Atlas Biblica

    1 Corinthians · 27 verses

    1 Corinthians 9

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    The preacher names his reward as the thing most people would call giving the reward away: preaching the gospel free of charge and refusing the right to be paid.

    Rights defended, then surrenderedvv. 1–18

    The speaker begins with a brisk bundle of questions: freedom, apostleship, having seen Jesus, and the right to food, drink, and a believing wife. Barnabas appears beside him as the other apostle who works for a living, while soldiers, vineyard-planters, shepherds, plowmen, threshers, temple servants, and altar servants parade through the argument. Then comes the delightful turn: a law about an ox treading grain is aimed beyond the ox, toward the people who plow and thresh. The speaker insists that the right is real, but says he has not used it; his reward is to preach without charge, as though surrendering the privilege were the prize.

    Freedom dressed as slaveryvv. 19–23

    Having declared himself free of obligation, the speaker immediately makes himself a slave to everyone. He becomes like a Jew for Jews, like one under the law for those under the law, like one without the law for those without it, and weak for the weak. It is a deliberate reversal of status, with the remarkable phrase that he has become all things to all people—though not all things in the same way, and never without the law of God or the law of Christ.

    The race with no idle runningvv. 24–27

    The final movement turns the whole matter into a race. Everyone runs, but only one receives the prize; competitors train for a crown that perishes, while the speaker reaches for one that does not. He will not run aimlessly or throw punches at the air. His body is disciplined into slavery, lest the preacher, having preached to others, should himself be disqualified—a stern finish, and a wonderfully physical one.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 1 Cor 9:1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?

    2. 1 Cor 9:2Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

    3. 1 Cor 9:3This is my defense to those who scrutinize me:

    4. 1 Cor 9:4Have we no right to food and to drink?

    5. 1 Cor 9:5Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

    6. 1 Cor 9:6Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?

    7. 1 Cor 9:7Who 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?

    8. 1 Cor 9:8Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?

    9. 1 Cor 9:9For 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?

    10. 1 Cor 9:10Isn’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.

    11. 1 Cor 9:11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?

    12. 1 Cor 9:12If 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.

    13. 1 Cor 9:13Do 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?

    14. 1 Cor 9:14In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

    15. 1 Cor 9:15But 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.

    16. 1 Cor 9:16Yet 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!

    17. 1 Cor 9:17If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.

    18. 1 Cor 9:18What 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.

    19. 1 Cor 9:19Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

    20. 1 Cor 9:20To 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.

    21. 1 Cor 9:21To 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.

    22. 1 Cor 9:22To 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.

    23. 1 Cor 9:23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

    24. 1 Cor 9:24Do 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.

    25. 1 Cor 9:25Everyone 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.

    26. 1 Cor 9:26Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.

    27. 1 Cor 9:27No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 363 passages were voted onto 27 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 24Philippians 3:14I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
    • 24Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
    • 27Romans 8:13For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
    • 242 Timothy 4:7–8I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
    • 271 Corinthians 9:25Everyone 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.
    • 27Colossians 3:5Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
    • 24Revelation 3:11I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
    • 24Philippians 2:16as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
    • 272 Corinthians 13:5–6Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test?
    • 271 Peter 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
    • 252 Timothy 2:5Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules.
    • 241 Corinthians 9:26Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.
    • 24Galatians 5:7You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?
    • 25Revelation 2:10Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
    • 271 Corinthians 6:12–13“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.
    • 251 Timothy 6:12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.

    Onward

    Keep reading

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