Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? Act 9:171Co 3:61Co 9:191Ti 2:7Act 23:11Act 9:32Ti 1:11Gal 1:15-17 If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 2Co 12:122Co 3:1-3Jhn 6:27
My defense to those who examine me is this: 1Co 14:372Co 10:7-82Co 12:16-192Co 13:102Co 13:32Co 13:52Ti 4:16Act 22:1 Have we no right to eat and to drink? 1Th 2:62Th 3:8-9Luk 10:71Co 9:7-141Th 2:9Gal 6:6Mat 10:101Ti 5:17-18 Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Jhn 1:421Co 7:391Co 7:7Act 1:14Gal 1:19Heb 13:4Mat 8:141Co 1:12 Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work? 2Th 3:7-9Act 13:1-21Th 2:9Act 18:3Act 4:361Co 4:11-12Act 11:22Act 14:12 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk? Pro 27:18Deu 20:62Ti 2:3-41Co 3:6-81Ti 1:18Act 20:28Jer 23:2-3Pro 27:27
Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 1Co 14:341Co 7:401Th 2:131Th 4:8Isa 8:20Rom 3:31Rom 6:19 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” 1 Is it for the oxen that God cares, Deu 25:41Ti 5:18Psa 104:27Jon 4:11Psa 145:15-16Deu 22:1-4Deu 5:14Luk 12:24-28 or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. 2Ti 2:6Rom 15:4Rom 4:23-241Co 3:92Co 4:15Jhn 4:35-38Luk 17:7-8Mat 24:22 If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things? Rom 15:27Gal 6:62Co 11:15Mat 10:102Ki 5:13Mal 3:8-9 If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? 1Co 9:151Co 9:182Co 11:121Th 2:6-92Co 11:7-101Co 9:21Co 4:11-121Co 4:14-15
Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ. Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? Lev 6:26Num 18:8-20Num 5:9-101Co 10:181Sa 2:28Deu 18:1-5Deu 10:9Lev 6:16-18 Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News. Mat 10:101Ti 5:17-181Co 9:4Gal 6:6Luk 10:7
But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void. 1Th 2:92Th 3:81Co 9:122Co 11:9-12Act 18:3Act 20:24Act 20:341Co 4:12 For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News. Rom 1:14Jer 20:9Col 4:17Luk 9:62Act 26:16-20Act 4:20Amo 3:8Act 9:15 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. Gal 2:71Co 3:81Ch 28:9Col 1:25Mat 10:411Ch 29:51Ch 29:91Co 3:14 What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News. 2Co 11:7-91Co 10:331Co 8:91Th 2:62Th 3:8-92Co 12:13-181Co 7:311Co 9:6-7
For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. Gal 5:13Mat 18:151Co 10:33Jas 5:19-201Ti 4:16Mat 20:26-281Co 9:20-222Ti 2:10 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, 2 that I might gain those who are under the law; Act 16:3Gal 5:18Act 21:20-26Act 17:2-3Act 18:18Gal 4:21Gal 4:5Rom 11:14 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. Rom 2:12Gal 3:2Rom 2:141Co 7:19-22Mat 5:17-20Gal 5:13-14Tit 2:2-121Th 4:1-2 To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 1Co 10:33Rom 15:11Co 9:19Rom 11:14Gal 6:11Co 8:131Co 7:162Co 11:29 Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. 2Ti 2:101Co 9:25-27Mrk 8:351Jn 1:3Gal 2:5Heb 3:142Co 2:41Co 9:12 Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win. Php 3:14Heb 12:12Ti 4:7-8Rev 3:11Php 2:161Co 9:26Gal 5:7Jer 12:5 Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 2Ti 2:5Rev 2:101Ti 6:122Ti 4:7-8Jas 1:12Rev 3:112Pe 1:61Pe 1:4 I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, 2Pe 1:102Ti 2:5Php 1:21Col 1:292Ti 1:12Luk 13:241Pe 5:1Eph 6:12 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. Rom 8:131Co 9:25Col 3:52Co 13:5-61Pe 2:111Co 6:12-132Co 6:4-51Co 8:13