Book (-) (+) Chap (-) (+) Vs (-) (+)
Bible Text (Scroll to Verse) [Copy]
1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are you not my work in the Lord?
2 If am I not an apostle to others, yet surely I am to you: for you are the proof of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My answer to those that examine me is this,
4 Do we not have authority to eat and to drink?
5 Do we not have the right to take along a sister, a wife, just like the other apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Peter?
6 Or is it only Barnabas and me that do not have the right to give up our day jobs?
7 Who goes to war at any time at his own expense? who plants a vineyard, and does not eat of its fruit? or who feeds a flock, and does not eat any of the milk from the flock?
8 Am I saying these things as a [mere] man? or does the law not say the same also?
9 For it has been written in the law of Moses, You will not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn. Does God care about oxen?
10 Or does he say [it] particularly for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, [this] is written: that he that ploughs should plough in hope; and that he that threshes in hope should be a partaker of his hope.
- HOPE
- HOPE
11 If we have sown to you spiritual things, [is it] a great thing if we should reap your fleshly things?
12 If others are claiming this right from you, should we not be doing so even more? But we have not used this right; we would rather suffer these things in silence, so that we do not stand in the way of the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who work for God full time live off what comes from the temple? and those who take care of the altar share what comes from the altar?
14 Even so the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live off the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done to me: for [it were] better for me to die, than that any man should make my boast empty.
16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of: for I have no choice; yes, I am in trouble, if I do not preach the gospel!
17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, an administration [of the gospel] is committed to me.
18 What is my reward then? [Really] that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I do not abuse my authority in the gospel.
19 For though I am free from all [men], yet have I made myself a servant to all, that I might gain more.
20 And to the Jews I became like a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to those that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those that are under the law;
21 To those that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain those that are without law.
22 To the weak I became as a weak one, that I might gain the weak: I have been made all things to all [men], that I might by all means save some.
23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be a partaker of it with [you].
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.
25 And every person that competes for a prize has self control in everything. Now they [do it] to obtain a crown that decays; but we [do it for one] that does not decay.
26 I therefore do not run with unclear goals; I do not box like someone just hitting the air:
27 But I keep my body under [control], and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a reject.