1 Corinthians 9:3-12
New Catholic Bible
3 To those who seek to pass judgment on me, my defense is this. 4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?[a] 6 Are Barnabas[b] and I the only ones who do not have the right to refrain from working? 7 What soldier would ever serve in the army at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating its fruit? Or who tends a flock without consuming some of its milk?
8 I am not saying this based simply on human authority, for the Law says the very same thing. 9 In the Law of Moses it is written, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned, 10 or does he not rather say this for our sake? Without question it was written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope, both in expectation of a share in the crop. 11 If we have sown a spiritual crop for you, is it unreasonable for us to expect from you a material harvest? 12 If others have this claim on you, do not we?
Despite this, we have never availed ourselves of any such right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than place an obstacle to the gospel of Christ. Read full chapter
Footnotes
