The Freedom Paul Lays Down
Paul has every right to be supported like the other apostles, and proves it from the law and the temple — then refuses it. He makes himself a slave to all, Jew to Jews, weak to the weak, disciplining himself so that some are saved.
9 1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord? Aren't you my work in the Lord? 2If I'm no apostle to others, I certainly am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3This is my defense to those who would examine me: 4Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5Don't we have the right to bring along a believing wife, like the other apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas? 6Or is it only Barnabas and I who lack the right to refrain from working for a living? 7Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock without drinking its milk?
8Do I say this merely on human authority? Does not the law say the same? 9For Moses' law says, "Do not muzzle an ox threshing grain." Is our Father concerned about oxen? 10Or is he speaking entirely for us? Yes, it was written for us—the plowman should plow in hope, and the thresher, in hope of sharing the crop. 11If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it too much to reap material things from you? 12If others share this right over you, don't we even more? Yet we haven't used it—instead we endure everything, so as not to hinder the gospel of Christ.
13Don't you know that those who work in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the altar's offerings? 14Likewise the Lord ordered that those who preach the gospel live from the gospel. 15But I've used none of these rights, and I'm not writing this to claim them for myself. I'd rather die than let anyone empty my boast. 16Preaching the gospel gives me no reason to boast—I'm under compulsion. Woe to me if I don't preach it! 17For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; if unwillingly, I'm still entrusted with a commission. 18So what is my reward? That preaching, I offer the gospel free, without using my full right in the gospel.
19For though free from all, I made myself a slave to all, to win more. 20To Jews I became as a Jew, to win Jews. To those under the law, as one under the law—though not myself under it—to win those under the law. 21To those outside the law, I became like one outside the law (not outside our Father's law, but inside Christ's law), to win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, to save some by every means. 23I do all this for the gospel's sake, so I may share its blessings.
24Don't you know all runners in a race run, but only one gets the prize? Run to win. 25Everyone who competes disciplines himself in everything, to win a crown that fades—but ours does not. 26So I do not run aimlessly, and I do not shadowbox. 27But I beat my body and master it, so that after preaching to others I myself won't be disqualified.
