1 Corinthians 9–11

1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?

2Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3This is my defense to those who scrutinize me:

4Have we no right to food and to drink?

5Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

6Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?

7Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?

8Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?

9For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

10Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?

12If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

13Do you not know that those who work in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings?

14In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast.

16Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

17If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.

18What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.

19Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law.

21To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law.

22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.

25Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.

26Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.

27No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

1I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.

2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

3They all ate the same spiritual food

4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

6These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.

7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.

9We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.

10And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.

11Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

12So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall.

13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

15I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.

16Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

17Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

18Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar?

19Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?

20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

22Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

23“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying.

24No one should seek his own good, but the good of others.

25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,

26for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

27If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.

28But if someone tells you, “This food was offered to idols,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience—

29the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

30If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

32Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—

33as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.

1You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

2Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.

3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is just as if her head were shaved.

6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.

7A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.

9Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

10For this reason a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.

11In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

12For just as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

14Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

15but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

16If anyone is inclined to dispute this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.

17In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good.

18First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

19And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.

20Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.

21For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal. While one remains hungry, another gets drunk.

22Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? No, I will not!

23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,

24and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

25In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

28Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

31Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.

32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

33So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you come together it will not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give instructions about the remaining matters.