1Cor 9 | NASB2020 | STEP | Am I not free ? Am I not an apostle ? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord ? Are you not my work in the Lord ?

1 Corinthians 9

Paul’s Use of Freedom

1 Am I not ^afree? Am I not an ^bapostle? Have I not ^cseen Jesus our Lord? Are you not ^dmy work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the ^eseal of my ^fapostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 ^{▼▼Lit It is not that we have no right to eat and drink, is it?
,} ^hDo we not have a right to eat and drink? 5 ^{▼▼Lit It is not that we have no right to take along...Cephas, is it?
,} ^jDo we not have a right to take along a ^{▼▼Lit sister, as a wife}believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the ^lbrothers of the Lord, and ^{▼▼Peter’s Aramaic name
,} ⁿCephas? 6 Or do only ^{▼▼Lit I and Barnabas
,} ^pBarnabas and I have no right to refrain from ^{▼▼I.e., to support themselves}working? 7 Who at any time serves ^ras a soldier at his own expense? Who ^splants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not ^{▼▼Lit eat from}consume some of the milk of the flock?

8 I am not just asserting these things ^uaccording to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “ ^vYou shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.” God is not concerned about ^woxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written ^xfor our sake, because ^ythe plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops. 11 ^zIf we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we ^aadid not use this right, but we endure all things ^abso that we will cause no hindrance to the ^acgospel of Christ. 13 ^adDo you not know that those who ^aeperform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share ^{▼▼Lit with}from the altar? 14 So also ^agthe Lord directed those who proclaim the ^ahgospel to ^aiget their living from the gospel.

15 But I have ^ajused none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make ^akmy boast an empty one! 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for ^alI am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach ^amthe gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a ^anreward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a ^aocommission nonetheless. 18 What, then, is my ^apreward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel ^aqwithout charge, so as ^arnot to make full use of my right in the gospel.

19 For though I am ^asfree from all people, I have made myself ^ata slave to all, so that I may ^augain more. 20 ^avTo the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though ^awnot being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; 21 to those who are ^axwithout the Law, I became ^ayas one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but ^azunder the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. 22 To the ^baweak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become ^bball things to all people, ^bcso that I may by all means save some. 23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

24 ^bdDo you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives ^bethe prize? ^bfRun in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who ^bgcompetes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable ^bhwreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I ^birun in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as ^{▼▼Lit not hitting}to avoid ^bkhitting air; 27 but I strictly discipline ^blmy body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.