1 Corinthians 9
9
Rights and Duties of an Apostle
1Am I not a free man? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord? And aren't you the result of my work for the Lord? 2Even if others do not accept me as an apostle, surely you do! Because of your life in union with the Lord you yourselves are proof of the fact that I am an apostle.
3When people criticize me, this is how I defend myself: 4Haven't I the right to be given food and drink for my work? 5Haven't I the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my travels? 6Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have to work for our living? 7What soldier ever has to pay his own expenses in the army? What farmer does not eat the grapes from his own vineyard? What shepherd does not use the milk from his own sheep?
8I don't have to limit myself to these everyday examples, because the Law says the same thing. 9#Deut 25.4; 1 Tim 5.18We read in the Law of Moses, “Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh corn.” Now, is God concerned about oxen? 10Didn't he really mean us when he said that? Of course that was written for us. The one who ploughs and the one who reaps should do their work in the hope of getting a share of the crop. 11#Rom 15.27We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12If others have the right to expect this from you, haven't we an even greater right?
But we haven't made use of this right. Instead, we have endured everything in order not to put any obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ. 13#Deut 18.1Surely you know that the men who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who offer the sacrifices on the altar get a share of the sacrifices. 14#Mt 10.10; Lk 10.7In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who preach the gospel should get their living from it.
15But I haven't made use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this now in order to claim such rights for myself. I would rather die first! Nobody is going to turn my rightful boast into empty words! 16I have no right to boast just because I preach the gospel. After all, I am under orders to do so. And how terrible it would be for me if I did not preach the gospel! 17If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task. 18What pay do I get, then? It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel.
19I am a free man, nobody's slave; but I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible. 20While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them; and even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them. 21In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law. 22Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible.
23All this I do for the gospel's sake, in order to share in its blessings. 24Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize. 25Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last for ever. 26That is why I run straight for the finishing line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches. 27I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
1 Corinthians 9
9
1 #
1 Cor 9.19; 2 Cor 12.12; 1 Thess 2.6; Acts 9.3,17; 1 Cor 15.8. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4#1 Cor 9.14. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? 5#1 Cor 7.7-8; Mt 12.46; 8.14; Jn 1.42. Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife,#9.5 Greek a sister as wife as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6#Acts 4.36. Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
8Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same? 9#Deut 25.4; 1 Tim 5.18. For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10#2 Tim 2.6. Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop. 11#Rom 15.27. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? 12#2 Cor 6.3. If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still more?
Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13#Deut 18.1. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14#Mt 10.10; Lk 10.7-8. In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15 #
2 Cor 11.10. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have any one deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17#1 Cor 4.1; Gal 2.7. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18#2 Cor 11.7. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.
19For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. 20#Rom 11.14. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I might win those under the law. 21#Rom 2.12,14. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law—not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ—that I might win those outside the law. 22#2 Cor 11.29; Rom 15.1; 1 Cor 10.33; Rom 11.14. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
24 #
Heb 12.1. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25#2 Tim 2.5; 4.8; Jas 1.12; 1 Pet 5.4. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; 27but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America