Paul Surrenders His Rights

¹jAm I not free? kAm I not an apostle? lHave I not seen Jesus our Lord? mAre not you my workmanship in the Lord? ²If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are nthe seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³This is my defense to those who would examine me. ⁴oDo we not have the right to eat and drink? ⁵pDo we not have the right to take along a believing wife,1 as do the other apostles and qthe brothers of the Lord and rCephas? ⁶Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? ⁷sWho serves as a soldier at his own expense? tWho plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

⁸Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? ⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses, u“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written vfor our sake, because wthe plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. ¹¹xIf we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ¹²If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, ywe have not made use of this right, but we endure anything zrather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. ¹³Do you not know that athose who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? ¹⁴In the same way, the Lord commanded that bthose who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

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