1 Corinthians 9:7-23

7Who at any time serves 1as a soldier at his own expense? Who 2plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not 3consume some of the milk of the flock?

8I am not just asserting these things 4according to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses: “5You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.” God is not concerned about 6oxen, is He? 10Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written 7for our sake, because 8the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops. 119If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we 10did not use this right, but we endure all things 11so that we will cause no hindrance to the 12gospel of Christ. 1313Do you not know that those who 14perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share 15from the altar? 14So also 16the Lord directed those who proclaim the 17gospel to 18get their living from the gospel.

15But I have 19used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make 20my boast an empty one! 16For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for 21I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach 22the gospel. 17For if I do this voluntarily, I have a 23reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a 24commission nonetheless. 18What, then, is my 25reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel 26without charge, so as 27not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

19For though I am 28free from all people, I have made myself 29a slave to all, so that I may 30gain more. 2031To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though 32not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; 21to those who are 33without the Law, I became 34as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but 35under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. 22To the 36weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become 37all things to all people, 38so that I may by all means save some. 23I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.