1 Coríntios 9

A Pattern of Self-Denial

1 Am *Acts 9:15; 2 Cor. 12:12I not an apostle? Am I not free? *Acts 9:3, 17; 18:9; 22:14, 18; 23:11; 1 Cor. 15:8Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? *1 Cor. 3:6; 4:15Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are *2 Cor. 12:12the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 *1 Cor. 9:14; (1 Thess. 2:6, 9); 2 Thess. 3:8Do we have no right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, *Matt. 13:55the brothers of the Lord, and *Matt. 8:14; John 1:42Cephas? 6 Or isit only Barnabas and I *Acts 4:36; (2 Thess. 3:8)who have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever *2 Cor. 10:4; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 2:3goes to war at his own expense? Who *Deut. 20:6; Prov. 27:18; 1 Cor. 3:6, 8plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who *John 21:15tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, *Deut. 25:4; 1 Tim. 5:18"You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that *2 Tim. 2:6he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 *Rom. 15:27; 1 Cor. 9:14If we have sown spiritual things for you, isit a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

*(Acts 18:3; 20:33); 1 Cor. 9:15, 18Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things *2 Cor. 11:12lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 *Lev. 6:16, 26; 7:6, 31Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat ofthethings of the *Num. 18:8–31; Deut. 18:1temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of theofferingsof the altar? 14 Even so *Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7, 8; 1 Tim. 5:18the Lord has commanded *Rom. 10:15that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

15 But *Acts 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor. 9:12, 18I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for *2 Cor. 11:10it wouldbe better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for *Acts 9:15; (Rom. 1:14)necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, *John 4:36; 1 Cor. 3:8, 14; 9:18I have a reward; but if against my will, *1 Cor. 4:1; Gal. 2:7; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What is my reward then? That *1 Cor. 10:33when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I *1 Cor. 7:31; 9:12may not abuse my authority in the gospel.

Serving All Men

19 For though I am *1 Cor. 9:1free from all men,*2 Cor. 4:5; Gal. 5:13I have made myself a servant to all, *Matt. 18:15; 1 Pet. 3:1that I might win the more; 20 and *Acts 16:3; 21:23–26; Rom. 11:14to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those whoare under the law, as under the law, that I might win those whoare under the law; 21 *(Gal. 2:3; 3:2)to *(Rom. 2:12, 14)those whoare without law, as without law *(1 Cor. 7:22; Gal. 6:2)(not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those whoare without law; 22 *Rom. 14:1; 15:1; 2 Cor. 11:29to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. *1 Cor. 10:33I have become all things to all men,*Rom. 11:14that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

Striving for a Crown

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? *Gal. 2:2; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:1Run in such a way that you may obtain it.25 And everyone who competes fortheprize is temperate in all things. Now they doit to obtain a perishable crown, but we for*2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12; (1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 3:11)an imperishable crown.26 Therefore I run thus: *2 Tim. 2:5not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as onewho beats the air. 27 *(Rom. 8:13)But I discipline my body and *(Rom. 6:18)bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become *Jer. 6:30; 2 Cor. 13:5disqualified.