1 Corinthians 9
9
Chapter 9
Paul's work as an apostle
1I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus, our Lord. You yourselves are the result of the work that I do to serve the Lord. You know that is all true. 2Other people may not accept me as a true apostle. But you surely must accept me. As a result of my work, you now belong to the Lord. That shows that I am truly his apostle.
3Some people do not like what I do. This is my answer to what they say against me: 4As apostles, Barnabas and I should receive food and drink from the people that we help. 5If we have a Christian wife, we should take her with us as we travel. The other apostles do this. So do the Lord's brothers, and also Peter. We have the same authority that they have. 6Barnabas and I seem to be the only leaders who must work at other jobs. We should not need to do that!
7Think about these examples: A soldier never has to pay for his own food and clothes. A farmer who plants vines will eat some of the grapes. A person who takes care of sheep or goats will drink some of the milk from those animals. You know that is what always happens.
8I am not just telling you human ideas. God's Law teaches the same thing. 9God's Law that he gave to Moses says this: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain.’ #9:9 See Deuteronomy 25:4. Farmers used a bull to walk on the wheat that they had cut. They did that to remove the seeds for food. Moses' Law said that the farmer must let the bull eat some of the seeds.
But God's Law does not teach this only to help bulls. 10No, God wanted to help us too. That is why he gave this rule to Moses for his people. Any farmer who works hard to grow food should get some of the food for himself. He ploughs his fields and he prepares the seeds because he hopes to eat some of the food. 11Our spiritual work among you is like we have planted seeds. In return, you should give to us the food and clothes that we need to live. That is like the harvest that we should receive from our work. 12You agree to help other people who teach God's message to you. So surely we should receive even more help from you!
But Barnabas and I have not used our authority to make you help us like that. Instead, we accept all these difficult things patiently. We want the good news about Christ to go everywhere. We do not want to do anything that might stop it.
13Think about this: The people who work in the temple get their food from that place. The priests who offer sacrifices on the altar receive part of the animals for themselves. 14In the same way, the people who tell God's good news to others should receive what they need to live. They should receive it from the people who hear the good news from them.
15But I have not used my authority as an apostle to demand these things from you. And I am not writing this letter to demand that you help me now. No! It would be better for me to die than to change the way that I live. I can be proud of that and nobody should stop me. 16I tell God's good news to people. But I have no reason to be proud because of that. It is something that I have to do. If I did not tell the good news, it would bring me great trouble.
17If I were doing this work because I chose to do it, I would receive my pay. But I myself did not choose to do it. God has given me this work, so I have to do it. 18So what kind of pay do I receive? It is this: I do not take any money from people when I tell them God's good news. I do not use all the authority that I could use when I tell God's good news to people.
19Yes, I am a free man. I am not anybody's slave. But I choose to serve everybody like a slave. I do that so that I can help many more people to believe in Christ. 20When I was among Jews, I lived like they do, because I wanted to bring Jews to Christ. The Law that God gave to Moses no longer has authority over me. But I chose to obey that Law when I was among Jewish people who obey it. I did that so that I could help them to believe in Christ. 21With Gentile people, who do not have Moses' Law, I lived like they do. I continued to respect God's Law. Yes, I obey Christ's law. But I lived like a Gentile, so that I could help Gentiles to believe in Christ. 22With weak people, I became like someone who is weak too. I did that so that I could bring weak people to believe in Christ. Whoever I am living among, I live like they do. I want to do everything that I can to save some of them.
23I want to help people to accept God's good news. That is why I do all these things. I want to share in the good things that the good news gives to believers.
24Think about how people run in a race. All the runners run, but only one of them receives the prize. You must run like that, to win the race. 25People who run in races prepare their bodies well. They make themselves work very hard. They do this so that they will win a prize that will quickly become spoiled. But we work hard to receive a prize that will never become spoiled.
26Because of that, I do not run with no purpose. I do not fight like someone who only hits the air. 27I make my body do what I want it to do. I make it like my slave. I have told God's message to other people. I do not want to lose the prize myself. So I try very much to obey the rules of the race.
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1 Corinthians 9: EASY
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1 Corinthians 9
9
1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3My defense to those who examine me is this: 4Have we no right to eat and to drink? 5Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work? 7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
8Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 9For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.”#Deuteronomy 25:4 Is it for the oxen that God cares, 10or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. 11If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things? 12If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more?
Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ. 13Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? 14Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.
15But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News. 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. 18What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
19For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law,#9:20 NU adds: though I myself am not under the law that I might gain those who are under the law; 21to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. 22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. 24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win. 25Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 26I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, 27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
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