1 Am I not A1 Cor 9:19; 10:29free? Am I not an BActs 14:14; Rom 1:1; 2 Cor 12:12; 1 Thess 2:6; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1:11apostle? Have I not CActs 9:3, 17; 18:9; 22:14, 18; 23:11; 1 Cor 15:8seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not D1 Cor 3:6; 4:15my work in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the AJohn 3:33; 2 Cor 3:2fseal of my BActs 1:25apostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 1Lit It is not that we have no right to eat and drink, is it?A1 Cor 9:14; 1 Thess 2:6, 9; 2 Thess 3:8fDo we not have a right to eat and drink? 5 1Lit It is not that we have no right to take along...Cephas, is it?A1 Cor 7:7fDo we not have a right to take along a 2Lit sister, as wifebelieving wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the BMatt 12:46brothers of the Lord and CMatt 8:14; John 1:42Cephas? 6 Or do only 1Lit I and BarnabasAActs 4:36Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? 7 Who at any time serves A2 Cor 10:4; 1 Tim 1:18; 2 Tim 2:3fas a soldier at his own expense? Who BDeut 20:6; Prov 27:18; 1 Cor 3:6, 8plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not 1Lit eat ofuse the milk of the flock?

8 I am not speaking these things ARom 3:5according to 1Lit manhuman judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “ADeut 25:4; 1 Tim 5:18Yoᴜ sʜᴀʟʟ ɴoᴛ ᴍᴜzzʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ox wʜɪʟᴇ ʜᴇ ɪs ᴛʜʀᴇsʜɪɴɢ.” God is not concerned about BDeut 22:1-4; Prov 12:10oxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, ARom 4:23ffor our sake it was written, because B2 Tim 2:6the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. 11 ARom 15:27; 1 Cor 9:14If 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 AActs 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor 9:15, 18did not use this right, but we endure all things B2 Cor 6:3; 11:12so that we will cause no hindrance to the C1 Cor 4:15; 9:14, 16, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12gospel of Christ. 13 ARom 6:16Do you not know that those who BLev 6:16, 26; 7:6, 31ff; Num 5:9f; 18:8-20, 31; Deut 18:1perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share 1Lit withfrom the altar? 14 So also AMatt 10:10; Luke 10:7; 1 Tim 5:18the Lord directed those who proclaim the B1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 16, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12gospel to CLuke 10:8; 1 Cor 9:4get their living from the gospel.

15 But I have AActs 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor 9:12, 18used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make B2 Cor 11:10my boast an empty one. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for AActs 9:15; Rom 1:14I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach B1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 14, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a AJohn 4:36; 1 Cor 3:8; 9:18reward; but if against my will, I have a B1 Cor 4:1; Gal 2:7; Eph 3:2; Phil 1:16; Col 1:25stewardship entrusted to me. 18 What then is my AJohn 4:36; 1 Cor 3:8; 9:17reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel BActs 18:3; 2 Cor 11:7; 12:13without charge, so as C1 Cor 7:31; 9:12not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

19 For though I am A1 Cor 9:1free from all men, I have made myself B2 Cor 4:5; Gal 5:13a slave to all, so that I may CMatt 18:15; 1 Pet 3:1win more. 20 AActs 16:3; 21:23-26; Rom 11:14To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under 1Or lawthe Law, as under 1Or lawthe Law though BGal 2:19not being myself under 1Or lawthe Law, so that I might win those who are under 1Or lawthe Law; 21 to those who are ARom 2:12, 14without law, BGal 2:3; 3:2as without law, though not being without the law of God but C1 Cor 7:22; Gal 6:2under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the ARom 14:1; 15:1; 2 Cor 11:29weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become B1 Cor 10:33all things to all men, CRom 11:14so 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 A1 Cor 9:13Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives BPhil 3:14; Col 2:18the prize? CGal 2:2; 2 Tim 4:7; Heb 12:1Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who AEph 6:12; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 2:5; 4:7competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable B2 Tim 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 2:10; 3:11wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I AGal 2:2; 2 Tim 4:7; Heb 12:1run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not B1 Cor 14:9beating the air; 27 but I 1Lit bruisediscipline ARom 8:13my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.