1 Corinthians 9
9
1 Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Have I not seen Christ Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
2 And if I am not an Apostle to others, yet still I am to you. For you are the seal of my Apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense with those who question me is this:
4 Do we not have the authority to eat and to drink?
5 Do we not have the authority to travel around with a woman who is a sister, just as do the other Apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or is it only myself and Barnabas who do not have the authority to act in this way?
7 Who has ever served as a soldier and paid his own stipend? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat from its produce? Who pastures a flock and does not drink from the milk of the flock?
8 Am I saying these things according to man? Or does the law not also say these things?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses: "You shall not bind the mouth of an ox, while it is treading out the grain." Is God here concerned with the oxen?
10 Or is he saying this, indeed, for our sake? These things were written specifically for us, because he who plows, ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes, too, in hope of receiving the produce.
11 If we have sown spiritual things in you, is it important if we harvest from your worldly things?
12 If others are sharers in this authority over you, why are we not more entitled? And yet we have not used this authority. Instead, we bear all things, lest we give any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who work in the holy place eat the things that are for the holy place, and that those who serve at the altar also share with the altar?
14 So, too, has the Lord ordained that those who announce the Gospel should live by the Gospel.
15 Yet I have used none of these things. And I have not written so that these things may be done for me. For it is better for me to die, rather than to let anyone empty out my glory.
16 For if I preach the Gospel, it is not glory for me. For an obligation has been laid upon me. And woe to me, if I do not preach the Gospel.
17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if I do this reluctantly, a dispensation is granted to me.
18 And what, then, would be my reward? So, when preaching the Gospel, I should give the Gospel without taking, so that I may not misuse my authority in the Gospel.
19 For when I was a free man to all, I made myself the servant of all, so that I might gain all the more.
20 And so, to the Jews, I became like a Jew, so that I might gain the Jews.
21 To those who are under the law, I became as if I were under the law, (though I was not under the law) so that I might gain those who were under the law. To those who were without the law, I became as if I were without the law, (though I was not without the law of God, being in the law of Christ) so that I might gain those who were without the law.
22 To the weak, I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. To all, I became all, so that I might save all.
23 And I do everything for the sake of the Gospel, so that I may become its partner.
24 Do you not know that, of those who run in a race, all of them, certainly, are runners, but only one achieves the prize. Similarly, you must run, so that you may achieve.
25 And one who competes in a contest abstains from all things. And they do this, of course, so that they may achieve a corruptible crown. But we do this, so that we may achieve what is incorruptible.
26 And so I run, but not with uncertainty. And so I fight, but not by flailing in the air.
27 Instead, I chastise my body, so as to redirect it into servitude. Otherwise, I might preach to others, but become myself an outcast.
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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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