Am I not free? am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
My defence to them that examine me is this.
Have we no right to eat and to drink?
Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a {Greek: sister.}believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
Or I only and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working?
What soldier ever serveth at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
Do I speak these things after the manner of men? or saith not the law also the same?
For it is written in the law of Moses, {Deuteronomy 25:4.}Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God careth,
or saith he it {Or, altogether}assuredly for our sake? Yea, for our sake it was written: because he that ploweth ought to plow in hope, and he that thresheth, to thresh in hope of partaking.
If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?
If others partake of this right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel of Christ.
Know ye not that they that minister about sacred things eat of the things of the temple, and they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar?
Even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel should live of the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel.
But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case; for it were good for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
For if I {See marginal note on chapter 1:17.}preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I {See marginal note on chapter 1:17.}preach not the gospel.
For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship intrusted to me.
What then is my reward? That, when I {See marginal note on chapter 1:17.}preach the gospel, I may make the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel.
For though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
And I do all things for the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof.
Know ye not that they that run in a {Greek: race course.}race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.
And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so {Greek: box.}fight I, as not beating the air:
but I {Greek: bruise. Luke 18:5.}buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I {Or, have been a herald}have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
Querverweise zu 1. Korinther 9,12 1Kor 9,12
For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.
If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case; for it were good for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;
And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing Jehovah hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.
I write not these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
What then is my reward? That, when I {See marginal note on chapter 1:17.}preach the gospel, I may make the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel.
and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein.
For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the {Greek: good tidings. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel.
Wherefore watch ye, remembering that by the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears.
And now I commend you to {Some ancient authorities read the Lord.}God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
I coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
Nay, already it is altogether {Or, a loss to you}a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded?
Woe unto you lawyers! for ye took away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I {Greek: brought good tidings. See chapter 10:16}preached to you the gospel of God for nought?
I robbed other churches, taking wages of them that I might minister unto you;
and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.
Wherefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you:
For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except it be that I myself was not a burden to you? forgive me this wrong.
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off {Greek: the occasion of them.}occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be a burden to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we might have {Or, been burdensome verse 9; Compare 1 Corinthians 9:4 ff.}claimed authority as apostles of Christ.
But we were {Most of the ancient authorities read babes. Compare 1 Corinthians 14:20.}gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children:
even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us.
For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of God.
neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you:
not because we have not the right, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you, that ye should imitate us.