1Am I not a free man? Or, am I not a legate? Or, have I not seen Jesus Messiah our Lord? Or, have ye not been my work in my Lord? 2And if I have not been a legate to others, yet I have been so to you; and ye are the seal of my legateship. 3And my apology to my judgers, is this: 4Have we not authority, to eat and to drink? 5Or have we not authority to carry about with us a sister as a wife; just as the other legates, and the brothers of our Lord, and as Cephas? 6Or I only, and Barnabas, have we no right to forbear labor? 7Who, that serveth in war, doth so at his own expense? Or who, that planteth a vineyard, eateth not of its fruits? Or who, that tendeth sheep, eateth not of the milk of his flocks? 8Is it as a man, I say these things? Behold, the law also saith them. 9For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that thresheth. Hath God regard for oxen? 10But manifest it is, for whose sake he said it. And indeed, for our sakes it was written: because the plougher ought to plough in hope, and the thresher in hope of fruit. 11If we have sowed among you the things of the Spirit, is it a great matter, if we reap from you the things of the body? 12And if others have this prerogative over you, doth it not belong still more to us? Yet we have not used this prerogative; but we have endured every thing, that we might in nothing impede the announcement of the Messiah. 13Know ye not, that they who serve in a temple, are fed from the temple? And they who serve at the altar, participate with the altar? 14Thus also hath our Lord commanded, that they who proclaim his gospel, should live by his gospel. 15But I have used none of these things: and I write not, that it may be so done to me; for it would be better for me to actually die, than that any one should make void my glorying. 16For while I preach, I have no ground of glorying; because necessity is laid upon me, and woe to me, if I preach not. 17For if I do this voluntarily, there is a reward for me: but if involuntarily, a stewardship is intrusted to me. 18What then is my reward? It is, that when I preach, I make the announcement of the Messiah without cost, and use not the prerogative given me in the gospel. 19Being free from them all, I have made myself servant to every man; that I might gain many: 20and with the Jews, I was as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; and with those under the law, I was as under the law, that I might gain them who are under the law; 21and to those who have not the law, I was as without the law, (although I am not without law to God, but under the law of the Messiah,) that I might gain them that are without the law. 22I was with the weak, as weak, that I might gain the weak: I was all things to all men, that I might vivify every one. 23And this I do, that I may participate in the announcement. 24Know ye not that they who run in the stadium, run all of them; yet it is one who gaineth the victory. Run ye, so as to attain. 25For every one who engageth in the contest, restraineth his desires in every thing. And they run, to obtain a crown that perisheth; but we, one that perisheth not. 26I therefore so run, not as for something unknown; and I so struggle, not as struggling against air; 27but I subdue my body, and reduce it to servitude; lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a reprobate.