1Corinthians:9

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Seeker Overlay ON

* Am I not an apostle ? Am I not free ? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord ? Are not ye my work in the Lord ? * If I am not an apostle unto others , yet doubtless I am to you , for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord . * My answer to those that examine me is this , * Do we not have authority to eat and to drink ? * Do we not have authority to bring with us a sister , a wife , as also the other apostles and [as ] the brothers of the Lord and Cephas ? * Do only Barnabas and I not have authority to forbear working ? * Who serves as a soldier at his own expense ? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit ? or who feeds a flock and does not eat of the milk of the flock ? * Do I say this [only ] according to men ? or does not the law say the same also ? * For it is written in the law of Moses , Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain . Does God take care for oxen ? * Or does he say [it ] altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes , no doubt , [this ] is written : that he that plows should plow in hope , and that he that threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope . * If we have sown unto you spiritual things , [is it ] a great thing if we shall reap material things from you ? * If others are partakers of [this ] authority over you , why not us ? Nevertheless we have not used this authority , but suffer all things , lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ . * Do ye not know that those who work with sacred [things ] live [of the things ] of the sanctuary ? and those who serve at the altar partake of the altar ? * Even so the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel . * But I have used none of these things , neither have I written these things that it should be so done unto me ; for [it were ] better for me to die than that anyone should make this my glory void . * For though I preach the gospel , I have no reason to glory , for it is an obligation laid upon me ; for woe is me , if I do not preach the gospel ! * For if I do this thing willingly , I have a reward ; but if against my will , the stewardship [of the gospel ] is committed unto me . * What reward , then , shall I have ? That preaching the gospel , I may make the gospel of the Christ without charge , that I abuse not my authority in the gospel . * Therefore , though I am free regarding everyone , yet I have made myself servant unto all , that I might gain the more . * And unto the Jews I became as 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 ; * to those that are without law , as without law (being not without law of God , but under the law of Christ ), that I might gain those that are without law . * To the weak I became as weak , that I might gain the weak ; I am made all things to everyone , that I might by all means save some . * And this I do for the gospel 's sake , that I might be partaker together of it . * Know ye not that those who run in a race indeed all run , but one receives the prize ? So run , that ye may obtain [it ]. * And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things . Now they [do it ] to obtain a corruptible crown , but we , an incorruptible [one ]. * I therefore so run , not as unto an uncertain thing ; so I fight , not as one that beats the air ; * but I keep my body under , and bring [it ] into subjection , lest preaching to others , I myself should become reprobate .:

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