Paul's rights as an apostle

Am I not an apostle (a special messenger)?
Am I not free (unrestrained and exempt from any obligation)?
Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
Are you [yourselves] not [the product and proof of] my workmanship in the Lord?

Even if I am not considered an apostle (a special messenger) by others,
at least I am one to you; for you are the seal (the certificate, the living evidence)
of my apostleship in the Lord [confirming and authenticating it].

This is my [real ground of] defense (my vindication of myself)
to those who would put me on trial and cross-examine me.

Have we not the right to our food and drink [at the expense of the churches]?

Have we not the right also to take along with us a Christian sister as wife,
as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas (Peter)?

Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from doing manual labor
for a livelihood [in order to go about the work of the ministry]?

[Consider this:] What soldier at any time serves at his own expense?
Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of the fruit of it?
Who tends a flock and does not partake of the milk of the flock?

Do I say this only on human authority and as a man reasons?
Does not the Law endorse the same principle?

For in the Law of Moses it is written,
You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn.
Is it [only] for oxen that God cares?

Or does He speak certainly and entirely for our sakes?
[Assuredly] it is written for our sakes, because the plowman ought to plow in hope,
and the thresher ought to thresh in expectation of partaking of the harvest.

If we have sown [the seed of] spiritual good among you,
[is it too] much if we reap from your material benefits?

If others share in this rightful claim upon you,
do not we [have a still better and greater claim]?
However, we have never exercised this right,
but we endure everything rather than put a hindrance in the way [of the spread]
of the good news (the Gospel) of Christ.

Do you not know that those men who are employed in the services of the temple
get their food from the temple?
And that those who tend the altar share with the altar [in the offerings brought]?

[On the same principle] the Lord directed that those who publish the good news
(the Gospel) should live (get their maintenance) by the Gospel.

that any such provision be made for me [now].
For it would be better for me to die than to have anyone make void
and deprive me of my [ground for] glorifying [in this matter].

For if I [merely] preach the Gospel, that gives me no reason to boast,
for I feel compelled of necessity to do it.
Woe is me if I do not preach the glad tidings (the Gospel)!

For if I do this work of my own free will, then I have my pay (my reward);
but if it is not of my own will, but is done reluctantly and under compulsion,
I am [still] entrusted with a [sacred] trusteeship and commission.

What then is the [actual] reward that I get?
Just this: that in my preaching the good news (the Gospel),
I may offer it [absolutely] free of expense [to anybody],
not taking advantage of my rights and privileges [as a preacher] of the Gospel.