Apostol § 141

Brethren, you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me is this: Have we not the power to eat and drink? Have we not the power to take along a believing wife, as do also the other Apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Céphas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of an ox that treads out the grain.” Is it the oxen that concern God? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we should hinder the Gospel of Christ.