to receive an imperishable one.
26So I run in this way—not aimlessly. So I box in this way—not beating the air.
27Rather, I punish my body and bring it into submission, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
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