1 Corinthians 9 - EasyEnglish Bible 2024（EASY）

Chapter 9Paul works freely as an apostle

1I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus, our Lord. You yourselves are the result of the work that I do to serve the Lord. You know that is all true.

2Other people may not accept me as a true apostle. But you surely must accept me. As a result of my work, you now belong to the Lord. That shows that I am truly his apostle.

3This is my answer to what some people say against me:

4As apostles, Barnabas and I should receive food and drink from the people that we help.

5We should be able to take a Christian wife with us as we travel. The other apostles do this. The Lord's brothers do this too, and also Peter. We have the same authority that they have.

6Barnabas and I seem to be the only leaders who must work at other jobs. We should not need to do that!

7Think about these examples: A soldier never has to pay for his own food and clothes. A farmer who plants vines will eat some of the grapes. A person who takes care of sheep or goats will drink some of the milk from those animals. You know that this is what always happens.

8I am not just telling you human ideas. God's Law teaches the same thing.

9The Law that God gave to Moses says this: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain.’ But God's Law does not teach this only to help oxen.

10No, God wanted to help us too. That is why he gave this rule to Moses for his people. Any farmer who works hard to grow food should get some of the food for himself. He ploughs his fields and he threshes the grain. He does that because he hopes to eat some of the food.

11Our spiritual work among you is like a farmer who plants seeds. So you should give us the food and clothes that we need, as our harvest.

12You give help to other people who teach you God's message. So surely we deserve it even more!

But Barnabas and I have not used our authority to make you help us like that. Instead, we accept all these difficult things patiently. We want the good news about Christ to go everywhere. We do not want to do anything that might stop it.

13Think about this: The people who work in the temple get their food from that place. The priests who offer sacrifices on the altar receive part of the offerings for themselves.

14The Lord has given the same command about the people who tell his good news to others. They should receive what they need to live from the people who hear the good news from them.

15But I have not used my authority as an apostle to demand these things from you. And I am not writing this letter to ask you to help me now. No! It would be better for me to die than to change the way that I live. I can be proud of that and nobody should stop me.

16I tell God's good news to people. But I have no reason to be proud because of that. It is something that I have to do. If I did not tell people the good news, I would suffer very much.

17If I myself had chosen to do this work, I would receive my pay. But I did not choose to do it. God has given this work to me, so I have to do it.

18What kind of pay do I receive? It is this: I tell people God's good news and I do not ask them to pay me. I have that authority but I do not use it. That is what makes me happy.

19Yes, I am a free man. I am not anybody's slave. But I choose to serve everybody like a slave. I do that so that I can help many more people to believe in Christ.

20When I was among Jews, I lived as they do. I did that because I wanted to bring them to Christ. The Law that God gave to Moses no longer has authority over me. But I chose to obey that Law when I was among Jewish people who obey it. I did that so that I could help them to believe in Christ.

21With Gentile people, who do not have Moses' Law, I lived as they do. I continue to respect God's Law. Yes, I obey Christ's law. But I lived like a Gentile, so that I could help Gentiles to believe in Christ.

22With weak people, I became like someone who is weak too. I did that so that I could bring weak people to believe in Christ. Whoever I am living among, I live as they do. I want to do as much as I can to save some of them.

23I want to help people to accept God's good news. That is why I do all these things. I want to share in the good things that the good news gives to believers.

Christians receive a prize that will never spoil

24Think about how people run in a race. All the runners run, but only one of them receives the prize. You must run like that, to win the race.

25People who run in races prepare their bodies well. They make themselves work very hard. They do this so that they will win a prize that will quickly become spoiled. But we work hard to receive a prize that will never become spoiled.

26Because of that, I do not run without any purpose. I do not fight like someone who only hits the air.

27I make my body do what I want it to do. I make it like my slave. I have told God's message to other people. Now I do not want to lose the prize myself. So I try very hard to obey the rules of the race.