6. Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have to work for our living?
7. What soldier ever has to pay his own expenses in the army? What farmer does not eat the grapes from his own vineyard? What shepherd does not use the milk from his own sheep?
8. I don't have to limit myself to these everyday examples, because the Law says the same thing.
9. We read in the Law of Moses, “Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh corn.” Now, is God concerned about oxen?
10. Didn't he really mean us when he said that? Of course that was written for us. The one who ploughs and the one who reaps should do their work in the hope of getting a share of the crop.
11. We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?
12. If others have the right to expect this from you, haven't we an even greater right?But we haven't made use of this right. Instead, we have endured everything in order not to put any obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ.
13. Surely you know that the men who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who offer the sacrifices on the altar get a share of the sacrifices.
14. In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who preach the gospel should get their living from it.
15. But I haven't made use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this now in order to claim such rights for myself. I would rather die first! Nobody is going to turn my rightful boast into empty words!