1 Corinthians 9 - Amplified Bible(AMP)

Paul’s Use of Liberty

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

2If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am one to you; for you are the seal and the certificate and the living evidence of my apostleship in the Lord.

3This is my defense to those who would put me on trial and interrogate me:

4Have we not the right to our food and drink?

5Have we not the right to take along with us a believing wife, as do the rest of the apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas (Peter)?

6Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to stop doing manual labor?

7[Consider this:] Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?

8Do I say these things only from a man’s perspective? Does the Law not endorse the same principles?

9For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God cares?

10Or does He speak entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake: The plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the harvest.

11If we have sown spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

12If others share in this rightful claim over you, do not we even more? However, we did not exercise this right, but we put up with everything so that we will not hinder the good news of Christ.

13Do you not know that those who officiate in the sacred services of the temple eat from the temple and those who regularly attend the altar have their share from the altar?

14So also the Lord directed those who preach the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

15But I have used none of these privileges, nor am I writing this that any such provision be made for me now. For it would be better for me to die than to have anyone deprive me of my boast.

16For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for I am compelled. Woe to me if I do not preach the good news!

17For if I do this work of my own free will, then I have a reward; but if it is not of my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

18What then is my reward? that, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to take advantage of my rights in the gospel.

19For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to everyone, so that I may win more.

20To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to men under the Law, as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might win those who are under the Law.

21To those who are without (outside) the Law, as one without the Law, though not without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.

22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.

23And I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings along with you.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may seize the prize and make it yours!

25Now every athlete who competes in the games is disciplined and exercises self-control in all things. They do it to win a crown that withers, but we an imperishable.

26Therefore I do not run without a definite goal; I do not flail around like one beating the air.

27But I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.