Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals?
Parallel translations
- WEB Have we no right to eat and to drink?
- KJV Have we not power to eat and to drink?
- BSB Have we no right to food and to drink?
- NKJV Do we have no right to eat and drink?
- NASB Do we not have a right to eat and drink?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Don't Paul and his coworkers have the right to receive food and drink—that is, material support—for their ministry? He affirms a legitimate apostolic entitlement.
Overview
Paul begins listing the rights he could claim. The first is the basic right to be supported by those he serves, freed from earning his own keep so he can labor in the gospel. This is not greed but a God-given provision for ministers. By naming the right clearly, Paul prepares to show that his refusal to use it (v. 12, 15) is a deliberate act of love, not a sign of inferiority.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Th 2:6nor seeking glory from men (neither from you nor from others), when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ.
- 2 Th 3:8–9neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you;
- Luke 10:7Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.
- Gal 6:6But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.
- Matt 10:10Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food.
- 1 Cor 9:7–14What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
- 1 Th 2:9For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God.
- 1 Tim 5:17–18Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
Resources, by level
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 9:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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