Shared Word Translation
1 Corinthians 9
Paul’s Rights as an Apostle
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
My defense to those who examine me is this: Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as also the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink from the milk of the flock?
Am I speaking these things according to human judgment, or does not the law also say these things? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is God concerned about oxen? Or is he speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes in hope of sharing.
If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this right over you, do we not more? But we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we may not put any obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the things of the temple, and those who attend the altar share with the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to live from the gospel.
But I have used none of these things, and I am not writing these things so that it will be done for me; for it would be better for me to die than—no one will empty my boast!
For if I proclaim the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a stewardship.
What then is my reward? That when I proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Paul’s Use of His Freedom
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those under the law, as under the law (though not being myself under the law), so that I might win those under the law;
to those without the law, as without the law (though not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ), so that I might win those without the law.
To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I might save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
Run to Win
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things; they then do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable.
Therefore I run in this way, not as uncertainly; I box in this way, not as beating the air; but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest after proclaiming to others, I myself should become disqualified.