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The First Letter to the Corinthians 9

9 I am not bound to eat only certain foods. Our Lord Jesus sent me to represent him, and I have seen him with my own eyes. God has united us to the Lord, and I have worked hard for you because of that. 2 Other people may not think that the Messiah sent me to represent him, but you do know that. You know that because you proved that the Messiah sent me when God united you to the Lord.

3 I will now defend myself against anyone who wants to question whether the Messiah sent me to represent him or not. 4 Barnabas and I certainly can require you to send us food and drink. 5 We certainly can travel around with a wife who believes in the Messiah. This is what the others whom the Messiah has sent to represent him do, including Peter and the Lord’s brothers. 6 It is not true that Barnabas and I are the only ones who represent the Messiah who must work to support ourselves. 7 No soldiers ever pay with their own money to serve in the army. No farmers plant vines and then do not eat what the vines produce. No shepherds take care of sheep and then do not drink the milk that they produce.

8 What I am arguing does not depend on merely human thinking. Rather, you can read what I am arguing in the law of Moses. 9 Here is what Moses wrote in the law of Moses: “You should not keep an ox from eating the grain when it is helping you separate grain from chaff.” God is not primarily interested in oxen, however. 10 Rather, God speaks mostly about us in this law. God had Moses write this command for us because any person who plows a field should expect to receive some of the crop. Any person who separates the grain from the wheat stalks should also expect to receive some of the crop. 11 We proclaimed the good news to you as if we were planting spiritual seeds. Because of that, it would be normal for us to receive financial help from you as if we were receiving some of the crop that grew from the seed that we planted. 12 Other people have received financial support from you. Barnabas and I deserve even more to receive it from you.

However, we have not asked for any support from you. Rather, we choose to go without things so that we will not keep the good news about the Messiah from spreading. 13 Surely you know that the people who perform their duties in the temple eat some of the food that people offer in the temple. More specifically, the priests who offer sacrifices on the altar receive part of what people bring to them to offer on the altar. 14 Similarly, the Lord instructed that anyone who preaches the good news should make their living from preaching the good news.

15 However, I have not asked for any of this support from you. Further, I am not now writing to you to ask for support for myself. I would prefer to die rather than to have someone take away what I can boast about. 16 Now I cannot boast about preaching the good news, because God requires me to preach it. Indeed, were I to stop preaching the good news, God would discipline me. 17 God would reward me if I preached the good news because I myself chose to. However, I have not chosen to do so, for God himself has told me what I need to do. 18 God still rewards me, however. He does so when I preach the good news without requiring people to pay me. I tell people about the good news in this way so that I do not misuse what I am able to require because I preach the good news.

19 Since I preach the good news for free, I do not need to serve any humans. However, I choose to serve all humans so that I can help more of them believe in the Messiah. 20 When I am with Jewish people, I act like a Jewish person. That way, I can help Jewish people believe in the Messiah. When I am with people who think they need to obey Moses’ law, I act like someone who thinks that he needs to obey Moses’ law. While I myself know that I do not need to obey Moses’ law, I act this way so that I can help the people who think they need to obey Moses’ law believe in the Messiah. 21 When I am with people who do not obey Moses’ law, I act like someone who does not obey Moses’ law. I act this way so that I can help the people who do not obey Moses’ law to believe in the Messiah. Of course, I do obey God’s law, since I do what the Messiah commanded. 22 When I am with people who incompletely understand what is right and wrong, I act like someone who incompletely understands what is right and wrong. I act this way so that I can help the people who incompletely understand what is right and wrong to believe in the Messiah. As you can see, when I am with any people, I act like they do so that God might work through all the things I do in order to save some of them. 23 As you can see, I act in all these ways because I want people to believe in the good news. Further, I do these things in order that I too will receive what God has promised in the good news.

24 Surely you know that all the runners participate in a race, but in the end only one runner wins the race and takes the reward for winning. When you serve God, it is much like this kind of race. You need to work hard to gain what God has promised to you, just like the runner runs hard to win the race. 25 All athletes carefully control everything that they do so that they can win. They compete for a crown made of leaves that will fall apart. We, however, control ourselves so that we can receive what God has promised to give us, which will last forever. 26 Because of this, I am like a runner who runs straight toward the finish line. I am like a boxer who strikes an opponent without missing. 27 I totally control my body and make it serve me. I do that because I do not want to proclaim the good news to other people but then find that God does not approve of me.

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