New Testament · Letters

1 Corinthians chapter 9

Am I not ? Am I not an ? Haven’t I seen Jesus our with my own eyes? Aren’t you yourselves the proof of my work for the Master?Even if others don’t recognize me as an apostle, you certainly should! You are the living proof — the of my apostleship in the Master.This is my to anyone who questions my credentials:Don’t we have the to eat and drink at the community’s expense?Don’t we have the right to bring along a , like the other apostles do, and the Master’s brothers, and ?Or is it just and I who have to work for a living to support ourselves?What serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat the grapes? Who takes care of a flock and doesn’t drink the milk?Am I just making a human argument here? Doesn’t itself say the same thing?It’s written in : “Don’t an ox while it’s treading out the grain.” Is God really concerned about oxen here?Or was he actually speaking for our benefit? Yes — it was written for us. Because anyone who and anyone who should work with the expectation of getting a share of the harvest.If we planted among you, is it really too much to ask that we harvest some from you?If others have the right to your support, don’t we have an even stronger claim? But we never used this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than create an to about .Don’t you know that those who work in the eat the temple food, and those who serve at the share in what’s offered on the altar?In the same way, the Master that those who spread the good news should earn their living from the good news.But I haven’t used any of these rights. And I’m not writing this to start collecting now. I’d rather die than let anyone take away this thing I’m .When I share the good news, I can’t take credit for it — I have no choice in the matter. It would be if I didn’t share it!If I do this willingly, I get a . But even if I do it unwillingly, I’ve still been .So what’s my reward then? Just this: that when I share the good news, I offer it , without taking advantage of my right as a messenger of the good news.Even though I’m free and don’t answer to anyone, I’ve made myself a to everyone, so that I might reach as many people as possible.To Jewish people, I became like a Jewish person, to reach Jewish people. To those , I became like someone under the Law — even though I’m not under it myself — to reach those under the Law.To those , I became like someone without the Law — though I’m not outside God’s law but under — to reach those without the Law.To those who are , I became vulnerable, to reach those who are vulnerable. I’ve become everything to everyone so that by every possible means I might some.I do all of this for the sake of the good news, so that I can too.Don’t you know that in a all the runners compete, but only one gets the ? Run in a way that wins it.Every athlete . They do it for a , but we do it for one that .So that’s how I — not aimlessly. That’s how I — not .No — I and . Otherwise, after , I myself might be .