The Rights of an Apostle

¹ Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord? ² Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³ This is my defense^* to those who scrutinize me: ⁴ Have we no right to food and to drink? ⁵ Have we no right to take along a believing^* wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?⁶ Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?

⁷ Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?

⁸ Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰ Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you? ¹² If others have this right^* to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right.^* Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder^* the gospel of Christ.

¹³ Do you not know that those who work^* in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that^* those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. ¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast.

¹⁶ Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility. ¹⁸ What then is my reward?^* That in preaching the gospel I may offer it^* free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.^*

Paul the Servant to All

¹⁹ Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. ²¹ To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

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

Run Your Race to Win

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners^* run,^* but only one receives the prize? Run^* in such a way as to take the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. ²⁶ Therefore^* I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating^* the air. ²⁷ No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.