1Cor 9:4-15, 18, 2Th 3:8-9 | ESV | STEP | Do we not have the right to eat and drink ?

1 Corinthians 9:4-15

4 ^aDo we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 ^bDo we not have the right to take along a believing wife, ^{▼▼Greek a sister as wife} as do the other apostles and ^dthe brothers of the Lord and ^eCephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 ^fWho serves as a soldier at his own expense? ^gWho plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, ^h“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written ⁱfor our sake, because ^jthe plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 ^kIf we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, ^lwe have not made use of this right, but we endure anything ^mrather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that ⁿthose who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that ^othose who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

15 But ^pI have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone ^qdeprive me of my ground for boasting.

1 Corinthians 9:18

18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching ^rI may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

2 Thessalonians 3:8-9

8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but ^swith toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was ^tnot because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves ^uan example to imitate.