1 ARST I am not bound{ to eat only certain foods}. Our Lord Jesus sent me to represent him, and I have seen him{ with my own eyes}. God has united us to the Lord, and I have worked hard for you because of that. BSB BSB: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?
2 ARST Other people may not think that the Messiah sent me to represent him, but you do know that.{ You know that} because you proved that the Messiah sent me when God united you to the Lord. BSB BSB: Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 ARST I will now defend myself against anyone who wants to question{ whether the Messiah sent} me{ to represent him or not}. BSB BSB: This is my defense to those who scrutinize me:
4 ARST Barnabas and I certainly can require you to send us food and drink. BSB BSB: Have we no right to food and to drink?
6 ARST It is not true that Barnabas and I are the only ones{ who represent the Messiah} who must work{ to support ourselves}. BSB BSB: Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?
7 ARST No soldiers ever pay with their own money to serve in the army. No farmers plant vines and then do not eat what the vines produce. No shepherds take care of sheep and then do not drink the milk that they produce. BSB BSB: Who 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?
8 ARST What I am arguing does not depend on merely human thinking. Rather, you can read what I am arguing in the law{ of Moses}. BSB BSB: Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?
9 ARST Here is what Moses wrote in the law of Moses:“You should not keep an ox from eating the grain when it is helping you separate grain from chaff.” God is not primarily interested in oxen{, however}. BSB BSB: For 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?
10 ARST Rather, God speaks mostly about us{ in this law}. God had Moses write this command for us because any person who plows a field should expect to receive some of the crop. Any person who separates the grain from the wheat stalks should also expect to receive some of the crop. BSB BSB: Isn’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.
11 ARST We proclaimed the good news to you as if we were planting spiritual seeds. Because of that, it would be normal for us to receive financial help from you as if we were receiving some of the crop that grew from the seed that we planted. BSB BSB: If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?
12 ARST Other people have received financial support from you. Barnabas and I deserve even more to receive it from you. However, we have not asked for any support from you. Rather, we choose to go without things so that we will not keep the good news about the Messiah from spreading. BSB BSB: If 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.
13 ARST Surely you know that the people who perform their duties in the temple eat some of the food that people offer in the temple. More specifically, the priests who offer sacrifices on the altar receive part of what people bring to them to offer on the altar. BSB BSB: Do 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?
14 ARST Similarly, the Lord instructed that anyone who preaches the good news should make their living from{ preaching} the good news. BSB BSB: In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
15 ARST However, I have not asked for any of this support from you. Further, I am not now writing to you to ask for support for myself. I would prefer to die rather than to have someone take away what I can boast about. BSB BSB: But 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.
16 ARST Now I cannot boast about preaching the good news, because God requires me to preach it. Indeed, were I to stop preaching the good news, God would discipline me. BSB BSB: Yet 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!
17 ARST God would reward me if I preached the good news because I myself chose to. However, I have not chosen to do so, for God himself has told me what I need to do. BSB BSB: If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.
18 ARST God still rewards me, however.{ He does so} when I preach the good news without requiring people to pay me. I tell people about the good news in this way so that I do not misuse what I am able to require because I preach the good news. BSB BSB: What 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.
19 ARST { Since I preach the good news for free,} I do not need to serve any humans. However, I choose to serve all humans so that I can help more of them{ believe in the Messiah}. BSB BSB: Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 ARST When I am with Jewish people, I act like a Jewish person. That way, I can help Jewish people{ believe in the Messiah}. When I am with people who think they need to obey Moses’ law, I act like someone who thinks that he needs to obey Moses’ law. While I myself know that I do not need to obey Moses’ law,{ I act this way} so that I can help the people who think they need to obey Moses’ law{ believe in the Messiah}. BSB BSB: To 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.
21 ARST When I am with people who do not obey Moses’ law, I act like someone who does not obey Moses’ law.{ I act this way} so that I can help the people who do not obey Moses’ law{ to believe in the Messiah}. Of course, I do obey God’ s law, since I do what the Messiah commanded. BSB BSB: To 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.
22 ARST When I am with people who incompletely understand what is right and wrong, I act like someone who incompletely understands what is right and wrong.{ I act this way} so that I can help the people who incompletely understand what is right and wrong{ to believe in the Messiah}.{ As you can see,} when I am with any people, I act like they do so that God might work through all the things I do in order to save some of them. BSB BSB: To 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.
23 ARST As you can see, I act in all these ways because I want people to believe in the good news.{ Further, I do these things} in order that I too will receive what God has promised in the good news. BSB BSB: I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
24 ARST Surely you know that all the runners participate in a race, but in the end only one runner wins the race and takes the reward for winning. When you serve God, it is much like this kind of race. You need to work hard to gain what God has promised to you, just like the runner runs hard to win the race. BSB BSB: Do 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.
25 ARST All athletes carefully control everything that they do{ so that they can win}. They compete for a crown made of leaves that will fall apart. We, however,{ control ourselves so that we can receive what God has promised to give us,} which will last forever. BSB BSB: Everyone 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.
26 ARST Because of this, I am like a runner who runs straight toward the finish line. I am like a boxer who strikes an opponent without missing. BSB BSB: Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.
27 ARST I totally control my body and make it serve me. I do that because I do not want to proclaim the good news to other people but then find that God does not approve of me. BSB BSB: No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.