¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. ¹⁷ For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a commission nonetheless. ¹⁸ What, then, is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; ²¹ to those who are without the Law, I became as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. ²³ I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶ Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as ^[a]to avoid hitting air; ²⁷ but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.