Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 7:17

But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

17 24. Christianity not intended to revolutionize the relations between the believer and society

17. But as God hath distributed ] The permission to live apart from a heathen husband or wife is given only to meet a special case, that in which the unbelieving partner demands the separation. The general rule is, remain in the condition in which you were called. That was the rule which St Paul was giving to his converts wherever he went. He now proceeds to give two remarkable illustrations of his principle, calculated at once to arrest and fix the attention of the Corinthians. He applies it to the relations of Jew and Gentile; and to those of slave and freeman, and thus shews that Christianity was not intended to introduce a violent revolutionary element into society, but to sanctify existing relations until the time came that they could be amended. “Christianity interferes indirectly, not directly, with existing institutions.” Robertson. Cf. St Luk 12:13-15.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But as God hath distributed … – As God hath divided ( emerisen); that is, given, imparted to anyone. As God has given grace to everyone. The words ei me denote simply but in the beginning of this verse. The apostle here introduces a new subject; or an inquiry varying somewhat from that preceding, though of the same general nature. He had discussed the question whether a husband and wife ought to be separated on account of a difference in religion. He now says that the general principle there stated ought to rule everywhere; that people who become Christians ought not to seek to change their condition or calling in life, but to remain in that situation in which they were when they became Christians, and show the excellence of their religion in that particular calling. The object of Paul, therefore, is to preserve order, industry, faithfulness in the relations of life, and to show that Christianity does not design to break up the relations of social and domestic contact. This discussion continues to 1Co 7:24. The phrase as God hath distributed refers to the condition in which people are placed in life, whether as rich or poor, in a state of freedom or servitude, of learning or ignorance, etc. And it implies that God appoints the lot of people, and orders the circumstances of their condition; that religion is not designed to interfere directly with this; and that people should seek to show the real excellence of religion in the particular sphere in which they may have been placed by divine providence before they became converted.

As the Lord hath called everyone – That is, in the condition or circumstances in which anyone is when he is called by the Lord to be a Christian.

So let him walk – In that sphere of life; in that calling 1Co 7:20; in that particular relation in which he was, let him remain, unless he can consistently change it for the better, and there let him illustrate the true beauty and excellence of religion. This was designed to counteract the notion that the fact of embracing a new religion dissolved the relations of life which existed before. This idea probably prevailed extensively among the Jews. Pauls object is to show that the gospel, instead of dissolving those relations, only strengthened them, and enabled those who were converted the better to discharge the duties which grow out of them.

And so ordain I … – This is no unique rule for you Corinthians. It is the universal rule which I everywhere inculcated. It is not improbable that there was occasion to insist everywhere on this rule, and to repress disorders which might have been attempted by some who might suppose that Christianity dissolved the former obligations of life.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Co 7:17-24

But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk.

Every Christian at his post

1. God appoints every man his station and condition in life.

2. Has called him in it.

3. Requires him faithfully to fulfil its duties.

4. Allows of no exception unless when compliance is sinful. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The dignity of the true Christian

He rises above the circumstances–

I. Of caste.

1. Externals are nothing.

2. Only conformity to the will of God gives true dignity.

II. Of station.

1. As a servant he is free; serving God in his calling, contented to leave the improvement of his position to Divine Providence, rejoicing in the liberty of Christ.

2. As free he is unaffected by external advantage, and glories in being a servant of Christ.

III. Of human servility.

1. He is redeemed by Christ.

2. Therefore not the servant of man.

3. Can in every condition abide with God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

True contentment

I. Respects–

1. Our religious privileges.

2. Our earthly condition.

II. Arises out of the conviction–

1. That we are redeemed.

2. Can serve Christ.

3. Enjoy fellowship with God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The true freedom and dependence of every Christian

I. His true freedom.

1. From an over-estimate of externals.

2. From pride of condition and false shame.

3. From servility.

4. In the service of Christ.

II. His true dependence.

1. He knows that self-dependence is impossible.

2. Regards himself as Christs property.

3. Accounts it his highest honour to abide in God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised.—

The external and the real in religion

1. God calls us without any reference to our former condition.

2. Puts no value upon religious externals.

3. Requires holiness of heart and life.

4. Hence anxiety about mere forms is reprehensible. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Why Christians should be contented with their circumstances

1. External circumstances are of no importance in the sight of God (1Co 7:18-19).

2. God overrules them for our advantage (1Co 7:20-22).

3. By seeking to change them we may easily forget Christ and become the servants of men (1Co 7:23-24). (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Circumcision is nothing but keeping the commandments of God.—

Forms versus character

(text, Gal 5:6; Gal 6:15):–The great controversy which embittered Pauls life turned upon the question whether a heathen could come into the Church by the door of faith, or of circumcision. Time, which settles all controversies, has settled that. But the principles are eternal, though the forms vary with every varying age. The Ritualist and the Puritan represent permanent tendencies of human nature. These three passages are Pauls deliverance on the question of the comparative value of external rites and spiritual character. Note–

I. The emphatic proclamation of the nullity of outward rites.

1. Circumcision neither is anything nor does anything. Paul speaks about baptism, in chap. 1., in a precisely similar tone and for precisely the same reason.

(1) Forms have their value. A man prays all the better if he bow his head, &c. Forms help us to the realisation of the truths which they express. Music may waft our souls to the heavens, and pictures may stir deep thoughts.

(2) But then external rights tend to usurp more than belongs to them, and in our weakness we are apt, instead of using them as means to lift us higher, to stay in them, and to mistake the mere gratification of taste and the excitement of the sensibilities for worship, if there be as much form as will embody the spirit, that is all that we want. What is more is dangerous. All form in worship is like fire, it is a good servant but it is a bad master. Now, when men say about Christian rites that they are necessary, then it is needful to take up Pauls ground and to say, No! they are nothing! If you say that grace is miraculously conveyed through them, then it is needful to declare their nullity for the highest purpose, that of making that spiritual character which alone is essential.

2. Uncircumcision is nothing. It is very hard for a man who has been delivered from the dependence upon forms not to fancy that his formlessness is what the other people think that their forms are. The Puritan who does not believe that a man can be a good man because he is a Ritualist or a Roman Catholic, is committing the very same error as the Ritualist or the Roman Catholic. There may be as much idolatry in reliance upon the bare worship as the ornate; and many a Nonconformist who fancies that he has never bowed the knee to Baal is as true an idol-worshipper as the men who trust in Ritualism.

II. The threefold variety of the designation of essentials.

1. By keeping the commandments the apostle does not mean merely external obedience, but conformity to the will of God. That is the perfection of a mans nature, when his will fits on to Gods like one of Euclids triangles superimposed upon another, and line for line coincides. When his will allows a free passage to the will of God, without resistance or deflection, as light travels through transparent glass; when his will responds to the touch of Gods fingers upon the keys, like the telegraphic needle to the operators hand, then man has attained all that God and religion can do for him, all that his nature is capable of; and far beneath his feet may be the ladders of ceremonies and forms and outward acts by which he climbed to that serene and blessed height.

2. But I can fancy a man saying, That is all very well, but how can I attain to that? Well, take Gal 6:15. If we are ever to keep the will of God we must be made over again. Our own consciences and the history of all the efforts that ever we have made, tell us that there needs to be a stronger hand than ours to come into the fight if it is ever to be won by us. But in that word, a new creature, lies a promise from God; for a creature implies a Creator. We may have our spirits moulded into His likeness, and new tastes, desires, and capacities infused into us, so as that we shall not be left with our own poor powers to try and force ourselves into obedience to Gods will, but that submission and holiness, and love that keeps the commandments of God, will spring up in our renewed spirits as their natural product and growth.

3. And so we come to Gal 5:6. If we are to be made over again, we must have faith in Christ. We have got to the root now. External rites cannot make men partakers of a new nature. He that trusts Christ opens his heart to Christ, who comes with His new-creating Spirit, and makes us willing in the day of His power to keep His commandments; and faith shows itself living, because it leads us to love, and through love it produces its effects upon conduct. The keeping of the commandments will be easy where there is love in the heart. The will will bow where there is love in the heart. Paul and James shake hands here. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The one threefold essential

As with all deeply earnest men, the teaching of St. Paul grew out of the special events of his life. The crisis called out the struggle, and the struggle called out the word of command. For some years of his life St. Paul passed through a strange experience. The man who to us is a saint, the very type of all that is most exalted, the very man who now keeps the conscience of Christendom, and of whom it is a commonplace to say, Follow him, as he followed Christ, this man, while he lived, was for many years regarded by religious men, and doubtless by devout women also, as a dangerous man, as lacking true reverence in things pertaining to God, as what we might call in these days an innovator and latitudinarian. Circumcision, in the eyes of St. Pauls opponents, was the symbol of what they reverenced and what they accused him, rightly or wrongly, of disparaging. He called himself the Apostle of the Gentiles. He turned his back on his own race and training. He seemed eager not to bridge over the chasm which separated the new from the old, but to glory in the conviction, which, indeed, in one of these four Epistles he expressly enunciated, that in Christ old things had passed away; behold, all things had become new. Now, how did St. Paul bear such comments, and the consciousness that they came not only from unscrupulous partisans, but also doubtless from devout and aggrieved souls? I think we may say that among all his manifold troubles he had no heavier cross to bear than this. It led him not only to justify himself–not only in various ways and at various times to make an Apologia pro vita sua–but to dwell earnestly, solemnly, may we not also say wistfully, and with something of a holy impatience, on the real stake at issue. Why all this battling about symbols, about outward things, about the things below, instead of the things above? Circumcision and uncircumcision, symbol and no symbol, conformity with the past, or no conformity, what were they in the sight of Him who is a Spirit, and knows no difference between Gerizim and Jerusalem? The essential thing is this–the keeping of the commandments of God; faith which worketh by love; a new creature, We may regard these as three essentials, or as one essential; but here we have from a master of the spiritual life, at a time when he was attacked on every side by misrepresentation, besides that which came upon him daily, the care of all the churches, an emphatic declaration of the essence of true Christianity; obedience to Gods commands, faith working by love, a new creature.

I. Whatever else may be important or unimportant in Christian teaching or discipline, this at least is essential, the keeping of the commandments of God. The expression may mean almost anything, or almost nothing, according to our rank in the school of Christ. To the ripe scholar it means almost everything. The keeping of the commandments of God. Which be they? The same which God spake in the 20th chapter of Exodus? Yes, of course, and much more. The same which the life and death of Christ have written, not on tables of stone, but on tables of the heart and conscience. The commandments which every development of thought, every discovery or half-discovery as to the origin or the mysterious interdependence of mind and body, nay, every acceptance, general or partial, of some moral half-truth or even honest heresy, have concurred in stamping upon an enlightened conscience. Wherever the spirit of the age is in harmony with the Spirit of God, wherever the increase of thought and knowledge points to wider sympathies and enlarged fields of human service, there are fresh provinces marked out for the empire of the commandments of God. To learn these commandments, to accept them with ardour and intelligence, with the mind as well as with the heart–to do them ourselves and to teach men so–this is one of the essentials of a true Christian faith.

II. In Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. We are not content, surely, that these should remain merely technical words; we would have them living forces. To St. Paul faith is that outgoing of the whole being–mind, heart, spirit–which attaches itself to a Person; believes in Him, clings to Him, trusts Him, worships Him; finds in His will, and even more in His assured sympathy, the plainest guarantee of duty, and cannot, even in imagination, separate itself from His presence and His indwelling. By this test may we know whether we are Christs disciples. In Christ Jesus faith working through love is an essential. We cannot live without regard to Him, as though He were nothing mow to us beyond an illustrious Example. We cannot look at Him, speak of Him, criticise Him as from outside. We cannot think of Him as the citizens of a neutral power might think of the ruler or the general of some belligerent nation, sympathising perhaps in part with his policy, but still regarding it as outside their own. No! we are not outsiders. We are servants of One who has used the strongest language as to His claims upon His servants; One who has said, He that is not with Me is against Me; and again, Abide in Me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me; and again, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Faith which works by love, perfect trust in Jesus Christ showing forth its devotion by sympathy with those whom He calls His brethren–this is life eternal; this can never disappoint, never betray the soul that trusts it.

III. Neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. It is not easy, nay, it is morally perilous, to try to analyse, as in a laboratory, the essence of an expression wrung, one might dare to say, from the very heart, and steeped in the very life-blood of this great soldier of Christ, a new creature, a new creation. One thing is clear–we may interpret at least, if we hesitate to apply–that St. Paul must have meant to express by this phrase the greatest of all changes, not a mere improvement, the lopping off of a vice here, and an ambition there; not a taming down of the old wild nature under the yoke of some humanising and civilising charm: nothing so small as this, but a change comparable to a new birth, a new order of being, a new manifestation of life, with new aims, new conceptions, new ideals, new organ, new powers. To become a Christian, then, whether the change were from heathendom or Judaism, must, of course, have been something different from what it can be to the sons of Christian parents in the nineteenth century of the Christian Church, and at a place like this where the very stones are witnesses to the reforming and re-creating power of the name of Christ. But even now I venture to say that we do not know what true Christianity is unless we are able to recognise it as a new creature. It is the new creature which through peril, toil and pain, was to overcome the world. It was the new creature which was to root out gradually all that was vile and refuse in humanity, and to present to Christ a changed society, worthy to be called His own bride, a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. (H. M. Butler, D. D.)

Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was calleth–

On the choice of a profession

In seasons of unusual religious excitement and earnestness men are tempted to regard all political and social distinctions, and all ordinary secular employments, as abolished or suspended. This apostolic injunction may be considered as directed in principle against a twofold form of error prevalent at such times.

1. In the first place it is directed against the error of making religion a business or profession by itself, leaving us no time or thought for anything else. Who is the best Christian? Not he who makes the loudest professions of Christianity, nor he who gives the most time to thinking about it, nor yet he who best understands its principles; but he who best succeeds in applying these principles to his daily cares and duties, and in filling his place in society, whatever it may be, in a Christ-like spirit.

2. Again, the injunction in the text is directed generally, and in principle, against the kindred error of supposing that there are many lawful callings or professions in which it is impossible to lead a Christian life. More difficult it may be, but not impossible, the difficulty only enhancing the virtue which has strength and resolution enough to overcome it. On the other hand, the clerical profession, to those who are fit for it, is generally thought, in a moral and religious point of view, to promise best of all; because the special business and object of the calling coincide so entirely with what ought to be the highest business and object of us all. But here also there is difficulty and drawback, showing that the difference in the eligibility of the various professions on moral grounds is not so great as is often supposed. Where the profession is religious, the danger is that the religion will become professional. Then, too, looking merely at the effect of his labours, I believe it is often possible for a layman to do more for religion than a clergyman, from the very fact that he cannot be suspected of a professional bias or bribe. We arrive, then, at the conclusion that all the great professions are open to choice, and that there is nothing in any one of them, in itself considered, to hinder a good man in certain cases from choosing it. But it by no means follows that all professions are equally eligible in themselves; much less, that all are equally eligible to every person and under all circumstances. All are open to choice; but this does not exclude the duty of making a wise choice, as being that on which, more perhaps than on any other one thing, a mans usefulness and happiness will depend. Let me begin by observing, that if the time for choosing a profession has come, it is not well, as a general rule, to postpone it by unnecessary delays. If you say, your mind is unsettled; I reply, in the first place, that in practical matters the will has more to do in settling the mind than arguments; and, secondly, that the probable effect of another year spent without an object will only be to unsettle your minds still more. To enter on the practice of any profession without being duly prepared for it is, I admit, a great error; but this is a reason for beginning the preparation as soon as may be; certainly it is no reason for unnecessary delays. So much impressed was Dr. Johnson with the mischief of fickleness on this subject, that he is half inclined to recommend that every ones calling should be determined by his parents or guardian; at any rate, he does not hesitate to conclude, that of two states of life equally consistent with religion and virtue, he who chooses earliest chooses best. Another preliminary suggestion is, that in choosing a profession we should take care not to allow too much weight to local and temporary considerations;–considerations which will have no bearing on our future progress, except perhaps to narrow and limit it. I suppose there are those who can give no better reason for being in one profession rather than another than this, that they found it easier to get into it. But certainly our success and happiness are to depend, not on our getting into a profession, but on our getting on in it; that is to say, on our being able to fill it honourably and well. I know the common excuse. It will be said, that we are often placed in circumstances where we must do, not as we would, but as we can. We talk about what we can do, and what we cannot; but, after all, this is, for the most part, an arbitrary distinction. What one man calls impossible, another man calls merely difficult; and, with minds which are made of the right sort of stuff, difficulties do not repel or dishearten; they only stimulate to new and greater efforts. Hence we conclude, that every young man owes it to himself, at any sacrifice consistent with virtue and religion, to find, as soon as may be, his proper place and calling, meaning thereby the place and calling in which, with his education and abilities, he is most likely to become useful and happy. But how is he to find it? that is the great question. I answer generally, By considering what he was made for, taking into view, at the same time, his intellectual aptitudes, and his moral needs and dangers. As regards intellectual or mental aptitudes, or what is sometimes called the natural bent of ones genius, two extreme opinions have found supporters, which seem to me to be almost equally removed from practical wisdom. The first is that of those who contend that a strong tendency to one profession rather than to another is to be considered; but only, that it may be crossed and overruled. Thus, if a person early manifests extraordinary talents for business and affairs, this is a reason why he should not be, by profession, a man of business and affairs, for he is enough of that already: he ought rather to go into the army or the Church, which will have the effect to call forth his latent qualities. I hardly need say that this doctrine, plausible as it may seem to some minds, is theoretically false, and practically absurd. It is theoretically false; for, though balance and harmony of character enter into the theory of what a man ought to be, these have nothing to do with an equal, or even with a proportionate development of his faculties. Moreover, to pursue this course would be practically absurd. Every man would do what he is least fitted to do; and the consequence would be, that the whole work of life would, be done in the worst possible manner and under the greatest possible disadvantages. Nor is this all; for the subject has its religious aspects. When we refer to a mans profession as being his vocation, or calling, we suppose him to be called. Every man is calmly and impartially to consider what he was made for, what by the constitution of his mind and character he is best fitted to become, and to look upon this as a call from God–the voice of God speaking in his own nature, which, when distinct and emphatic, he has no right to disregard. Often, however, and I suppose I may say generally, the call is not distinct and emphatic, at least as regards most professions; and this leads me to notice the other of the two extreme opinions referred to above. It consists in supposing that every man has his place, and that everything depends on his finding that particular place, a mistake here being final and fatal. No such thing. We are not born with adaptations, but with adaptabilities; and these are such in most men that they can fit themselves as well, or nearly as well, for one as another of several professions. Leaving out of view eminence in the fine arts, which seems to require at the start a peculiar nervous organisation, I do not believe there is one man in ten whom nature has endowed with aptitudes and predispositions so special and marked that he might not succeed perfectly well in any one out of several pursuits. In a large majority of cases the battle of life is won, not by natural, but by personal qualities; by those personal qualities which invite favour and inspire confidence and insure courage and persistency in whatever is undertaken. Neither your profession nor your circumstances, but the quick eye, and the strong arm, and the iron will must work out for you the great problem of life. These qualities, however, are little better than brute force, unless inspired and directed by a high moral purpose; and this high moral purpose little better than a breath of air, unless it rests on religious faith; and this religious faith unstable as water, unless accepted as the revealed will of God. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (J. Walker, D. D.)

Abide in your calling,

if it is an honest one.

1. It is Gods own appointment.

2. God has blessed you in it.

3. It can be no impediment to a holy life.

4. Affords ample scope for the development of Christian character.

5. May be dignified by fidelity. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Christianity universally applicable

It is–

I. Adapted to every rank and condition.

II. Interferes with no honest calling, but rather alleviates, dignifies, and makes it subservient to the noblest ends.

III. Teaches universal contentment.

1. In the recognition of the Divine will.

2. By the enjoyment of the Divine blessing. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Art thou called, being a servant?

The Christian slave

I. His privilege–called.

II. His duty–contentment.

III. His emancipation–a lawful object of ambition. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

True liberty

I. Does not consist in independence.

1. A slave may be free.

2. The freeman a slave.

II. It consists in the subjection of the heart to Christ who–

1. Makes the hardest service freedom.

2. Subjects the freest will by the force of love. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The gospel

1. Emancipates the slave.

2. Captivates the free. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The common lot the best sphere

In the Records of Dr. Raleighs Life we meet with some striking thoughts suggested while he journeyed in Palestine. The following remarks are interesting and instructive: It seems strange that events so great should transpire in a geographical area so small. Palestine is not much larger than Wales, to which, in some parts, it is not unlike, and not only is it small, but rugged, even what men call common. Some travellers come back almost oppressed with the commonness of what they have seen. God does not need much earthly space, nor that the little should be of what men esteem the best, on which to prepare the scenes of the great drama, historical and celestial, which has been there unfolded. He does not want a continent with far-stretching plains and ship-bearing rivers. He wants only a strip of land running along the sea shore; a confused mass of mountain and high land and plain; a single river of moderate size, a lake, and a Dead Sea. Only so much–and the great drama may go on which has already culminated in a tragedy, and which is destined, on some future day, to end in a world-wide triumph. God has repeated that type and method of action often. Egypt is a river-bed. Greece is little else than rock and sea. Montenegro is an eagles nest. Grandly the Divine action shows against a background of plainness! Beautifully the Divine idea is worked out in scenes of common life! The fisherman in his boat on the sea; the shepherd leading his flock along the hillside; sisters dwelling in a brothers house in a village–these, and such as these, are the characters illuminated for ever for the instruction of all the world. What can we do better than construct our life, and seek to have it inspired after the model of Gods own action? Do our souls begin to hanker after the fat pastures, the broad acres, the rich estate, the ample, well-furnished house? And do we dislike the commonness, the ruggedness through which we must work our way? We are wrong, we need much less than we are apt to imagine, we must correct our ideal. We need only foothold–room to begin. We do not need selected and auspicious circumstances–we need just such as come. We may take the commonness and glorify it by our temper and spirit. We may vanquish the hardships of life by courage and industry, and fill all its scenes with a gentle and noble simplicity. We may put righteousness into it, strong as the bars of the mountains round about Jerusalem, and love in the heart of it, rising ever more like the waters of Shiloah, and so all our life will be a Holy Land.

For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lords freeman.—

Deliverance from slavery

I. The bondage supposed by the gospel, and which calls for its interference. It is a bondage–

1. In which all are born.

2. Produced and perpetuated by an awfully evil agency from without. Satan exercises his dominion in a secret way, by adapting it to our own perverted inclinations. He moves us, not violently, but by means of exciting in a natural way, our depraved powers and propensities.

3. Toilsome and painful, profitless and punishable.

II. The nature of that freedom from it, which the gospel effects in the case of all its converts. Every such one is the Lords freeman Of this freedom the Lord Jesus is the author. He is the meritorious cause of its being bestowed; the agent of effecting it by His Spirit, and the leader of all who partake of it. It is a freedom of three steps and degrees,

1. It is a deliverance from the rightful power and custody of Satan.

(1) Our bondage, because voluntary, is our crime. Satan does not force, but only draws, and we obey. Hence guilt is contracted, and guilt renders us amenable to the Divine justice. Thus guilt brings us under condemnation, and gives Satan a rightful power and custody over us, as the permitted executioner of the Divine displeasure. Such a power the law gives a jailer over the prisoner under sentence.

(2) This is the state of which we are made aware when convinced of sire Nor can we think of any plea for mitigating or removing the sentence of Divine justice. Finding ourselves in this dilemma, we are prepared for the revelation of Divine mercy. Jesus steps forth as an Almighty Deliverer. We see Him in the gospel offering His life, paying it into the hands of justice as a ransom for the deliverance of sinners. But this deliverance must be sued by us, accompanied with a reference by faith to the great ransom presented. Then it becomes applied, and we are set free.

(3) Our sentence being cancelled, Satan loses his rightful power over us. He retains his vexing, tempting, accusing power; but his right is g, no. By the removal of condemnation we are taken out of his custody for ever (Rom 8:1).

2. It is a deliverance from inbred sin, by means of new and holy tastes, inclinations, and principles. The faith by which we obtain deliverance from guilt and the power of Satan is a holy principle. There is a law in the mind now, stronger than the law of sin in the members, and overcoming its dictates (Rom 8:2).

3. It is a freedom of acting and moving in a noble and elevated condition. The converted person is the Lords freeman. He serves Him in obeying His laws, reverencing His institutions, cherishing His image, cultivating His worship, and promoting His glory. This service is perfect freedom. It is the soul moving in its proper element, and feeling the pleasure which every creature enjoys so moving.

Conclusion:

1. Observe the noble character of Christianity.

2. Those who are partakers of the spiritual freedom of the gospel have three appropriate exercises allotted to them.

(1) They should promote the natural and civil freedom of men, according to the dictates of the gospel, and in its spirit. The genius of the gospel is opposed to bondage and vassalage of every kind.

(2) By teaching men in the highest ranks to be just, they can hold none of their fellow-creatures in slavish and ignominious subjection. The reign of Christianity, therefore, must be productive of liberty.

(3) Anticipate for yourselves the liberty of heaven, and exult in the prospect. Your freedom is here only begun. You shall enter into full redemption. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)

Liberty and slavery

The ideas are antithetical; they therefore explain each other. We cannot understand the liberty spoken of until we understand the bondage, and vice versa. Liberty is not freedom from restraint or authority. No creature is thus free. All rational beings are under the authority of reason and right. And as these are in infinite subjection to God, all creatures are under absolute subjection to Him. And this is the highest liberty. Consider–

I. Mans servile state,

1. In renouncing subjection to God man lost his liberty and became–

(1) The slave of sin. This subjection is bondage because–

(a) It has no right to rule. It does not belong to our normal state, and is inconsistent with the end of being.

(b) It is independent of the will. We cannot throw it off.

(2) The slave of the law. He is under the obligation of satisfying its demands or of bearing its penalty. This–

(a) Is inexorable.

(b) Reveals itself in the conscience.

(c) Produces the slavish spirit–fear and anxious looking for of judgment.

(3) The slave of Satan. We are in his power, subject to his control.

2. This subjection manifests itself in various ways.

(1) It destroys the balance and power of the soul.

(2) Not being subject to God, and being unable to guide itself, it submits to the world and public opinion, and to the priesthood and the Church.

II. Mans free state. Christ is our Redeemer, and the author of our liberty. They only are truly free whom He makes free. He frees us–

1. From condemnation. Until this is done nothing is done. A man in prison under sentence of death must be freed or he cannot be delivered from other evils.

2. From the law or the obligation of fulfilling its demands.

3. From the authority and power of Satan (Heb 2:14-15).

4. From the reigning power of sin.

5. From a slavish spirit.

6. From all undue subjection to men.

(1) By bringing the reason under subjection to His truth we are freed from their authority as to doctrine.

(2) As we are subject to Him alone, as to the conscience, we cannot be subject to any other authority in deciding what is morally right or wrong.

(3) As we have through Him deliverance from condemnation and acceptance with God, we are free from the priesthood.

(4) As all we do is done in obedience to Him, lawful subjection to men is part of our liberty. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

Slaves and free

This remarkable saying occurs in a remarkable connection, and is used for a remarkable purpose. The apostle has been laying down the principle that the effect of true Christianity is greatly to diminish the importance of outward circumstance. Paul says, You will better yourself by getting nearer God, and if you secure that–art thou a slave? care not for it; if thou mayest be free, use it rather. Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed? seek not to be bound. Art thou circumcised? seek not to be uncircumcised. Never mind about externals: the main thing is our relation to Jesus Christ, because in that there is what will be compensation for all the disadvantages of circumstances.

I. First, then, note how, according to the one-half of the antithesis, Christs freed men are slaves. Now the way in which the New Testament deals with that awful wickedness of a man held in bondage by a man is extremely remarkable. It might seem as if such a hideous piece of immorality were altogether incapable of yielding any lessons of good, But the apostles have no hesitation whatever in taking slavery as a clear picture of the relation in which all Christian people stand to Jesus Christ their Lord. He is the owner and we are the slaves. And all the ugly associations which gather round the word are transported bodily into the Christian region, and there, instead of being hideous, take on a shape of beauty, and become expressions of the most blessed truths. And what is the centre idea that lies in this metaphor, if you like to call it so? It is this: absolute authority, which has for its correlative–for the thing in us that answers to it–unconditional submission. Jesus Christ has the perfect right to command each of us, and we are bound to bow ourselves, unreluctant, unmurmuring, unhesitating, with complete submission at His feet. And His authority, and our submission, go far, far deeper than the most despotic sway of the most tyrannous master, or than the most abject submission of the most downtrodden slave. For no man can coerce another mans will, and no man can require more, or can ever get more, than the outward obedience, which may be rendered with the most sullen and fixed rebellion of a hating heart and obstinate will. Absolute submission is not all that makes a disciple, but depend upon it there is no discipleship worth calling by the name without it. Bow your obstinate wills, surrender yourselves and accept Him as absolute, dominant Lord over your whole being! Are you Christians after that pattern? Being freemen, are you Christs slaves? What does it matter what you and I are set to do? Nothing! And so why need we struggle and wear our hearts out to get into conspicuous places, or to do work that shall bring some revenue of praise and glory to ourselves? Play well thy part; there all the honour lies, the world can say. Serve Christ in anything, and it is all alike in His sight. The slave-owner had absolute power of life and death over his dependents. He could split up families; he could sell away dear ones; he could part husband and wife, parent and child. And Jesus Christ, the Lord of the household, the Lord of providence, can say to this one, Go! and he goes into the mists and shadows of death. And He could say to those that are most closely united, Loose your hands! I have need of one of you yonder. I have need of the other one here. And if we are wise, if we are His servants in any real deep sense, we shall not kick against the appointments of His supreme and yet most loving providence. The slave-owner owned all that the slave owned. He gave him a little cottage, with some humble sticks of furniture in it, and a bit of ground on which to grow his vegetables for his family. But he to whom the owner of the vegetables and the stools belonged owned them too. And if we are Christs servants, our bankers book is Christs, and our purse is Christs, and our investments are Christs; and our mills, and our warehouses, and our shops, and our businesses are His. We are not His slaves if we arrogate to ourselves the right of doing what we like with His possessions. And then, still further, there comes into our apostles picture here yet another point of resemblance between slaves and the disciples of Jesus. For what follows my text immediately is, Ye are bought with a price. Jesus Christ has won us for Himself. There is only one price that can buy a heart, and that is a heart. There is only one way of getting a man to be mine, and that is by giving myself to be his. And so we come to the very vital, palpitating centre of all Christianity when we say, He gave Himself for us, that He might acquire to Himself a people for His possession. The one bright point in the hideous institution of slavery was that it bound the master to provide for the slave, and though that was degrading to the inferior, it made his life a careless, childlike, merry life, even amidst the many cruelties and abominations of the system. If I am Christs slave it is His business to take care of His own property, and I do not need to trouble myself much about it.

II. Then there is the other side, about which I must say, secondly, a word or two; and that is, the freedom of Christs slaves. As the text puts it, he that is called, being a servant, is the Lords freedman. A freeman was one who was emancipated, and who therefore stood in a relation of gratitude to his emancipator and patron. So in the very word freedman there is contained the idea of submission to Him who has struck off the fetters. I do not forget how wisdom and truth, and noble aims, and high purposes, and culture of various kinds have, in lower degrees and partially, emancipated men from self and flesh and sin and the world and all the other fetters that bind us. But sure I am that the process is never so completely and so assuredly effected as by the simple way of absolute submission to Jesus Christ, taking Him for the supreme and unconditional Arbiter and Sovereign of a life. If we do that, if we really yield ourselves to Him, in heart and will, in life and conduct, submitting our understanding to His infallible Word, and our wills to His authority, regulating our conduct by His perfect pattern, and in all things seeking to serve Him, and to realise His presence, then be sure of this, we shall be set free from the one real bondage, and that is the bondage of our own wicked selves. There is no such tyranny as mob tyranny; and there is no such slavery as to be ruled by the mob of our own passions and lusts. And that is the only way by which a man can be delivered from the bondage of dependence upon outward things. Christian faith does so, because it brings into a life a sufficient compensation for all losses, limitations, and sorrows, and a good which is the reality of which all earthly goods are but shadows. So the slave may be free in Christ, and the poor man may be rich in Him, and the sad man may be joyful, and the joyful man may be delivered from excess of gladness, and the rich man kept from the temptations and sins of wealth, and the freeman taught to surrender his liberty to the Lord who makes him free. And if we are the servants of Christ we shall be set free, in the measure in which we are His, from the slavery which daily becomes more oppressive as the means of communication become more complete, the slavery to popular opinion, and to men round about us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Freedom through Christ

Freedom! What a word! It has in it the music of the trumpet and psaltery, the harp, the loud cymbals and the high sounding cymbals of heaven and earth!

I. Ambition speaks out boldly. Feeling fettered by our present lot, our poverty, hard toil, obscure position and such like, we indulge the animus of discontent, pine to rise above penury, grinding toil and isolation. Independence affirms that freedom is her legitimate offspring. The boy at home, curbed in many ways, feels under restraint and dreams of liberty. And this spirit of reckless independence belongs to us all. One of our ruling passions is a desire to be our own master–to do as we like–set up on our own account–throw off all Divine control.

II. But some will say, to be free is to be educated. There is but one thing needed, we are told, to roll back the dark cloud of bondage from the race and cause the stars of liberty to stud every mans blue vault, viz., intelligence. Give the people a profound learning, a broad culture, and you give them freedom. All will concede the great blessing of education and the utter impossibility of lifting men up without it. But it must be borne in mind that never yet have a people been made free, m any true sense, by mere intellectual culture, however profound. I appeal to Greece of old, with her high scholarship represented by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and to France in modern history with her Voltaire, Diderot, Beaumarchais, and Rousseau. After all their learning, Greece ended in corruption, and France in the horrors of revolution. Examples we have of men, bound in hand and foot and heart by chains of vice and ill-formed habits, bearing the most crushing yoke of bondage, yet highly educated in the sense in which the term is here used. Julius Caesar was a great scholar, but he borrowed money, which he never paid back, to bribe the people in election times, and he made common traffic of female virtues. Aristotle was profoundly educated, but he classed working men with brutes, and made lewdness in woman excusable so long as she thereby accumulated wealth. Cardinal de Richelieu was one of the brightest intellectual stars of his age, yet he lived an immoral life, being a helpless slave to intemperance and uncleanness. And what are we to say of the defaulters, rogues, impostors, and backsliders from integrity so numerous in our midst and all over the country? Looking at the facts of the case, is it not the wildest absurdity to speak of education as the ultimate source of freedom?

III. Once more, government aspires to be the true liberator of the race. Now it is an absolute monarchy for which the high claim is made, now limited monarchy, now an oligarchy, now a republic. In the name of freedom has every government of earth been set up. From the capitals of all the States and the seats of power of all nations has floated the silken banner of freedom. But oh, how often the breezes that have carried out these folds from the flag-staff have brought to the people themselves a pestilence of corruption, self-seeking, intrigue, and imperialism–bondage in its worst forms!

IV. Over against government, education, ambition, vaunting independence, and every other such thing, I place the declaration of the old sage of Tarsus as the only real source of true freedom: For he that is called of the Lord, being a servant, is the Lords freeman. When a man is called of Jesus Christ into His kingdom as a regenerated soul through the power of the Holy Spirit, such an one is free, has come into possession of that liberty which knows no trammels save what his duty to God and to man puts upon him. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But what is the freedom here taught? First of all, it is from sin. The essential element of all servitude and degradation and bone and heart crushing forces is sin. Here, then, is the first thing from which Jesus Christ gives freedom. But Christ in the soul not only emancipates from the polluting and condemning power of sin, but secures for us the joy and exercise of the highest freedom, notwithstanding the most hampering earthly circumstances. Paul had in mind this thought. He was thinking about what the gospel did even for slaves. In short, Paul says: It makes no difference what your calling is or what your circumstances are; if Christ is in you, you are a free man, and your duty is to serve Him. How this argument rebuts what many affirm, that they cannot be Christians because of their peculiar lot in life; or they cannot serve the Lord because the state of their affairs will not permit them. Some plead poverty as an excuse for not being Christians, or for taking no part in the service of Christ and the work of the Church. Not a few say they have no time for these things. Others again parade the wrong-doing of others, the hindrances placed in their way, it may be, by domestic infelicities. Over against this, the Scriptures declare that the grace of God is sufficient to save us, no matter what our lot or fortune may be, and being saved, we are, therefore, free men in Christ, and hence His servants. Art thou called being a slave–a poor person, a man crushed with cares and toil, a heart-broken husband or wife, mother or father–care nothing for it. Remember that God is greater than adverse circumstances, and He can straighten every one of them and make you free to enjoy and serve Him. Nothing is any more a thraldom when the soul has been born into the light and liberty of the gospel. With this liberty comes the duty of serving the Lord–a duty which is never irksome, but always a glorious delight, as all obligations springing out of a sense of true freedom ever are. He that is called, being free, is Christs servant. My text also involves freedom from all ecclesiastical trammels and sectarian and denominational rigidities. Not that we are to condemn Church forms and laws and observances, but these are not to hamper us in our service of Christ or, in any way, keep us from the largest possible usefulness. Then, too, political freedom is found in Christ. Of one thing I am convinced, remarked a Brahmin, do what we will, oppose it as we may, it is the Christians Bible that will work the regeneration of India. Wise indeed is this confession of the learned Oriental. Applicable to every nation is the thing he says. The Bible is the worlds emancipator. (A. H. Moment.)

In Christ, the servant the Lords freeman: the free man Christs servant

In Christ there is neither bond nor free. It is not what they are with respect to man that is thought of, but what they are with respect to Christ. Thus considered, the servant is the Lords free man, the free man is Christs servant. The apostle speaks to the bond as free. The man who is called being a servant, may remain so. And then in some sense he is still the servant of his earthly master, and in some sense he is not so. His freedom consists in his being Christs. That one thing, while it sets him free from the dominion of sin, and thus brings him into the glorious liberty of the children of God, changes the nature of that service which he pays to his earthly master, and gives the character of liberty to that also. For in reality he has but one master, i.e., the Lord; and the service which he now most dutifully renders to his master on earth, is but a part of the service which he pays to his Master in heaven. It may be still called service from the nature of the work, but it is freedom from the spirit in which it is done. As the servant of man, he once found his work drudgery, and did it unwillingly. But as the Lords freeman, he finds it liberty, and does it with delight. He then served through fear. He now serves through love, and therefore performs every part of his duty better than ever he did. His joy is to approve himself to the Master whose he is, and whom he loves, as well as serves. His service is uniform, because Jesus is always the same, whatever be the changing humour of an earthly master. But now let us pass to him who has been called, being free. Of him it is said, Chat he is Christs servant. He also is reminded that he has a master. In fact, he that is called being a servant, and he that is called being free, are both, after their calling, exactly in the same circumstances. Both are under the law to Christ, and neither of them under the law to man any further than the law of Christ permits. The servant, therefore, is bound no further than the superior will of Christ requires; and so far the free man, when he becomes the servant of Christ, is bound also. He is no longer his own. He has not himself only to please. He has talents committed to him, and he must employ them according to the will of Him who committed them. His time is not to be idled away, nor his health and strength wasted in frivolous employments, nor his substance squandered in selfish gratifications. And these, whether they be professional, or mercantile, or agricultural, are all appointed of God; and by them the servants of Christ, though they serve no one earthly master, serve the public at the command of their Master. Thus those who are not servants to men, are servants to Christ. They have to serve their generation by His will; and they have to receive the law from Him. And now let us endeavour to review the subject in as practical a manner as we may be enabled to do. We have already observed, that to be the servant of Christ, and to be the Lords free man, are one and the same thing. Thus both were the servants of Christ, and both were free, because the service of both was a service of love. A service of love must be a free service, because it is childlike and willing, delighting to do what pleases him whose person is loved, as well as his authority owned. But whence arises this love which makes the servant of Christ thus affectionately dutiful, the free man of the Lord thus willingly laborious? It is faith. The servant of Christ can then only be satisfied when he is conscious of being where he is, and doing what he does, according to the will of Christ. Hence will arise two benefits.

1. It is obvious that this habitual reference to the will of his Lord will very much tend to give him assurance, and to prevent doubts concerning his state. And it is absolutely necessary to this end. It is impossible for a man to hope assuredly who lives negligently. They who habitually acknowledge Christ as a Master will also steadily hope in Him as a Saviour.

2. And as this spirit of obedience, which leads a man habitually to consider himself as Christs servant, is the best evidence of that faith and interest in Christ with which salvation is connected, so it gives a nobleness to every station of life, and every work of man, which is thus conducted. The magistrate on his bench, or even the monarch on his throne, has the most exalted, as well as the most just views of his office, when he considers himself as the minister of God, as the servant of Jesus Christ.

3. Lastly, I may observe, that Christ is too good a Master to let His servants obey Him for nothing. (J. Fawcett.)

Personal Christianity for the bond and the free

Personal Christianity–

I. May be possessed by both bond and free (verse 22). Many slaves were in connection with the Corinthian Church. Naturally enough some would desire their emancipation, and the more so as Christianity gave them a sublime sense of their manhood. Pauls advice is not to be too anxious about their enfranchisement, but rather to be anxious to abide in their calling, their religion. Christianity is for man as man, not for him as bond or free; it comes to him as outward nature comes to him, with equal freeness and fitness for all. The physical, civil, or ecclesiastical condition of a man, therefore, in this life is no excuse for his not becoming a Christian; though bound in chains, his soul is free, and it is with the soul that Christianity has to do. Slaves were members of many of the first Churches, and religion reigned amongst a large number of American slaves.

II. Its possession, whether by the bond or the free, invests man with the highest liberty. He is the Lords freeman, however manacled his bodily limbs. There is no freedom like this from the dominion and consequences of moral wrong–the glorious liberty of the children of God.

III. This highest liberty augments mans obligation to serve Christ (verse 23). No creature owns itself. The highest angel has nothing in him that he can call his own. Man is not merely the property of God on the ground of creatureship, but on the ground of Christs interposition (1Co 6:19). This being the case, however free and independent of men, you must ever serve Christ heartily, faithfully, loyally, and for ever. His service is perfect freedom, it is heaven. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The subordination of love

Slavery is the subordination of one will to another will under the influence of fear; loyalty is the subordination of one will to another will under the inspiration of love. Here are two soldiers: one has been dragged by conscription and put in the army, and fights for fear, because there is a bayonet behind him; and beside him another man who loves his country, his flag, and he courts danger and death for loves sake–fear there, loyalty here. Here are two pupils sitting side by side in school: one afraid of his teacher, with his mind half on his book and half on his sports, eyeing his teacher and dreading the rod–slave, he! at his side another pupil who reveres the teacher, whose ambition it is to be such a scholar as this teacher and such a man as this man is–loyal pupil, he! Subordination to a larger, nobler, diviner will for reverence sake and for loves sake is not slavery; it is the great emancipator of the world. The men who have believed in Divine sovereignty have not been the worlds slaves, they have been the worlds freemen. When a man has a conscience behind his will, and God behind his conscience, no man can put manacles upon his wrists. Submission is not the weak, invertebrate, jellyfish quality that men imagine it to be. Submission to fear is. But submission to love and loyalty is not. Men tell us that if a man yields his will to the sovereign and supreme will of Christ, he will be made gentle, amiable, peaceful, kindly, meek, but the heroic will be taken out of him. Ask history to answer the question. What sort of men were the Scotch Presbyterians? Not famous for meekness and gentleness and invertebrate qualities. What sort of men were the Swiss Calvinists? Not men famous for truckling and letting other people walk over them. What sort of people were the New England Puritans? Men who were strong because their will had behind it the Divine will, and they willed to do the will of Another, A weak will is one thing, and an obedient will is another and a very different thing. To be a Christian is to take the Divine will as your will. (Lyman Abbott.)

Christs freemen

If you are His servants you are free from all besides; if you give yourselves up to Jesus Christ, in the measure in which you give yourselves up to Him, you will be set at liberty from the worst of all slaveries, that is the slavery of your own will and your own weakness, and your own tastes and fancies. You will be set at liberty from the dependence upon men, from thinking about their opinion. You will be set at liberty from your dependence upon externals, from feeling as if you could not live unless you had this, that, or the other person or thing. You will be emancipated from fears and hopes which torture the men who strike their roots no deeper than this visible film of time which floats upon the surface of the great invisible abyss of Eternity. If you have Christ for your Master you will be the masters of the world, and of time and sense and men and all besides; and so, being triumphed over by Him, you will share in His triumph. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men (see on 1Co 6:20).

True freedom

Observe–

I. The import of the apostles counsel. Be not under bondage to men.

1. This excludes–

(1) Slavish fear.

(2) Servility.

(3) Unlawful submission.

2. A servant must maintain his Christian dignity as serving the Lord Christ.

II. The motive by which he enforces it. Christs claim upon us secured by redeeming grace–by the price of blood. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 17. But as God hath distributed to every man, &c.] Let every man fulfil the duties of the state to which God in the course of his providence has called him.

So ordain I in all Churches.] I do not lay on you a burden which others are not called to bear: this is the general rule which, by the authority of God, I impose on every Christian society.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Calling in this place signifieth that station and course of life, wherein by the providence of God any man is set. Some think, that this precept hath a special reference to what went before, as if the sense were this: If God by his providence hath so ordered it that thy heart be changed, thy wifes or thy husbands heart being not yet changed, but he or she remaining pagans, yet let not this cause any separation between you, but, unless the unbeliever will depart, live yet as man and wife together, mutually performing conjugal offices each to other. But the following verses, {1Co 7:21,22} where the apostle speaks of called being a servant, show this interpretation to be too narrow. The sense of the text is, that the profession of Christianity is consistent with any honest calling or course of life, and it is the will of God tliat Christians should not pretend their profession of religion, to excuse them from the duties of any relation wherein they are set.

And so ordain I in all churches; this is a universal rule, and concerned not the church of Corinth only, but all other churches of Christ, being an apostolical constitution.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. ButGreek, “Ifnot.” “Only.” Caution that believers should not makethis direction (1Co 7:16; asALFORD explains it) aground for separating “of themselves” (1Co7:12-14). Or, But if there be no hope of gainingover the unbeliever, still let the general principle be maintained,”As the Lord hath allotted to each, as God hathcalled each, so let him walk” (so the Greek in the oldestreading); let him walk in the path allotted to him and wherein he wascalled. The heavenly calling does not set aside our earthly callings.

so ordain I in allchurchesYe also therefore should obey.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But as God hath distributed to every man,…. This text is so placed, and the words of it so expressed, as that it may have regard both to what goes before, and follows after; it may have respect to every man’s proper gift, whether of continence, or of disposition to marriage, which every man has of God, 1Co 7:7, and accordingly ought to live in a single, or in a married state; or it may refer to the last verse,

what knowest thou, c. and , which we render “but”, be translated either “unless” and then the sense is, thou knowest not, O man or woman, whether thou shalt save thy wife or husband, nor any other, unless God, who distributes his, grace to everyone as he pleases; or else it may be rendered if “not”, and the sense be, if thou shouldst not save thy husband, or thou, man, shouldst not save thy wife; yet “as God hath distributed to every man” his own proper gift, both as to nature and grace; his proper sphere of usefulness, and the station in which he would have him be, and the place he would have him fill up, and the business he must do in life; so let him act, and

as the Lord hath called everyone; which is to be understood of that particular station of life, and those circumstances of it, in which men are providentially placed by God, or are found in when he calls them by his grace; as whether married or unmarried; whether joined to a believer or an unbeliever; whether circumcised or uncircumcised; whether bond or free; a servant or a master; and so may refer to what follows, as well as to what goes before:

so let him walk; contented with his station and kind of life, agreeably to the profession he makes of the Gospel, doing all the good he can to those he is concerned with:

and so ordain I in all churches; the decisions and determinations he had made, in the cases proposed to him about marriage, the rules and orders he had prescribed, what he had given out by way of precept or permission, by command or counsel, or what he was about to deliver, were no other than what he in common enjoined other churches; and therefore they ought not to think that they were used with more strictness and severity than others; and might be induced hereby to attend to what was advised or enjoined, since it was what was common to all the churches.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christian Contentment.

A. D. 57.

      17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.   18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.   19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.   20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.   21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.   22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.   23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.   24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

      Here the apostle takes occasion to advise them to continue in the state and condition in which Christianity found them, and in which they became converts to it. And here,

      I. He lays down this rule in general–as God hath distributed to every one. Note, Our states and circumstances in this world are distributions of divine Providence. This fixes the bounds of men’s habitations, and orders their steps. God setteth up and pulleth down. And again, As the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. Whatever his circumstances or condition was when he was converted to Christianity, let him abide therein, and suit his conversation to it. The rules of Christianity reach every condition. And in every state a man may live so as to be a credit to it. Note, It is the duty of every Christian to suit his behaviour to his condition and the rules of religion, to be content with his lot, and conduct himself in his rank and place as becomes a Christian. The apostle adds that this was a general rule, to be observed at all times and in all places; So ordain I in all churches.

      II. He specifies particular cases; as, 1. That of circumcision. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not be uncircumcised. Is any man called being uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. It matters not whether a man be a Jew or Gentile, within the covenant of peculiarity made with Abraham or without it. He who is converted, being a Jew, has no need to give himself uneasiness upon that head, and wish himself uncircumcised. Nor, is he who is converted from Gentilism under an obligation to be circumcised: nor should he be concerned because he wants that mark of distinction which did heretofore belong to the people of God. For, as the apostle goes on, circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God, v. 19. In point of acceptance with God, it is neither here nor there whether men be circumcised or not. Note, It is practical religion, sincere obedience to the commands of God, on which the gospel lays stress. External observances without internal piety are as nothing. Therefore let every man abide in the calling (the state) wherein he was called, v. 20. 2. That of servitude and freedom. It was common in that age of the world for many to be in a state of slavery, bought and sold for money, and so the property of those who purchased them. “Now,” says the apostle, “art thou called being a servant? Care not for it. Be not over-solicitous about it. It is not inconsistent with thy duty, profession, or hopes, as a Christian. Yet, if thou mayest be made free, use it rather,” v. 21. There are many conveniences in a state of freedom above that of servitude: a man has more power over himself, and more command of his time, and is not under the control of another lord; and therefore liberty is the more eligible state. But men’s outward condition does neither hinder nor promote their acceptance with God. For he that is called being a servant is the Lord’s freed-man—apeleutheros, as he that is called being free is the Lord’s servant. Though he be not discharged from his master’s service, he is freed from the dominion and vassalage of sin. Though he be not enslaved to Christ, yet he is bound to yield himself up wholly to his pleasure and service; and yet that service is perfect freedom. Note, Our comfort and happiness depend on what we are to Christ, not what we are in the world. The goodness of our outward condition does not discharge us from the duties of Christianity, nor the badness of it debar us from Christian privileges. He who is a slave may yet be a Christian freeman; he who is a freeman may yet be Christ’s servant. He is bought with a price, and should not therefore be the servant of man. Not that he must quit the service of his master, or not take all proper measures to please him (this were to contradict the whole scope of the apostle’s discourse); but he must not be so the servant of men but that Christ’s will must be obeyed, and regarded, more than his master’s. He has paid a much dearer price for him, and has a much fuller property in him. He is to be served and obeyed without limitation or reserve. Note, The servants of Christ should be at the absolute command of no other master besides himself, should serve no man, any further than is consistent with their duty to him. No man can serve two masters. Though some understand this passage of persons being bought out of slavery by the bounty and charity of fellow-Christians; and read the passage thus, Have you been redeemed out of slavery with a price? Do not again become enslaved; just as before he had advised that, if in slavery they had any prospect of being made free, they should choose it rather. This meaning the words will bear, but the other seems the more natural. See ch. vi. 20.

      III. He sums up his advice: Let every man wherein he is called abide therein with God, v. 24. This is to be understood of the state wherein a man is converted to Christianity. No man should make his faith or religion an argument to break through any natural or civil obligations. He should quietly and comfortably abide in the condition in which he is; and this he may well do, when he may abide therein with God. Note, The special presence and favour of God are not limited to any outward condition or performance. He may enjoy it who is circumcised; and so may he who is uncircumcised. He who is bound may have it as well as he who is free. In this respect there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, Col. iii. 11. The favour of God is not bound.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Only ( ). This use of as an elliptical condition is very common (1Cor 7:5; Gal 1:7; Gal 1:19; Rom 14:14), “except that” like . Paul gives a general principle as a limitation to what he has just said in verse 15. “It states the general principle which determines these questions about marriage, and this is afterwards illustrated by the cases of circumcision and slavery” (Robertson and Plummer). He has said that there is to be no compulsory slavery between the believer and the disbeliever (the Christian and the pagan). But on the other hand there is to be no reckless abuse of this liberty, no license.

As the Lord hath distributed to each man ( ). Perfect active indicative of , old verb from , apart. Each has his lot from the Lord Jesus, has his call from God. He is not to seek a rupture of the marriage relation if the unbeliever does not ask for it.

And so ordain I ( ). Military term, old word, to arrange in all the churches (distributed, –). Paul is conscious of authoritative leadership as the apostle of Christ to the Gentiles.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

But [ ] . Rev., only. Introducing a limitation to the statement in ver

1Co 7:15There is to be no enslavement, only, to give no excuse for the reckless abuse of this general principle, the normal rule of Christian life is that each one should seek to abide in the position in which God has placed him.

Ordain [] . See on Mt 11:1.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) But as God hath distributed to every man. (ei me hekosto hos memeuiken ho kurios) Only as the Lord, has divided, measured out or distributed to each.

2) As the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. (and) let each walk or continue his course or marital state as when he was called of God, Paul instructed. Paul was not a home-breaker, but a home-helper or builder, Eph 6:1-4.

3) And so ordain I in all churches. (kai houtos en tais ecclesia pasais diatasomai) and thus I instruct or set in order of my own accord in all congregations or churches, Rom 12:1-2.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

17. Unless every one, according as God has dispensed his grace, etc. Such is the literal meaning: only I have in my rendering made use of the nominative, (405) in order that the connection may be more easy and natural. The meaning is: “What, then, is to be done, unless (406) that every one walk according to the grace given to him, and according to his calling? Let every one, therefore, labor for this, and use his endeavor, that he may do good to his neighbors, and, more especially, when he ought to be excited to it by the particular duty of his calling.” He mentions two things — the calling, and the measure of grace These he desires us to look to in deliberating as to this matter; as it ought to be no small stimulus to us to duty, that God condescends to make us ministers of his grace for the salvation of our brethren; while the calling, on the other hand, should hold us, as it were, under God’s yoke, even where an individual feels his situation to be an unpleasant one.

And so in all the Churches. I am of opinion that he added this, with the view of obviating the calumnies of some who boasted that he assumed more authority over the Corinthians than he ventured to do over others. At the same time he might have also another end in view — that this doctrine might have the more weight, when the Corinthians understood that it was already published in all the Churches. For we embrace the more readily what we understand that we have in common with all the pious. The Corinthians, on the other hand, would have felt it hateful to be bound more closely than others.

(405) “Our Author refers to the word ἑκαστος, (every one,) which occurs in the first clause of the verse in the dative case, and in the second clause in the accusative, and in both instances rendered by him in the nominative — unusquisque ( every one.) — Ed

(406) The particles which occur in the original, ἐι μὴ, ( unless,) might in this passage, and in several other instances in the New Testament, (as well as in classical writers,) be rendered only They correspond to the Hebrew particles אם-לא. See Gen 24:38. — Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Butlers Comments

SECTION 3

The Pressures of Marriage (1Co. 7:17-40)

17 Only, let every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18Was any one at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was any one at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20Every one should remain in the state in which he was called.21 Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. 22For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God.

25 Now concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lords mercy is trustworthy. 26I think that in view of the present distress it is well for a person to remain as he Isa. 27:1-13 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek marriage. 28But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it; for the form of this world is passing away.

32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, 34and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. 35I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

36 If any one thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes; let them marryit is no sin. 37But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38So that he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I have the Spirit of God.

1Co. 7:17-24 Discomfiture: Some, after having become Christians, were discomfited about their circumstances. Some were apparently convinced that becoming a Christian meant circumstances should change along with changes in behavior. Paul has just discussed the matter that a marriage should not be broken up just because one spouse has become a Christian and the other has not. Wanting to reinforce this principle, Paul states: Only, let every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Paul does not forbid improving ones circumstances, but he does make it a rule for the church-universal that a Christian is supposed to make the most of his circumstances, whatever they are (unless they are sinful). No violent changes in ones day-by-day circumstances are to be made just because he has become a Christian. The Christian can glorify God in most every circumstance of life. This applies to ones job, marital status, social status, or nationality. These circumstances are said by Paul to be assigned (Gr. emerisen, divided, apportioned) by the Lord. Indeed, the circumstances of our lives are regulated by the providence of God. We are citizens of a particular nation by the providence of God. We are surrounded by opportunities or lack of opportunities by the providence of God. But in whatever circumstance we find ourselves, we are to be content (cf. Php. 4:11 ff.). We are not responsible for our circumstancesbut we are responsible for our attitudes and actions within those circumstances. It is often a temptation for the new Christian to make violent changes in his circumstances or surroundings. He may want to quit his job, move from his neighborhood, break away from his social circle, and try to make a whole new set of circumstancesa whole new life for himself. But God wants the believer to be a believer in spite of and surrounded by his assigned circumstances. Paul states a number of analogies in order to illustrate his principle.

Strange as it may seem, some of the Jews in Corinth who had become Christians thought they should have the mark of circumcision removed. Jews who wanted to copy Greek ways in the Maccabean era instituted a process for removing the appearance of circumcision (see 1Ma. 1:15; Josephus, Antiquities, 12:5:1). Others in Corinth, Christian Gentiles, thought they should submit to the rite of circumcision. The Judaizers in the earliest days of the church tried to make circumcision a dogma to be obeyed by everyone wishing to become a Christian (cf. Php. 3:2; Act. 15:1 ff.). Circumcision and uncircumcision are used frequently to symbolize Jewish and Gentile cultural habits. That may even be the case here. Paul certainly practiced many Jewish mores himself as a Christian. He did not violently renounce his Jewishness when he became a Christian. One should not divest himself of his nationality, his culture, or his physical circumstances (so long as they are not sinful) when he becomes a Christian. In whatever circumstance one is when called by the gospel to become a Christianlet him remain.

Again, if man finds himself in the circumstances of slavery when he responds to the gospel and becomes a Christian, he is not to take any violent or socially-destructive means to change his circumstances. Christianity stands for civil order. It does not condone anarchy in any form or for any reason. Jesus, under Roman rule, said: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods. Peter wrote, Be subject for the Lords sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong . . . (1Pe. 2:13-14). Read what Paul said in Rom. 13:1-7; remember the examples of Daniel, Nehemiah, and Esther; see what God said to the Jewish prisoners of war in Jer. 29:1-8. Of course the Bible teaches by precept that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. God never intended that any man should be exploited or enslaved by another. But then God never intended that any man should live in a society that worships sacred cows and monkeys while millions of people starve to death. Yet, in slavery or freedom, in poverty or plenty, every mans first responsibility is to obey the gospel. Circumstances are irrelevant to faith and love for God. Paul says never mind about circumstances. The Greek phrase could be translated, It must not matter to you what your circumstances are.

Some commentators hold that the Greek sentence (1Co. 7:21 b) all ei kai dunassai eleutheros genesthai, mallon chresai, should be translated: And even if you become able to be free, rather remain as you are and use it. Others hold the translation should be: But if you become able to be free, use the opportunity and become free. Since either translation might fit the grammatical construction, we must beware of being dogmatic as to its interpretation. On the one hand, the immediate context seems to demand the meaning: Even if a Christian slave has an opportunity to become a free man he should remain a slave and make use of that lot in life to serve God. On the other hand, the overall context of Christian morality would seem to demand the meaning: And every Christian slave who has an opportunity to become a free man should avail himself of this opportunity to use in the service of Christ. Paul certainly would not advocate any Christian slave running away from his master or using violent means to obtain freedom. Paul personally sent a runaway slave (Onesimus) back to his master (Philemon). But in this case both the master and the slave were Christians and Paul exhorted such brotherhood as would practically erase the distinction between slave and master. Paul did not usurp Philemons right to have his bondservant returned to his service. Wilbur Fields says in his commentary on Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, (College Press), As Christians, we have come so far in our revulsion against slavery that Pauls attention to Philemons legal rights as master seems to us more a violation of Onesimus greater right to be free than a necessary preservation of Philemons rights. The Christian should read the following on slavery (Deu. 23:15-16; Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:22-25; Col. 4:1; Tit. 2:9-10; 1Ti. 6:1-2; Eph. 6:5-9; and the entire book of Philemon). We should attempt to keep our subjective feelings about slavery at a minimum in trying to decide what Paul meant here. Paul is emphatic about the principle, Every one should remain in the state in which he was called. He repeats it three times (1Co. 7:17; 1Co. 7:20; 1Co. 7:24)! 1Co. 7:22 seems to reinforce this principle. But our interpretation of 1Co. 7:22 will depend on our interpretation of 1Co. 7:21. What Paul seems to be saying in all this is what we have said at the outset: God wants the believer to be a believer in spite of and surrounded by his assigned circumstances. Whether a Christian is a bondservant or a freeman makes no differencelet him remain there with God (1Co. 7:24).

Any person who becomes a Christian while a slave is set free from the bondage of sin by Christ. This is the only freedom that really matters for eternity. And any person who becomes a Christian while a freeman is in bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ and has no spiritual rights of his own. Christians belong to Jesus as purchased slaves. He is their Master. They are to do what Christ commands; they are to serve Christ. Christians are not to surrender control of their minds or actions to anyone but Jesus. Christ is the Christians only Master (see 1Co. 6:20). Paul is referring to the Christians need to keep from letting some external circumstance or some threat of a fellow man usurp the right of Christ to absolute ownership.

Biblical history documents a number of examples of men and women who served God in spite of difficult circumstances. Joseph, sold in slavery, unjustly imprisoned, became second ruler in Egypt; Daniel, taken to Babylon as a prisoner of war, became third ruler in Babylon and, later, in Persia; Esther, a maiden among the exiled Jews, became queen of Persia; Mordecai, Esthers uncle, became a minister of the Persian government; Nehemiah, also of the Jewish exiles, became the kings cupbearer. It is also significant that neither John the Baptist nor Jesus insisted that people change their occupations (soldiers and tax-collectors), residences or cultural traditions (so long as they were not sinful) as a requirement for discipleship. Peter did not require Cornelius to resign his commission as an officer (centurion) in the Roman army to become a Christian; Paul did not require Sergius Paulus (Act. 13:1-52) nor the Philippian jailor (Act. 16:1-40) to change their circumstances when they became Christians.

We must not miss the fact that the main subject being discussed by Paul in this context is marriage. He is stating a general principle and citing various areas of applicationbut the main application is to marriage. If a person becomes a Christian while married to an unbeliever, the new Christian is not to seek dissolution of the marriage. The Christian is free from such a marriage only if the unbeliever divorces the Christian. Paul suggests that by keeping the marriage intact, the believer is able to have such sanctified influence on both unbelieving spouse and any children to the marriage there exists the best possibility of turning the whole family to Christ. Biblical examples might be cited for this principle: Joseph married an Egyptian priests daughter (Gen. 41:45), retaining his strong faith and bringing up his children in the faith: Boaz married Ruth who was a Moabitess, and she became an ancestress of Christ; Rahab, a Canaanite harlot, married an Israelite (Salmon, Mat. 1:5), and became an ancestress of Christ; Esther, a Jewess, married a heathen emperor, and saved her people. Believers do not seek to reform individuals by social upheaval; they seek to reform society by converting individuals to Christ!

1Co. 7:25-31 Distress: This paragraph plainly states Pauls primary purpose for advocating that it is well for the unmarried and the widows to remain single as he did (1Co. 7:8). His primary purpose is not that celibacy is spiritually superior to marriage. Celibacy was enjoined in this apostolic reply to the Christians at Corinth in 5657 A.D. because of the stress-laden circumstances coming upon Christians in the latter half of the first century. Persecution of Christians under Nero had already begun in 54 A.D. These persecutions continued for forty more years until they reached an intensity in 8196 A.D. under Domitian that saw hundreds of thousands of Christians die. Simply because they were Christians, and would not worship the Roman emperor, people from all across the Roman empire were hunted down as conspirators and seditionists, enslaved and worked to death in mines and on galley-ships, starved to death by social ostracization, and slain by the thousands in gladitorial games in Roman arenas. Practically all the writers of the New Testament predicted the fiery ordeal that was about to come (indeed, had already begun) upon first and second century Christians. Paul predicted the Jewish persecution, the destruction of Judaism, and the consequent distress upon Christians in Hebrews chapter 10, in II Thessalonians chapter 2, and in 1Ti. 4:1-5; 2Ti. 4:1-8. Peter predicted it in 1Pe. 4:12-19. John predicted and described it in Revelation chapters 1 through Rev. 20:6 (see Twenty-Six Lessons on Revelation, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press).

Paul addresses those who had never been married in 1Co. 7:25. He uses the Greek word parthenon (almost always translated virgin) translated unmarried in the RSV. Paul says there is no specific commandment of the Lord for his emphasis on celibacy. He gives his judgment (Gr. gnomen, understanding, mind) as one by the Lords mercy appointed as trustworthy. Judgment is a better translation than opinion (RSV), and Paul is giving a judgment which should be heeded because the Lord has declared him trustworthy. It is apostolic advicenot apostolic commandmentwhich his Corinthian audience, especially, would well have practiced. He had wisdom and revelation about their coming fiery ordeal which they did not have.

The phrase impending distress (Gr. enestosan anagken) might well be translated present distress (as in KJV). The Greek word enestosan is a perfect participlea combination of en and histemi. It could be translated imminent, right here, or at hand. Paul was not talking of the end of the world. He had already cautioned the Thessalonians not to think of the Second Coming of Christ in connection with the impending distress coming upon first and second century Christians (2Th. 2:1-12). Paul is suggesting unusual life-styles in view of imminently unusual circumstances much in the same way Jesus warned his disciples about their reactions to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. (Mat. 24:1-34; Luk. 21:1-33; Mar. 13:1-31; see The Gospel of Luke, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press). Pauls understanding in the matter of marriage was that in view of the imminent stresses or pressures (Gr. anagke) a first century Christian should remain in whatever marital state he was. If the Christian was married, he should not seek to be free; if the Christian was not married, he should not seek to be married. That was wise advice for the exegencies of those times (or any similar times afterward), but only if the Christian is able to exercise sexual self-control (1Co. 7:2; 1Co. 7:9; 1Co. 7:36).

In 1Co. 7:28 Paul reassures the Corinthians that marriage is not a sinnot even if it is done against his wise advice about the imminent distress to come upon Christians. He goes on to point out that the distress to come will, of necessity, intensify the focus of married people on things of the world and perhaps divert their priorities away from pleasing the Lord. Those who went against Pauls wisdom and married were going to have worldly (Gr. sarki, fleshly, physical) troubles. They would have to worry about another mouth to feed when as Christians they would be forced to starve; they would worry about seeing a beloved mate or child tortured to death in the arena. These anxieties and many others would constantly plague Christians during the great tribulation period of Roman persecution. Paul was trying to keep Christians from having to bear such burdens. The apostle reiterates that the imminent distress has grown very near. The Greek participle sunestalmenous is a perfect tense verb combined of two words, sun (together) and sustello (draw, contract, compact, tighten). The time of distress of which he had spoken earlier was almost there.

Paul now gives admonitions directing attitudes and behavior in anticipation of the stressful times coming upon the Corinthian Christians. First, those who were married were to make certain their first priority was serving the Lord. The married Christians would have to prepare themselves to deny the very strong temptation to compromise their faith in Christ should harm be threatened toward a spouse or child. Paul is not saying that in times of persecution married people should neglect domestic duties or the responsibilities of marriage. He has just admonished married Christians not to neglect conjugal responsibilities (1Co. 7:3-5). He wrote to Timothy (1Ti. 5:8) that anyone who does not provide for his own family has denied the faith and is worse than a heathen. Second, Christians must have the attitude that they will not mourn the loss of earthly things. They are not even to grieve the loss of loved ones as others do who have no hope (1Th. 4:13). Paul reported that some Christians joyfully accepted the plundering of their property (Heb. 10:32-34). The apostle John predicted how the pagan world would mourn the loss of material wealth at the destruction of the Roman empire (Rev. 18:9-19). Third, Christians who might have occasion to rejoice in earthly circumstances should not do so, but should remember that worldly pleasures are transitory (see 2Co. 4:16-18; 1Ti. 6:6-19). Fourth, those who make purchases should not do so merely to accumulate things. Whatever is purchased is only acquired in order to be used up in serving the Lord. Only that which is done to serve Christ will last for eternity. The Greek word katechontes would make the phrase read, let those who buy be as those who do not consider their purchases as their possessions. Such earthly goods as a man has are not histhey are a trust, a stewardship from the real Owner of all things. Fifth, let those who use this world, use it sparingly. So long as Christians are residing in this world they must necessarily use certain parts of this world. They must eat to maintain the physical body, they must clothe that body, and there are certain earthly institutions with which they must be associated, but Christians are not to use this world any more than they have to while they serve God. The Greek word katachromenoi means, much use, over use, using to the utmost. Christians are to consider themselves just pilgrims or temporary residents of this world. The Christians permanent dwelling place is not here. He is not to settle down herenot to find security here. J. B. Phillips paraphrases, . . . indeed their every contact with the world must be as light as possible . . . .

The reason for these five admonitions is this world is programmed for destruction. The word form (RSV) in the Greek text is schema; it is the word from which we get the English word schematic. It means, a plan, an outline, a blueprint, a design. Everything in this present existence is designed to pass away. Even the institution of marriage is designed for this world only (Mat. 22:30). Men and women should not get so attached to anything in this cosmic (Gr. kosmos, world-order) scheme of things, not even to marriage, that they cannot serve God without compromise. Not only is this world programmed to pass awayit is presently doing so. The Greek verb paragei (passing away) is present tense meaning action is presently going on. This agrees with Pauls statement in 2Co. 4:16-18 that the outer nature (the physical) is wasting away while the inner nature (spiritual) of the Christian is being renewed every day. It is the invisible, spiritual nature that is permanentthe physical is transitory.

1Co. 7:32-35 Deviation: The pressures of marriage, especially in distressing times of social upheaval, might make some Christians deviate from giving first priority to the Lords will in their lives. Pauls desire in setting forth his wisdom about celibacy is that the Corinthian Christians not yet married may keep themselves free from divided loyalties. The word translated anxieties is amerimnous in Greek and means literally, not divided in mind.

The unmarried man separates his mind from other things and gives it to the things of the Lord. He is under no obligation to provide sustenance, safety and security for a wife. The unmarried man may concentrate all his faculties on being acceptable to the Lord. But the married man separates his mind from the Lords service in order to concentrate on physical things that he may acceptably fulfill his obligations to his wifeand divided he is. The Greek phrase kai memeristai is translated by the RSV as connected to 1Co. 7:33, and his interests are divided. The best and most ancient Greek manuscripts indicate this translation is to be preferred over the KJV which translates it, There is difference also between a wife and a virgin making it the beginning sentence of 1Co. 7:34.

The same attitudes may be found in the unmarried woman and the virgin (note: Paul distinguishes between the unmarried and the virgin; the unmarried probably referring to widows and women whose unbelieving husbands have divorced them; the virgin referring to those who had not yet been married). Unmarried women separate themselves unto the Lord, dedicating both body and spirit to Christ; but the married woman has to concentrate on many physical things in order to fulfill her marital obligations. There is nothing necessarily sinful in fulfilling ones marital commitments. Paul even exhorted husbands and wives to do so (1Co. 7:3-7). But, he warned, stressful circumstances will always tend to intensify the temptation for a Christian married person to let priorities be diverted from the spiritual and focused on the physical. Martha (probably the wife of Simon the leper, see Mat. 26:6-12; Mar. 14:3) was distracted with much serving (Luk. 10:40), while Mary, the unmarried sister, sat at the feet of Jesus and chose the best part, (see Luk. 10:38-42).

So Pauls advice to these Corinthians, is, if they were presently unmarried (whether widowed, divorced or virginal), do not seek to be married. Pauls advice was for their own benefit. He had nothing to gain from thus advising them. Neither did he intend to restrict their freedom to make their own choice by claiming any personal authority over these Corinthian Christians. The English word restraint is from the Greek word brochon which literally describes a noose, a slipknot, a halter, by which animals were caught and tethered. They are not to think they are tied to Pauls advice. But if they are wise and if they want what is well-planned or in good form (Gr. euschemon), and if they want to be in a position to give unencumbered (Gr. aperispastows, undistracted, undivided) devotion to the Lord, they will do as Paul advises.

Consider how dangerous it would be to marry, just for the sake of appearances, someone whose idea of loyalty to Christ is not your own! God did not create us for marriage at any price! Paul gives three advantages of celibacy: (a) Freedom from troubles due to distressing times; (b) relief from anxiety about the things of the world on which a bread-winner must necessarily concentrate; (c) freedom from distractions in order to serve the Lord more fully and intently. These three attitudes may be achieved whether married or unmarried, of course, but with much less difficulty and with more time for the Lord when not marriedespecially if there are times of social distress like war, persecution, economic depression, etc. Remember, God forbade the prophet Jeremiah to marry (Jer. 16:1-4) because of the distressing times in which he lived.

1Co. 7:36-40 Postscript: In these verses, the apostles make a brief summary of this whole dissertation on marriage in view of imminent distress.

The RSV has done an injustice to 1Co. 7:36 in its translation. First, the Greek word parthenon should be translated virgin, and not betrothed. The Greek word used specifically for betrothed is mnesteuo and is found in Mat. 1:18; Luk. 1:27; Luk. 2:5. Second, the Greek phrase, ean e juperakmos, should be translated, if she is past the apex of her puberty or as the KJV translates it, if she pass the flower of her age. The Greek word huperakmos is a combined word; from huper, meaning, beyond, and akme (English, acme), meaning, apex, highest point of anything, full bloom of the flower.

While the RSV translation makes it appear Paul is directing this last advice toward a young man acting in an unseemly manner (Gr. aschemonein, again the word is a derivative of schema, meaning, not according to design or plan) toward the young lady to whom he is betrothed, the better translation would have Paul advising fathers in their attitudes toward virgin daughters well past the age of puberty. Young ladies of that age might be placed in great danger of succumbing to temptation to fulfill strong sexual urges illicitly should their fathers not permit them to marry.

Marriage customs of that century forbade the young maiden to make any arrangements for marrying a man. She could not even agree to marry a man without her fathers approval. It was understood in that culture that the father made all the choices of a marriage partner for his daughter and all the arrangements. If the father said she could not marryshe could not marry! Paul is directing his trustworthy advice toward Christian fathers with daughters of marriageable age, who have reached sexual maturity and, perhaps, have shown signs of sexual desire about to get out of control (see 1Co. 7:37).

The RSV translates the latter half of 1Co. 7:36, . . . if his passions are strong . . . but the Greek text does not have a pronoun in this phraseit has a 3rd person, singular, present subjunctive form of the verb, is, or, to be. The pronoun is merely understood. It could just as well be understood to be her as it could be his. We believe 1Co. 7:36 should read, in its entirety, thus: If any father thinks he is behaving in any unseemly manner toward his virgin daughter, if she is in (present tense verb) the age of sexual desire, and the man (father) thinks she ought to marry, let the father do as he wishes; the father does not sin if he gives her to marry (Gr. gameitosan, give in marriage) a man. This certainly fits the following verses more accurately.

The father who is firmly established in his mind (Gr. kardia, heart), is under no necessity, for his wishes in this matter are under his own authority. If the father decides in his own mind to keep his virgin daughter from marrying, he will do well. The Greek words thelematos (will) and exousian (authority) should not be translated, as the RSV does, as desire and control. The RSV implies in its translation that Paul is talking about sexual desires under control, but Paul is really talking about a fathers will or choice about his marriageable daughter being within his own authority and not someone elses.

1Co. 7:38 should be translated, So the man (father) who gives his virgin daughter in marriage (Gr. gamizon) does well, and the man (father) who does not give in marriage (Gr. ho me gamizon) will do better.

The apostles final word on marriage is that Christians are to strive for Gods highest ideal. That ideal is one man and one woman married until death separates them (see Mat. 19:1-9). This was Gods ideal from the beginning of creation. But because man rebels against God and Gods ideals, a lesser ethic must be enforced upon rebels. Laws of divorcement may be written to protect those who are divorced against their will. However, for Christians, God expects his ideal to be lovingly chosen, and practiced.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. The Greek verb dedetai (bound) is in the perfect tense and means that once bound, that binding is to continue. If the husband dies (Gr. koimethe, sleeps), the Christian woman is free to be married to whom she wishes, only (Gr. monon) in the Lord. Paul has already (1Co. 7:10-16) discussed the hardships in a marriage where one person is a believer and the other an unbeliever. Now he insists that when a Christian woman (and it would also apply to a man) loses her spouse in death, she ought to limit her freedom to remarry to spiritual considerations. She should marry only a Christian. For a Christian to step into any relationship outside the will of God is not only to involve oneself in tragedy, and to jeopardize ones soul, but perhaps to bring sorrow into the whole Christian community and into the lives of a generation yet to be born. Christians are not to be mismated with unbelievers in any venture in life (2Co. 6:14-18; 2Co. 7:1). In Pauls instructions to Timothy about the conduct of Christian widows (1Ti. 5:9-16) he urged the younger widows to marry. But Paul qualifies even that instruction with this answer to the Corinthians. It is better to remain single if marriage outside the will of God is contemplated.

To sum up, Paul answers the questions of the Corinthian Christians, who are facing imminent distress, that it would be better for those spiritually strong who, by the grace of God, have their sexual drive under control to remain unmarried. All others should marry. They should marry in the Lord. If a Christians unbelieving spouse divorces her she is free (to remarry) and if a Christians spouse dies, she is free. The married life is the norm. Celibacy is the exception, and in no way superior to marriage.

In all he wrote here to the Corinthians, Paul claims to have the approval of the Holy Spirit. The following comment on 1Co. 7:40 is good:

He wanted to assure the Corinthians that he was not speaking from human bias and prejudice. That this danger existed is proved by the number of modern Christians who have accused him of just this vice. I think is probably to be taken as meiosis, a figure of speech which emphasizes something by saying less than is meant. Paul believed that his advice had been given under the guidance of the Spirit of God. This does not mean that it was advice for all people in all times. Under other circumstances wise and spiritual men have differed radically from the advice given in this chapter. It does mean that his advice was best under the circumstances then existing. The one point of permanent validity must not be overlooked. The decisions of Christians in all spheres of life should be made in the light of their primary devotion to God in Christ Jesus. If Christians in all ages would make their decisions in view of that which would be most helpful for them in serving the Lord, there would be fewer mistakes to regret.

Commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians, pg. 126, by Fred Fisher, pub. Word Books, 1975

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(17) But as God hath distributed . . .Regarding 1Co. 7:16 as a kind of parenthesis, these words follow on from 1Co. 7:15 as a general principle to be ever borne in mind, as limiting in practice the very broad liberty which the Apostle has given regarding separation in cases of mixed marriages. It is to be noticed that in 1Co. 7:15 the unbelieving partner is the only one who is spoken of as taking an active part in the separation; the believer is, merely for the sake of peace, to acquiesce in it; he is never to cause or promote a separation, for he is to be guided by the great principle that we are to continue to walk in those social and political relations by which we were bound when God called us. Christianity does not destroy them, but purifies and exalts them, and thus makes them more binding on us than before. According as the Lord has divided to each man his portion in life, and as God has called each man, so in that condition let him continue to walk as a Christian. Let him not try to change it for another. The words God and Lord have been transposed by later copyists. The order in the English version is different from that in the older MSS. It is important to preserve the accurate reading here, for it speaks of Christthe Lordas the one who allots to men their natural condition in life, while God calls them from heathenism to the Christian faith.

And so ordain I in all churches.This principle was of universal application, and the Apostle lays it down authoritatively for all Churches. The I is emphatic, as the writer speaks with apostolic authority. It is noticeable that in some few later MSS. there is an attempt to weaken its force by the substitution of I teach for I appoint or direct. (See 1Co. 16:1.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

17. Distributed Allotted. This new Christianity does not intend, as some aspiring spirits are inclined to fancy, to break up the order of society, but rather to make every man stay where he is, and perform the duties of his place in the very best way. Nay, it considers every man’s position rather a providential allotment, a calling which he should retain and adorn. And this maxim Paul now enforces, both by illustration and repetition. 1Co 7:20; 1Co 7:24.

Ordain I Implying that an apostle possesses authority to supplement the ordinances of Christ.

All churches So that the Corinthians need not feel themselves specially burdened by this injunction. It is the law for universal Christianity.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him continue to walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.’

Here the position in which each man finds himself when he is ‘called’ is seen as God’s previous distribution to him within His general purposes. Thus he may accept his lot and continue to walk in that way. It will in no way affect his spiritual position before God, as long as it does not interfere with his personal obedience to God’s commands..

The purpose here is not to restrict them to a particular station in life but to show them that from a spiritual point of view their station in life is unimportant. They need not be desperate to get out of it. But he is not saying that they should not get out of it if the opportunity arises. (Just as earlier the unmarried can marry or not as they see best before God).

‘And so I ordain in all the churches.’ He wants the Corinthians to know that he is not restricting them more than he does the other churches. He treats all the same and requires the same of all. Furthermore he may have hoped that this would be an encouragement to them as they felt themselves acting in unison with their Christian brothers.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Christians Need Not Feel Compelled to Leave the State in Which They Were When They Were Called (7:17-24).

Paul now stresses that from a spiritual point of view Christians need not worry about their earthly state and position as it does not affect their spiritual position before God. From a spiritual point of view it is irrelevant. Neither having been married to an unbeliever nor being circumcised nor being uncircumcised nor being a slave affects them in God’s eyes. He agrees that if a slave has the chance of freedom he should take it. But although it may be greatly to his physical benefit, it is not necessary for his spiritual benefit, because God sees all men as free.

This principle of remaining in the state in which they were before they were converted is echoed throughout the chapter. The point is that becoming a Christian need not change status in life, nor will current status put the Christian at a disadvantage as a Christian. What basically matters is the state of the heart towards God.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Co 7:17 . ] is meant, according to Grotius, to introduce an exception from the : “Illud quidem, quod dixi, non scis,. sed hoc debes scire ;” or, more exactly, since is not the same as (see on Gal 1:7 ): Nothing but the duty dost thou know , etc. Comp my 3d edition. But this mode of joining on the verse is very harsh and forced in itself, and is, besides, unsuitable for this reason, that 1Co 7:16 was only a subordinate thought, to which . . [1150] as a newly introduced leading idea stands in no logical nexus. The logical connection of , nisi , etc., is, on the contrary, to be sought in the leading thought of the foregoing passage, which was . . [1151] This was enunciated without any limitation being put upon it hitherto. It was further confirmed in 1Co 7:16 . Paul desires now, in order to avert all frivolous and reckless procedure, to add to it the necessary limitation in the shape of a general principle of a practical kind, which should never be forgotten in connection with it. [1152] We may paraphrase accordingly somewhat in this fashion: “ The believer is not in bondage in this matter, having, on the contrary, been called in peace, and not so much as knowing whether he shall save his non-believing consort; he is not in bondage, only [1153] he is not to use this freedom in a light and regardless way, but to remember that it is limited by the rule that every one ought to abide in a conservative spirit by the position in which God has placed and called him, and to conduct himself accordingly, instead of possibly seeking to break it up without any very pressing cause ” Comp as in substance agreeing with this, Olshausen, de Wette, Osiander, Ewald, Maier. Pott holds that should be supplied after ; but the antithesis would require , and the rule which follows would be very superfluous in a case where no separation had taken place, more especially after 1Co 7:12 f. Vater and Rckert supply : “But even if thou shouldst not, the general rule applies in every case.” Were that correct, we should of necessity find . Lastly, there is the view of those who would join to the preceding clause ( in Theophylact, Knatchbull, Homberg, Hammond, Olearius, Morus, and recently Hofmann): if thou shalt save thy wife, if (or) not ? [1155] Now this is not, indeed, excluded by the (as Rckert thinks, who requires ; but see Hartung, Partikell . II. p. 123); still the addition would be quite inappropriate to the sense of the two questions, for these convey the idea: thou knowest not at all if , etc., with which the alternative necne does not harmonize, on which ground, too, Hofmann makes 1Co 7:16 to be the concluding confirmation of the whole admonition beginning with in 1Co 7:12 . This, again, is impossible, for this reason, that the first part of the counsel given to the has already received its confirmation in the of 1Co 7:14 , and in accordance therewith the of 1Co 7:16 must now refer in the way of confirmation only to the second part of the said counsel, as contained in 1Co 7:15 . Hofmann’s interpretation is in the most complicated opposition to the plan and development of the postle’s argument. Rinck, in his Lucubr. crit. p. 142 f. (and o previously Theodoret), connects from on to with the preceding passage: “nescis enim, an salvum eum facturus sis, nisi prout quemque Dominus adjuverit.” But . . . and . . . are manifestly parallel, and, as such, contain not a frigid repetition (Rinck), but an earnest exhaustion of the thought.

] the same as ., but with emphasis on the . Comp 1Co 3:5 , 1Co 10:16 ; Rom 12:3 . As the Lord (God) hath apportioned to each (has bestowed his outward lot), as ( i.e. , 1Co 7:20 ) God hath called each (to he Messiah’s kingdom), so let him walk, i.e. according to the standard of this outward position (without seeking, therefore,) break with it or step out from it, 1Co 7:20 ; 1Co 7:24 ) let him regulate is conduct, his course of life. , has given his portion (Polybius, xxxi. 18. 3, xi. 28. 9; Sir 45:20 ; 2Ma 8:28 ; 4Ma 13:18 ), refers to the earthly relations of life, according to which, e.g. , a man may be married to this person or that (and it is to this relationship that the primary application is to be made), may be circumcised or uncircumcised, a slave or free, [1157] etc. See 1Co 7:18 ff. These relationships of life are here regarded as a whole, out of which each individual has received his from God ( , Lucian, D. D. xxiv. 1), in accordance with the varying modes ( ) of the divine apportionment. Comp the classical , sors attributa . We have neither to supply (Hofmann), nor anything else. What the Lord has apportioned is just the , which each man has. Reiche, Comm. crit. I. p. 175 ff., understands in the theocratic-Messianic sense, and makes refer to Christ : “in qua vitae externae sorte ac statu ( , conf. 1Co 7:18 ) cuique Dominus beneficiorum suorum quasi partem tribuit .” According to this, what would be meant would be the (Col 1:12 ), which, however, refers to the bliss of the future , and would require, therefore, to be understood here proleptically . But there are two consideration which put a decided negative upon this view; first, the reference assumed for the absolute . is not suggested by the context, (see, on the contrary, 1Co 7:18 ff.); and, in the second place, logically the calling must go first , since before it there can be no mention of the Messianic (Rom 8:30 ; Rom 10:14 ; Col 1:12 ). This holds also against the essentially similar interpretation of Harless, which co-ordinates . with the calling.

] a completed transaction continuing to the present in its results, hence the perfect ; the aorist ., on the other hand, indicate something merely which took place as an act of the past , and this act occurred before the , at birth, or some other point in life.

. . [1159] ] showing the importance of this rule, which Paul is not by any means laying down simply with a view to the special state of things at Corinth , but, etc., , Theophylact.

.] I ordain, appoint , 1Co 11:34 , 1Co 16:1 . Observe the evidence here of apostolic power over the church.

[1150] . . . .

[1151] . . . .

[1152] Paul had doubtless ground enough in the rich experience of his career for giving this warning. How often in the cases of conversion to Christianity must the deep inward change have had linked to it a yearning after some change of outward relationships! an offence against the practical rule: “ Qua positus fueris, in statione mane ” (Ovid, Fasti , ii. 674), which Paul here gives expression to in a Christian form.

[1153] Respecting in the sense of , see Poppo, ad Thuc. III. 1, p. 216; and respecting the principal sentence annexed to it, Buttmann, neut. Gram. p. 308 [E. T. 359].

[1155] Hence the reading it in more recent codd. Severianus in Oecumenius, Chrysostom, ms. Syr. p. on the margin.

[1157] The call of the individuals to salvation took place in these differently apportioned positions and relationships in life. Hence the takes precedence of the . Hofmann is wrong in holding that the might lie on this side or on that of the calling, and might consist even in a change of the situation in which they had been when called. This mistake should have been precluded even what follows, which always starts from those circumstances alone which subsisted at the time of the calling ; see vv. 18, 21, 24.

[1159] . . . .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

Ver. 17. But God hath distributed ] In case you should not save your yoke fellow, yet keep your station, be content with your condition, and adorn it, 1Pe 3:1-2 . It is the duty of a Christian (said Luther) to believe things invisible, to hope for things deferred, and to love God when he shows himself contrary to us.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

17. ] takes an exception, by way of caution, to the foregoing motive for not remaining together ( 1Co 7:16 ). The Christian partner might carry that motive too far , and be tempted by it to break the connexion on his own part ; a course already prohibited ( 1Co 7:12-14 ). Therefore the Apostle adds, But (q. d. only be careful not to make this a ground for yourselves causing the separation) as to each ( . = ., reff.) the Lord distributed (his lot), as (i.e. , 1Co 7:20 ) God has called each, so (in that state, without change) let him walk (reff.). The has raised considerable difficulties. (1) some cursives, with syr-marg and Sevrn., read , ; and Knatchbull, al., join similarly to the foregoing; . , . But as De W. remarks, this would be, as Mat 22:17 , : and then we should have the strictly parallel clauses of 1Co 7:16 rendered unequal, by an appendage being attached to the second, which the first has not: besides that 1Co 7:17 would be disjoined altogether. (2) Pott would supply , Mosheim, Vater, and Rckert, , after . But so, to say nothing of the irrelevancy of the idea thus introduced, , or (as Meyer), would be required. (3) Theodoret, al., join all as far as to the foregoing: ‘ What knowest thou, &c., except in so far as the Lord has apportioned to each ?’ But thus the evidently parallel members, . . ., and . . ., would be separated, and a repetition occasioned which, except in the case of intended parallelism, would be alien from St. Paul’s habit of writing.

. . ] , . Theophyl.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Co 7:17-24 . 22. GOD’S CALLING AND ONE’S EARTHLY STATION. In treating of questions relating to marriage, the Apostle’s general advice admitting of large exceptions (1Co 7:2 ; 1Co 7:9 ; 1Co 7:15 ) had been that each, whether single or married, should be content with his present state ( 1Co 7:1 ; 1Co 7:8 ; 1Co 7:10-14 ; 1Co 7:27 ). The Christian revolution had excited in some minds a morbid restlessness and eagerness for change, which disturbed domestic relations ( cf. Mat 10:36 ), but was not confined thereto. This wider tendency the Ap. combats in the ensuing paragraph; he urges his readers to acquiesce in their position in life and to turn it to account as Christians. In Thessalonica a similar excitement had led men to abandon daily work and throw their support upon the Church (1Th 4:11 f., 2Th 3:6-15 ). Hn [1075] , in Meyer’s Comm [1076] , p. 229, points out the close resemblance, both in form and matter, between this section and certain passages in Epictetus ( Dissertt. , I., xix., 47 ff.; II., ix., 19 f.). The freedom of the inner man and loyal acceptance of the providence of God are inculcated by both the Stoic and the Christian philosopher, from their differing standpoints.

[1075] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1076] commentary, commentator.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

1Co 7:17 . “Only, in each case as the Lord has apportioned to him, in each case as God has called him, so let him (the believer) walk.” Under this general rule the exceptional and guarded permission of divorce in 1Co 7:15 was to be understood. For in this exceptive sense (= ), cf. Rom 14:14 , Gal 1:7 ; Gal 1:19 ; see Bm [1077] , p. 359. The repeated distributive extends the principle pointedly to every situation in life; cf. 1Co 7:20 ; 1Co 7:24 , 1Co 3:5 ; 1Co 3:8-13 . On , see 1Co 7:33 and 1Co 1:12 : the Christian’s secular status is a which “the Lord,” the Disposer of men’s affairs, has assigned him ( cf. Mat 25:14 f.). , on the other hand, refers not to the secular “vocation” but, as always (see 1Co 7:211Co 7:21 f., 1Co 1:9 ; 1Co 1:26 , etc.), to the “call” of God’s grace in the Gospel, which came to the individual readers under these circumstances or those. enjoins the pursuance of the Christian life in harmony with the conditions thus determined at its outset. P. does not mean to stereotype a Christian’s secular employment from the time of his conversion, but forbids his renouncing this under a false notion of spiritual freedom, or in contempt of secular things as though there were no will of God for him in their disposition.

[1077] A. Buttmann’s Grammar of the N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans., 1873).

The last clause of the ver. shows that the tendency here reproved was widespread; cf. 1Co 1:2 , 1Co 11:16 , 1Co 14:33 ; 1Co 14:36 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Co 7:17-20

17Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches. 18Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. 20Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

1Co 7:17

NASB”Only”

NKJV”But”

NRSV”However”

TEV- omitted-

NJB”Anyway”

NIV”Nevertheless”

This introduces the expanded implications of Paul’s discussion about sexual issues. The Greek terms ei m can mean “unless,” “except,” or “but.”

NASB, NRSV”the Lord has assigned to each one”

NKJV”God has distributed to each one”

TEV”the Lord’s gift to you”

NJB”the Lord has allotted to him”

This verb meriz means “to divide or distribute.” It is used in the Septuagint for the division of the Promised Land to the Jewish tribes by YHWH (cf. Exo 15:9; Num 26:53; Num 26:55-56; Deu 18:8), which makes it a metaphor for God’s people as does the next verb, “called.” YHWH “called” His people and they “called” on His name. In this context both verbs refer to God’s special giftedness (cf. 1Co 7:7), which allows people to serve Him (cf. 1Co 12:7; 1Co 12:11). Whatever their life situation when they were called, saved and gifted, they are now to serve (i.e., “stay as you are,” 1Co 7:8; 1Co 7:17; 1Co 7:20; 1Co 7:24; 1Co 7:26; 1Co 7:40). Bloom where you are planted with God’s help and some exceptions.

NASB”in this manner let him walk”

NKJV”so let him walk”

NRSV”let each of you lead the life”

TEV”go on living”

NJB”let everyone continue in the part”

This is literally “walk” (i.e., Present active imperative), which is a biblical metaphor for lifestyle (cf. Eph 2:2; Eph 2:10; Eph 4:1; Eph 4:17; Eph 5:2; Eph 5:15; Col 1:10; Col 2:6). Paul explains what he means in 1Co 7:18-20.

“so I direct in all the churches” This phrase is repeated often in 1 Corinthians (cf. 1Co 4:17; 1Co 7:17; 1Co 11:16; 1Co 14:33; 1Co 16:1). The Corinthian church thought of themselves as “special,” “privileged,” and “uniquely gifted.” Paul counteracts this false arrogance by asserting that he teaches the same truths in all his churches. See Special Topic: Church at 1Co 1:2.

1Co 7:18

NASB”He is not to become uncircumcised”

NKJV”Let him not become uncircumcised”

TEV”he should not try to remove the marks of circumcision”

NJB”If a man who is called has already been circumcised, then he must stay circumcised”

This is a present passive imperative (the parallel in 1Co 7:18 b is also present passive imperative). This refers to someone surgically removing the signs of circumcision (cf. 1Ma 1:15 and Josephus’ Antiq. 12.5.1).

1Co 7:19 “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing” This shows Paul’s view of the OT rituals and regulations (cf. Acts 15; Rom 2:28-29; Gal 5:6; Gal 6:15; see Special Topic at 1Co 9:9). This was the very issue brought up at the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 and exploited by the Judaizers in the churches of Galatia. Paul’s theology at this point is very clear. Gentiles do not need to perform Jewish rites, rituals, and cultic procedures. Believing Jews must not be proud or ashamed of OT covenant practices they had participated in in the past. True circumcision is of the heart (cf. 1Co 10:16; Deu 30:6; Jer 4:4), not the body, and it issues in “circumcised” ears (cf. Jer 6:10) to hear God and lips (cf. Exo 6:12; Exo 6:30) to speak His message, His new message in Christ (cf. Jer 9:25-26).

“but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God” This is the emphasis of the OT prophets that obedience is more significant than the ritual (cf. 1Sa 15:22; Isa 1:11-17; Hos 6:6; Amo 5:21-27; Mic 6:6-8). God looks at our attitude and motive before He looks at our acts. All of God’s dealings with fallen man, OT and NT, are on a covenantal basis. Obedience is crucial (cf. Luk 6:46), but aspects of the specific covenantal requirements have changed through time.

1Co 7:20 “Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called” The NKJV is more literal and keeps the word play “let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called” (cf. Eph 4:1; Eph 4:4). This is a present active imperative. It is the recurrent theme of Paul throughout this context (1Co 7:8; 1Co 7:17; 1Co 7:20; 1Co 7:24; 1Co 7:26; 1Co 7:40). The term “called” refers to when they had received Christ (cf. 1Co 1:20). See SPECIAL TOPIC: CALLED at 1Co 1:1.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

But. Greek. ei me, as 1Co 7:5.

God . . . the Lord. These should be transposed. Compare 1Co 1:9. Rom 8:30. Gal 1:1, Gal 1:15. Eph 4:4. 1Th 2:12. 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14; 2Ti 1:9.

distributed = divided, or imparted. Greek. merizo. Occurs fourteen times. Always translated divided, except here, 1Co 7:34. Rom 12:3. 2Co 10:13. Heb 7:2.

every one. Same as “every man”.

ordain = appoint. Greek. diatassomai. See Act 7:44.

churches. App-186.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

17.] takes an exception, by way of caution, to the foregoing motive for not remaining together (1Co 7:16). The Christian partner might carry that motive too far, and be tempted by it to break the connexion on his own part; a course already prohibited (1Co 7:12-14). Therefore the Apostle adds, But (q. d. only be careful not to make this a ground for yourselves causing the separation) as to each (. = ., reff.) the Lord distributed (his lot), as (i.e. , 1Co 7:20) God has called each, so (in that state, without change) let him walk (reff.). The has raised considerable difficulties. (1) some cursives, with syr-marg and Sevrn., read , ;-and Knatchbull, al., join similarly to the foregoing; . ,- . But as De W. remarks, this would be, as Mat 22:17, : and then we should have the strictly parallel clauses of 1Co 7:16 rendered unequal, by an appendage being attached to the second, which the first has not: besides that 1Co 7:17 would be disjoined altogether. (2) Pott would supply ,-Mosheim, Vater, and Rckert, , after . But so, to say nothing of the irrelevancy of the idea thus introduced, , or (as Meyer), would be required. (3) Theodoret, al., join all as far as to the foregoing: What knowest thou, &c., except in so far as the Lord has apportioned to each? But thus the evidently parallel members, . . ., and . . ., would be separated, and a repetition occasioned which, except in the case of intended parallelism, would be alien from St. Pauls habit of writing.

. .] , . Theophyl.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Co 7:17. , if not) that is, if this be not so, or, otherwise [but]. There is a digression from husbands and wives, 1Co 7:10, to any external condition of life.-, to each) It may be thus resolved, let every man walk, as God hath distributed to him.-, hath distributed) 1Co 7:7.- , as He hath called) The state in which the heavenly calling has found every one.- , the Lord) Christ.-, let him walk) This conclusion in which permission and command are blended together, is repeated and explained at 1Co 7:20; 1Co 7:24. Calling from above does not destroy our external conditions. Paul shows that what any one has done or would have done without it, is lawful to be done in it.- , and thus) a universal doctrine, in which the Corinthians also may acquiesce.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Co 7:17

1Co 7:17

Only, as the Lord hath distributed to each man, as God hath called each, so let him walk.-Whatever relation or surrounding one is in when he is called to the belief of the gospel, in that let him abide and seek to do the will of God, striving by his godly walk to win those to salvation with whom he comes in contact.

[The mighty effect of the gospel when first proclaimed is only slightly appreciated. The equality of men which it announced; the precious and exceeding great promises which it contained; the short-lived character it ascribed to all earthly things; and the certainty of the coming of the Lord to judge the world in righteousness, which is predicted, produced a commotion in the minds of the people which was never experienced either before or since. It is no surprise, therefore, that many were disposed to break away from their old relationships. This was an evil that called for repression. Paul endeavored to convince his readers that their relation to Christ was comparable with any social relation or position not sinful in itself. Their conversion to Christ involved, therefore, no necessity of breaking asunder their social ties. The gospel is not a revolutionary, disorganized element; but one which is designed to eliminate all evil, and exalt and purify that which is good.]

And so ordain I in all the churches.- [This principle was of universal application, and so he lays it down authoritatively for all the churches. He now proceeds to give specific instances to which this rule applies.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

as God: 1Co 7:7, Mat 19:12, Rom 12:3-8, 1Pe 4:10, 1Pe 4:11

as the: 1Co 7:18, 1Co 7:20, 1Co 7:21, 1Co 7:24

so ordain: 1Co 4:17, 1Co 16:1, 2Co 11:28

Reciprocal: Gen 5:22 – General Mat 19:11 – General Rom 16:4 – also 1Co 11:2 – keep 1Co 11:16 – the churches 1Co 11:34 – will I 1Co 12:11 – all 1Co 14:33 – in

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Co 7:17. Whatever condition may be the lot of a man who has accepted the call of the Lord, let him be faithful to his profession. This command is announced as being applicable to all the churches. (See notes at Joh 15:16 on ordain.)

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

The Christian’s Social Relations

Becoming a Christian should not be used as an excuse for disrupting normal social relations, assuming they are not sinful. Christianity is only disruptive to that which is evil. It encourages us in all the good relationships we have in life. The apostle also stated the rule applied to all the churches, not just Corinth. To illustrate his point that radical changes in social relationships are unnecessary unless sin is involved, Paul mentioned circumcision. Some, perhaps out of embarrassment, had tried to hide the fact that they were circumcised. Others, who were Gentiles, had thought it would be necessary to be circumcised to please God. Paul told them to remain as they were when called by the gospel. Obedience to the law of Christ is what counts once one becomes a Christian ( 1Co 7:17-19 ; Gal 5:6 ).

Lipscomb saw three basic distinctions that “divide and unite” mankind. They are: national, social, and physical ( Gal 3:28 ). Becoming a Christian does not require a change in those distinctions. Anyone can be a Christian if he is willing to obey the gospel. Slaves did not have to escape slavery to be Christians. However, if freedom was offered, it was to be preferred since more time would have been available for the Lord’s service ( 1Co 7:20-21 ).

Even in slavery, Christianity frees man from sin ( 1Co 7:22 ; Rom 6:22 ). Upon becoming a Christian, those who were free become slaves to Christ because he purchased them ( 1Co 7:22 ; Rom 6:22 ; Act 20:28 ). Since Christ bought Christians, they are his servants no matter what state they may be in ( Eph 6:5-8 ). Their work should have been done to God’s glory. So, each Christian was admonished by Paul to remain in the basic social relationships they were in at the time they obeyed Christ, unless the association involved sin ( 1Co 7:23-24 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Vers. 17-24.

To illustrate the spirit of the prescriptions which he has just given, and to trace at the same time the line of conduct to be followed in certain analogous cases which occurred in the life of the Church, the apostle widens the question, and shows that the general viewpoint which he has taken, to solve the questions relating to marriage, commands all the relations of the Christian life. The following passage is therefore a digression, but one intended to elucidate more completely the subject treated. In 1Co 7:17 the principle is laid down on which all such questions depend; in 1Co 7:18-19 this principle is applied to a first example; it is repeated in 1Co 7:20, then applied to a second example, 1Co 7:21-23; finally, it is repeated anew by way of conclusion, 1Co 7:24.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Only, as the Lord hath distributed to each man, as God hath called each, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the churches. [Paul first answers generally that under no conditions are the husband and wife to separate (the single exception (Mat 19:9) not being given, because not a point in controversy). This law, however, rests not on Paul’s authority alone (which some of the Judaizers might question), but on that of the Lord himself, who plainly propounded it, repealing the ordinances of Moses which were contrary to it (see “Fourfold Gospel,” p. 242). As an inspired apostle, Paul applies this law to the case of Christians united in wedlock with unbelievers, and declares that such should not separate on account of their faith; for the law of Christ so reverses that of Moses that the Christian sanctifies or removes the uncleanness of the unbelieving partner, and of the children. But such unequal marriages are not favored by God (2Co 6:14), and therefore if the unbeliever be so intolerant as to refuse to live with a converted partner, then the partner is not under bondage to the unbeliever. But God calls the believer to a life of peace which forbids any such discordant acts as tend to induce or drive the unbeliever to dissolve the marriage, for by the exercise of Christian gentleness and forbearance the believer may convert and save the unbeliever (1Pe 3:1-2). As a summary rule for all things of a smaller nature, the apostle says that each man must rest content to walk in the lot which God has apportioned to him, not making his new religion an excuse for unwarranted changes. As this rule applied to all churches, it worked no especial hardship to the Corinthians.]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

17-24. In these verses Paul exhorts every one to remain in the attitude in which grace finds you: if a Jew, having circumcision, so remain; if a Gentile, without circumcision, so abide. If a Methodist, with Armenian theology, so remain; if a Presbyterian, with a Calvinistic creed, so abide; if a Tunker, with trine immersion, so remain; if a Quaker, seeing no especial validity in carnal ordinances, so remain. The unity of all Christians is in the baptism of the Holy Ghost (Ch. 1Co 12:13). So let every one follow Jesus only, get saved to the uttermost and filled with the Holy Ghost, and never bother yourselves any more in reference to creeds, rites and ceremonies. Satisfy your conscience (1Pe 3:21), keep a conscience void of offense toward God and man, and go on your way rejoicing, free as a bird of paradise, like Origen, whose maxim was, Love the Lord with all your heart, and do as you please, resting assured that if you really have perfect love you will only please to do the will of God. Grace sinks down all the mountains and lifts up the valleys, putting the whole world on a grand level. Paul here beautifully alludes to the master and slave, as at that time the world was full of human slavery. They are both called into the kingdom of God, and stand on the same level, the master being Gods slave, and the slave being the Lords freeman.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 17

Hath distributed to every man; hath given him his lot.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1Co 7:17. A general and universal principle, viz. Be not eager to change; which limits the foregoing counsel.

As the Lord: Christ the ruler of the church and the world, who divides among men the various circumstances, and has thus allotted to each one his position. But this allotment does not include positions of sin. These are always self-chosen.

As God hath called: the circumstances in which you received, and obeyed, the gospel call. [The perfect tense directs attention to the abiding result of the call.] That this verse does not imply that believers have received a call withheld from others by God for secret reasons, see under Rom 8:28.

Walk: see 1Co 3:3. Continue in the position and pursue the path, in which Christ has placed you, and in which God has called you to be His people. In 12, this important principle will be developed and supported.

I ordain; asserts Paul’s authority to announce the principles on which Christians should act.

In all the churches; testifies the importance of this universal principle, and Paul’s impartiality in applying it.

THE COUNSEL of 11 reveals Paul’s careful consideration of everything bearing upon the matter in hand, undisturbed by personal prejudice or by a desire to force upon others his own practice. He has found out by experience the advantage under present circumstances of celibacy. But the self-control which alone makes celibacy expedient many have not. This, however, gives Paul no right to boast: for self-control is a gift of the undeserved favor of God, who gives to all believers real, though various, Christian excellences. The immorality prevalent at Corinth makes marriage, to speak generally, desirable both for men and women. But the force of this reason depends upon each one’s degree of self-restraint, which each must estimate for himself. The marriage relation should be real, not pretended. The separation of husband and wife is not desirable, except for a spiritual purpose, by mutual consent, and for a definite time. If prolonged, it may, owing to the imperfect self-control of the Corinthian Christians, expose them to temptation. Paul reminds believers married to believers that Christ has forbidden them to break the marriage tie; and has specially forbidden re-marriage of divorced persons. That Christ’s command does not apply in full force to believers married to heathens, Paul admits; and gives his own advice. He recommends that, if the heathen desires it, the marriage relation be kept up. This is not inconsistent with the holiness of the people of God. For the heathen husband is laid by the Christian wife upon the altar of God, and becomes to her a sacred object. Only on this principle can we justify the intercourse of Christian parents with unsaved children; which all admit to be both right and obligatory. But if the unbelieving partner wishes to go, the believer is not bound to oppose it. This would be an unworthy bondage; and would lead to a confusion contrary to the essence of Christianity. The uncertain benefit to the heathen is no sufficient reason for endeavoring to force upon him the continuance of an alliance he wishes to break off. But this permission to separate must be limited by the general principle, a principle which Paul inculcates everywhere with apostolic authority, that it is well not to disturb existing relations.

Notice that Paul does not give, as do small-minded men everywhere, one specific direction to be applied in all cases; but states general principles, principles bearing in opposite directions, and leaves each man to determine which of them bears with greater force on his own case. Each of these conflicting principles, he states impartially and fully.

Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

7:17 {12} But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath {n} called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

(12) Taking occasion by that which he said of the bondage and liberty of matrimony, he digresses to a general doctrine concerning the outward state and condition of man’s life, as circumcision and uncircumcision, servitude and liberty. And he warns every man generally to live with a contented mind in the Lord, whatever state or condition he is in, because those outward things, as to be circumcised or uncircumcised, to be bond or free, are not of the substance (as they call it) of the kingdom of heaven.

(n) Has bound him to a certain type of life.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. Basic principles 7:17-24

At this point Paul moved back from specific situations to basic principles his readers needed to keep in mind when thinking about marriage (cf. 1Co 7:1-7). He drew his illustrations in this section from circumcision and slavery.

"Under the rubric ’It is good not to have relations with a woman,’ they were seeking to change their present status, apparently because as believers they saw this as conforming to the more spiritual existence that they had already attained. Thus they saw one’s status with regard to marriage/celibacy as having religious significance and sought change because of it. Under the theme of ’call’ Paul seeks to put their ’spirituality’ into a radically different perspective. They should remain in whatever social setting they were at the time of their call since God’s call to be in Christ (cf. 1Co 1:9) transcends such settings so as to make them essentially irrelevant." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 307.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Whether he or she is unmarried or married, married to a believer or to an unbeliever, the Christian should regard his or her condition as what God has placed him or her in for the time being. The concept of "call" is a way of describing Christian conversion (cf. 1Co 1:2; 1Co 1:9). He or she should concentrate on serving the Lord in that condition rather than spending most of one’s time and energy on trying to change it. Paul taught the priority of serving Christ, over trying to change one’s circumstances, in all the churches.

"Paul’s intent is not to lay down a rule that one may not change; rather, by thus hallowing one’s situation in life, he is trying to help the Corinthians see that their social status is ultimately irrelevant as such (i.e., they can live out their Christian life in any of the various options) and therefore their desire to change is equally irrelevant-because it has nothing to do with genuine spirituality as their slogan would infer (1Co 7:1 b)." [Note: Ibid., p. 311. Cf. Robertson and Plummer, p. 144.]

This is the second of four instances where Paul appealed to what was customary in all the churches (cf. 1Co 4:17; 1Co 11:16; 1Co 14:33). He never did this in any of his other letters. He was reminding this church that its theology was off track, not his.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)