Free: what Paul means by this word is decided by the context. (1) The preceding verses suggest that it means “free to eat and drink what I like” (see the comments on 1 Cor. 9.4). (2) Verses 5-12a and possibly verse 4 refer to the apostles’ rights over the congregations they served. So free in verse 1 may therefore mean “free from the obligation to work for my living.” Alternative (2) seems to be the more likely meaning. The rhetorical question Am I not free? can be rendered by the statement “I am a free man!” In fact all the questions in this verse may be rendered as statements in languages that do not use rhetorical questions. As Revised Standard Version shows, although of course Paul is a man, “man” is not explicit in the Greek or emphasized in Paul’s thought in this passage.

Good News Bible‘s “the result of” is implicit; compare 3.13, where Revised English Bible rightly adds “the worth of” before “each person’s work.” See also 2 Cor 3.2-3. Paul is not speaking here of his work as an apostle in itself, but of its result in the founding of a Christian community in Corinth.

In the Lord means in this context “by the Lord working through me” (Héring). My workmanship in the Lord may be rendered as in Good News Bible, “the result of my work for the Lord,” or “the result of the Lord working through me.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Really, I am free from the obligation to work for my living. I have seen Jesus our Lord, and you are the result of the Lord working through me.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .