1. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
2. If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the confirming sign of my apostleship in the Lord.
3. This is my defense to those who examine me.
4. Do we not have the right to financial support?
5. Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?
6. Or do only Barnabas and I lack the right not to work?
7. Who ever serves in the army at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not consume its milk?
8. Am I saying these things only on the basis of common sense, or does the law not say this as well?
9. For it is written in the law of Moses, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” God is not concerned here about oxen, is he?
10. Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest.
11. If we sowed spiritual blessings among you, is it too much to reap material things from you?
12. If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving?But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
13. Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar receive a part of the offerings?