Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 7:22
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.
22. the Lord’s freeman ] Rather, freedman, the Latin libertus. So Beza, Calvin and the Vulgate, and the margin of our version. The English translators generally seem to have missed this point.
Christ’s servant ] For this expression, cf. Eph 6:6; Jas 1:1 ; 2Pe 1:1; Judges 1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For he that is called in the Lord – He that is called by the Lord; he that becomes a Christian.
Being a servant – A slave when he is converted.
Is the Lords freeman – Margin, Made free ( apeleutheros). Is manumitted, made free, endowed with liberty by the Lord. This is designed evidently to comfort the heart of the slave, and to make him contented with his condition; and it is a most delicate, happy, and tender argument. The sense is this. You are blessed with freedom from the bondage of sin by the Lord. You were formerly a slave to sin, but now you are liberated. that bondage was far more grievous, and far more to be lamented than the bondage of the body. But from that long, grievous, and oppressive servitude you are now free. Your condition, even though you are a slave, is far better than it was before; nay, you are now the true freeman, the freeman of the Lord. Your spirit is free; while those who are not slaves, and perhaps your own masters, are even now under a more severe and odious bondage than yours. You should rejoice, therefore, in deliverance from the greater evil, and be glad that in the eye of God you are regarded as his freeman, and endowed by him with more valuable freedom than it would be to be delivered from the bondage under which you are now placed. Freedom from sin is the highest blessing that can be conferred upon people; and if that is yours, you should little regard your external circumstances in this life. You will soon be admitted to the eternal liberty of the saints in glory, and will forget all your toils and privations in this world.
Is Christs servant – Is the slave ( doulos) of Christ; is bound to obey law, and to submit himself, as you are, to the authority of another. This too is designed to promote contentment with his lot, by the consideration that all are bound to obey law; that there is no such thing as absolute independence; and that, since law is to be obeyed, it is not degradation and ignominy to submit to those which God has imposed on us by His providence in an humble sphere of life. Whether a freeman or a slave, we are bound to yield obedience to law, and everywhere must obey the laws of God. It is not, therefore, degradation to submit to his laws in a state of servitude, though these laws come to us through an earthly master. In this respect, the slave and the freeman are on a level, as both are required to submit to the laws of Christ; and, even if freedom could be obtained, there is no such thing as absolute independence. This is a very beautiful, delicate and happy argument, and perhaps no consideration could be urged that would be more adapted to produce contentment.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. For he that is called] The man who, being a slave, is converted to the Christian faith, is the Lord’s freeman; his condition as a slave does not vitiate any of the privileges to which he is entitled as a Christian: on the other hand, all free men, who receive the grace of Christ, must consider themselves the slaves of the Lord, i.e. his real property, to be employed and disposed of according to his godly wisdom, who, notwithstanding their state of subjection, will find the service of their Master to be perfect freedom.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For the state of a servant to men no way prejudiceth a man as to his spiritual liberty; a servant and a free-man, considered with reference to Christ, are both one; a servant may be as near the kingdom of heaven as a free-man; and let a man be in never so good a state of civil liberty, yet, if he be a Christian, he is still a servant of Christ, and bound in all things to obey him. As to the new man, there is neither bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. the Lord’s freeman (Phm16) rather, “freedman.” Though a slave externally,spiritually made free by the Lord: from sin, Joh8:36; from the law, Ro 8:2;from “circumcision,” 1Co 7:19;Gal 5:1.
Christ’s servant (1Co9:21). Love makes Christ’s service perfect freedom (Mat 11:29;Mat 11:30; Gal 5:13;1Pe 2:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For he that is called in the Lord,…. Which is to be understood, not of any civil calling, or of calling to an office; or of the outward call by the ministry of the word only; but of an internal, special, powerful, evangelical, and saving call by the grace of God; which is of persons out of darkness into light, out of bondage into liberty, from their sinful companions to the company and society of Christ and his people, from off themselves and their own righteousness, to the grace and righteousness of Christ, and out of the world unto a kingdom and glory. And this may be said to be, in the Lord; either because it is by him, he is the efficient cause of it, his grace the moving cause, and his glory the end; or because it is in consequence of being in him, united to him, persons are first in the Lord, and then called by him; or because they are called into fellowship and communion with him; the whole is true, and make up the sense of the text; for he that is effectually called by grace, is called by the Lord, and by virtue of being chosen in him, and in union to him, and to partake of all the blessings of grace and glory that are with him. And such an one,
being a servant; in a natural and civil sense when called, in a spiritual sense
is the Lord’s freeman; he is free from sin, not from the being, but from the servitude, guilt, and damning power of it: he is free from Satan, not from his temptations and insults, but from his dominion and captivity; he is ransomed from him, by the redemption of Christ, and is turned from his power in conversion; he has not that influence over him he before had; and he is so safe and secure from him, that he can never be destroyed by him, and in a short time Satan will be bruised under his feet: he is free from the law, the observance of the ceremonial law, and all its numerous burdensome rites; and from the moral law, not from obedience to it, as in the hands of Christ, but from the bondage, curse, and condemnation of it, as ministered by Moses: he is free of the company of saints, of the church of God below, and of heaven, the city God has built and prepared for his; he is free to the use of all things indifferent, provided it is done in faith, the peace of weak brethren secured, and the glory of God preserved; he is free to all the privileges and immunities of the house of God, and to the throne of grace, come when he will; and therefore though a servant, in another sense he is a very happy man; he is free indeed, and can never be disenfranchanised, or arrested, or cast into prison; the various privileges he is free unto and enjoys, show him to be a happy man; and the effects following on his freedom prove it, as peace with God, the presence of Christ, joy in the Holy Ghost, fellowship with saints, and a well grounded hope of glory; he is not only called to the liberty of grace, which he enjoys, but will be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God; and therefore has no reason to be uneasy with his civil servitude: on the other hand,
likewise he that is called being free; he that is called by the grace of God, with an holy and effectual calling, being a freeman, his own master, and it may be the master of others in a civil sense, he, in a spiritual one,
is Christ’s servant: he is bought by Christ with his money, with the price of his blood; and therefore he has a right unto him, and a claim to his service; and he becomes a voluntary servant to him, through the power of his grace upon him; and though he serves his Lord Christ without mercenary views, freely, readily, and cheerfully, from a principle of love and gratitude, he shall not fail of a reward of grace; he shall be honoured of God, approved of men, and shall receive the reward of the inheritance: Christian liberty, and the service of Christ, are not at all inconsistent; nor should we entertain any other notions of liberty, but what are consistent with serving the Lord; whatever liberty contradicts, that is no true liberty; though it may have the face of it, it is no other than bondage.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Lord’s freedman ( ). is an old word for a manumitted slave, from , to go and so go free, – from bondage. Christ is now the owner of the Christian and Paul rejoices to call himself Christ’s slave (). But Christ set us free from sin by paying the ransom () of his life on the Cross (Matt 20:28; Rom 8:2; Gal 5:1). Christ is thus the patronus of the libertus who owes everything to his patronus. He is no longer the slave of sin (Rom 6:6; Rom 6:18), but a slave to God (Ro 6:22).
Likewise the freeman when called is Christ’s slave ( ). Those who were not slaves, but freemen, when converted, are as much slaves of Christ as those who were and still were slaves of men. All were slaves of sin and have been set free from sin by Christ who now owns them all.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Freeman [] . Rev., correctly, freedman; the preposition ajp’ from implying previous bondage.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) For he that is called being a servant. The person who is saved, while yet a servant, property of his earthly master, remains the servant of his earthly master, to be used or set free at the choice of his earthly master.
2) Is the Lords freeman. Yet he is the Lords free man, liberated man, from eternal condemnation (apelutheros), forever free, Rom 8:1; Joh 8:36.
3) Likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christs servant. In like manner, the one saved, having been called redeemed, (being forever free) (Greek eleutheros kletheis) is a slave, purchased and obligated to serve his Spiritual Master, Jesus Christ Rom 6:18; Rom 6:22; 1Co 6:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
22. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant To be called in the Lord, being a servant, is to be chosen out of the rank of servants, and made a partaker of the grace of Christ. Now this statement is designed to furnish consolation to servants, and, at the same time, to beat down the haughtiness of those that are free-born. As servants feel their situation irksome, in respect of their being mean and despicable, it is of importance that the bitterness of servitude be alleviated by some consolation. Those, on the other hand, that are free, need to be restrained, in order that they may not be unduly elated on account of their more honorable condition, and be lifted up with pride. The Apostle does both; for he teaches, that as the liberty of the spirit is greatly preferable to the liberty of the flesh, servants ought to feel the unpleasantness of their condition the more tolerable, when they take into view that inestimable gift with which they have been endowed; and, on the other hand, that those who are free ought not to be puffed up, inasmuch as their condition in the principal respect is not superior to that of servants. We must not, however, infer from this, that those that are free are made inferior to servants, or that political order is subverted. The Apostle saw what suited both. Those that were free required (as I have said) to be restrained, that they might not in a wanton manner triumph over servants. To servants, on the other hand, some consolation required to be administered, that they might not be disheartened. Now these things tend rather to confirm political order, while he teaches that the inconvenience of the flesh is compensated by a spiritual benefit.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, . . .Better, For he that was converted as a slave is Christs freedman; and, similarly, the one who was converted as a freeman is Christs slave. Therefore, no one need trouble himself as to his mere earthly servitude or freedom. If he be a slave, let him be cheered by remembering that he is a freedman belonging to Christ; and if he be a freeman, let him not despise the state of the one in servitude, realising that he himself is Christs slave. A freedman, as distinct from a freeman, was one who had been in bondage but was now free.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. For Assigning, now, a reason for the precept just given for both contentment in necessary slavery and use of means for emancipation. The slave is the Lord’s freeman, and, therefore, can be content. The freeman is Christ’s servant, and should, therefore, choose to be not the slave of man.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For he who was called by the Lord, being a bondservant, is the Lord’s freedman. Similarly, he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.’
God sees all men as the same, with the same dignity and the same significance. He sees the bondservant as a freedman. He sees the freeman as a bondservant to Christ. Thus the one is not better off from the point of view of spiritual blessing and usefulness as the other. Nor can the freeman see himself as superior to the bondservant, for he himself is a bondservant to Christ.
‘Is the Lord’s freedman.’ He has been made free from servitude to sin, and grovelling under it as though it were his master (Joh 8:34-36; Rom 6:20-23), he has been freed from the curse of the Law (Gal 3:13) and is no longer bound by all its restrictions, he has been freed from the power of Satan working in the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:3). He is free to meet with God’s people on equal terms as ‘a brother’. He is free to serve God faithfully.
‘Christ’s bondservant.’ He is duty bound to obey God in whatever He requires and to do His will without questioning it (although he may question whether something really is God’s will unless it is clearly taught in the Scriptures). He is a slave to righteousness (Rom 6:18-19). He is bound to do all, whether in word or deed, to the glory of God (1Co 10:31). He is in bondage to men to do all that is necessary in order to reach out to save them (1Co 9:19-23).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 7:22 . For the converted slave is Christ’s freedman; in like manner, too ( introduces the precise reversal of relations which here also takes place), the freeman who becomes a Christian is the slave of Christ . That moral freedom (comp Joh 8:36 ) and this moral slavery are of course essentially identical (Rom 6:16 ff.; Eph 6:6 ; Col 3:24 ); but Paul grounds here his admonition in 1Co 7:21 by showing that the matter may be looked at from a twofold point of view : the Christian slave should recognise his relation to Christ as that of an , [1181] and the freeman’s relation as that of a . This will serve in his case this end, not by any means (as Hofmann illogically inserts into the text, despite the again required in 1Co 7:24 ) that he should count it unnecessary to remain in the position of a slave, [1182] but, on the contrary, that he should abide contentedly in his station without coveting after freedom.
. . ] the slave who is called in the Lord, i.e. who has received the Christian calling. That is to say, this has not taken place, as any other might, out of Christ, but in Him, as being the distinctive element in which it has its specific character. The , which might have been understood of itself, is expressly added here, because it was meant to be an emphatic correlate to the which follows. It is wholly foreign to the argument to imagine a contrast here with the earthly master (Hofmann), as in Eph 6:5 ; Col 3:22 ; Col 4:1 .
with the genitive is not used here in the common sense of libertus alicujus , some one’s manumitted slave, for the master hitherto had been sin or Satan (see on 1Co 6:20 ); but simply a freedman belonging to Christ (comp ., Rom 1:6 ), after Christ, namely, has set him free from the service of another (comp Ignatius, ad Rom 4 ). This was self-evident to the consciousness of the reader.
[1181] So that “ , ,” Soph. Fragm. 677, Dindorf.
[1182] Paul is, in fact, guarding by this grand utterance of his against all unjust contempt for the condition of outward slavery, a feeling which vanishes in the light of Christianity side by side with all unjust estimation of the worth of mere outward freedom.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 22. For he that is called ] See a parallel place to this, Jas 1:9-10 . Our preferment in Christ should make us hold up our heads, but not too high, And be cheerful, but not also scornful. Laeti simus in Domino, sed caveamus a recidivo. Bern.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22 .] Ground of the above precept . For the slave who was called in the Lord (not, as E. V. and De Wette, ‘ He who is called in the Lord, being a slave ,’ which would be , see above, :
, as the element in which what is about to be stated takes place) is the Lord’s freedman (“ with genit. is not here in the ordinary sense of ‘libertus alicujus,’ ‘any one’s manumitted slave:’ for the former master was sin or the devil , see on ch. 1Co 6:20 ; but only a freedman belonging to Christ , viz. freed by Christ from the service of another. This the reader would understand as a matter of course.” Meyer): similarly he that was called being free (not here, , see above) is the slave of Christ . Christ’s service is perfect freedom , and the Christian’s freedom is the service of Christ. But here the Apostle takes, in each case, one member of this double antithesis from the outer world, one from the spiritual . The (actual) slave is (spiritually) free: the (actually) free is a (spiritual) slave. So that the two are so mingled, in the Lord, that the slave need not trouble himself about his slavery, nor seek for this world’s freedom, seeing he has a more glorious freedom in Christ, and seeing also that his brethren who seem to be free in this world are in fact Christ’s servants, as he is a servant. It will be plain that the reason given in this verse is quite inconsistent with the prevalent modern rendering of 1Co 7:21 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 7:22 . The two sentences, balanced by ( cf. 1Co 7:3 f.), do not precisely match: is “the slave that was called in the Lord” ( i.e. , under Christ’s authority), but is rather “the freeman, in that he was called”; his call has made the latter Christ’s slave, while the former, though a slave , is the Lord’s freedman. , libertus (the prp [1102] implying severance as in , 1Co 1:30 ) freedman of a Lord ; “Christ buys us from our old master, sin, and then sets us free; but a service is still due from the libertus to the patronus ” (Lt [1103] ); cf. Rom 6:17 f.; also , 1Co 9:21 , with the same gen [1104] of possession. Ignatius makes a touching allusion to this passage, ad Romans , 4 : “I am till the present time a slave; but if I suffer I shall be Jesus Christ’s freeman, and I shall rise up [in the resurrection] free!”
[1102] preposition.
[1103] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).
[1104] genitive case.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Corinthians
SLAVES AND FREE
1Co 7:22
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. And on that principle he bases an advice, dead in the teeth of all the maxims recognised by worldly prudence. He says, in effect, ‘Mind very little about getting on and getting up. Do God’s will wherever you are, and let the rest take care of itself.’ Now, the world says, ‘Struggle, wriggle, fight, do anything to better yourself.’ 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; art thou a Gentile? seek not to become in outward form a Jew.’ 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 any disadvantageous circumstances, and in that there is what will take the gilt off the gingerbread of any superficial and fleeting good, and will bring a deep-seated and permanent blessing.
Now, I am not going to deal in this sermon with that general principle, nor even to be drawn aside to speak of the tone in which the Apostle here treats the great abomination of slavery, and the singular advice that he gives to its victims; though the consideration of the tone of Christianity to that master-evil of the old world might yield a great many thoughts very relevant to pressing questions of to-day. But my one object is to fix upon the combination which he here brings out in regard to the essence of the Christian life; how that in itself it contains both members of the antithesis, servitude and freedom; so that the Christian man who is free externally is Christ’s slave, and the Christian man who is outwardly in bondage is emancipated by his union with Jesus Christ.
There are two thoughts here, the application in diverse directions of the same central idea-viz. the slavery of Christ’s free men, and the freedom of Christ’s slaves. And I deal briefly with these two now.
I. First, then, note how, according to the one-half of the antithesis, Christ’s freed men are slaves.
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. 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 man’s will, and no man can require more, or can ever get more, than that outward obedience which may be rendered with the most sullen and fixed rebellion of a hating heart and an obstinate will. But Jesus Christ demands that if we call ourselves Christians we shall bring, not our members only as instruments to Him, in outward surrender and service, but that we shall yield ourselves, with our capacities of willing and desiring, utterly, absolutely, constantly to Him.
The founder of the Jesuits laid it down as a rule for his Order that each member of it was to be at the master’s disposal like a corpse, or a staff in the hand of a blind man. That was horrible. But the absolute putting of myself at the disposal of another’s will, which is expressed so tyrannously in Loyola’s demand, is the simple duty of every Christian, and as long as we have recalcitrating wills, which recoil at anything which Christ commands or appoints, and perk up their own inclinations in the face of His solemn commandment, or that shrink from doing and suffering whatsoever He imposes and enjoins, we have still to learn what it means to be Christ’s disciples.
Dear brethren, absolute submission is not all that makes a disciple, but, depend upon it, there is no discipleship worth calling by the name without it. So I come to each of you with His message to you:-Down on your faces before Him! Bow your obstinate will, surrender yourselves and accept Him as absolute, dominant Lord over your whole being! Are you Christians after that pattern? Being freemen, are you Christ’s slaves?
It does not matter what sort of work the owner sets his household of slaves to do. One man is picked out to be his pipe-bearer, or his shoe-cleaner; and, if the master is a sovereign, another one is sent off, perhaps, to be governor of a province, or one of his council. They are all slaves; and the service that each does is equally important.
‘All service ranks the same with God:
There is no last nor first.’
The slave-owner had absolute power of life and death over his dependants. He could split up families; he could sell away dear ones; he could part husband and wife, parent and child. The slave was his, and he could do what he liked with his own, according to the cruel logic of ancient law. 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 the shadows of death. And He can say to those who 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, autocratic, and yet most loving Providence, but be content to leave the arbitrament of life and death, of love united or of love parted, in His hands, and say, ‘Whether we live we are the Lord’s, or whether we die we are the Lord’s; living or dying we are His.’
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 Christ’s servants, our banker’s book is Christ’s, and our purse is Christ’s, and our investments are Christ’s; 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 Apostle’s picture here yet another point of resemblance between slaves and the disciples of Jesus. For the hideous abominations of the slave-market are transferred to the Christian relation, and defecated and cleansed of all their abominations and cruelty thereby. For what immediately follows my text 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. 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.’ Thus His purchase of His slave, when we remember that it is the buying of a man in his inmost personality, changes all that might seem harsh in the requirement of absolute submission into the most gracious and blessed privilege. For when I am won by another, because that other has given him or her whole self to me, then the language of love is submission, and the conformity of the two wills is the delight of each loving will. Whoever has truly been wooed into relationship with Jesus, by reflection upon the love with which Jesus grapples him to His heart, finds that there is nothing so blessed as to yield one’s self utterly and for ever to His service.
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, child-like, merry life, even amidst the many cruelties and abominations of the system. But what was a good, dashed with a great deal of evil, in that relation of man to man, comes to be a pure blessing and good in our relation to Him. If I am Christ’s slave, it is His business to take care of His own property, and I do not need to trouble myself much about it. If I am His slave, He will be quite sure to find me in food and necessaries enough to get His tale of work out of me; and I may cast all my care upon Him, for He careth for me. So, brethren, absolute submission and the devolution of all anxiety on the Master are what is laid upon us, if we are Christ’s slaves.
II. Then there is the other side, about which I must say, secondly, a word or two; and that is, the freedom of Christ’s slaves.
But, apart from that, let me just remind you, in a sentence or two, that whilst there are many other ways by which men have sought, and have partially attained, deliverance from the many fetters and bondages that attach to our earthly life, the one perfect way by which a man can be truly, in the deepest sense of the word and in his inmost being, a free man is by faith in Jesus Christ.
I do not for a moment 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, brethren, 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, that 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 inclinations and other meannesses that yelp and clamour within us, and seek to get hold of us and to sway. There is only one way by which the brute domination of the lower part of our nature can be surely and thoroughly put down, and that is by turning to Jesus Christ and saying to Him, ‘Lord! do Thou rule this anarchic kingdom within me, for I cannot govern it myself. Do Thou guide and direct and subdue.’ You can only govern yourself and be free from the compulsion of your own evil nature when you surrender the control to the Master, and say ever, ‘Speak, Lord! for Thy slave hears. Here am I, send me.’
And that is the only way by which a man can be delivered from the bondage of dependence upon outward things. I said at the beginning of these remarks that my text occurred in the course of a discussion in which the Apostle was illustrating the tendency of true Christian faith to set man free from, and to make him largely independent of, the varieties in external circumstances. 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 be kept from the temptations and sins of wealth, and the free man be taught to surrender his liberty to the Lord who makes him free. Thus, if we have the all-sufficient compensation which there is in Jesus Christ, the satisfaction for all our needs and desires, we do not need to trouble ourselves so much as we sometimes do about these changing things round about us. Let them come, let them go; let the darkness veil the light, and the light illuminate the darkness; let summer and winter alternate; let tribulation and prosperity succeed each other; we have a source of blessedness unaffected by these. Ice may skin the surface of the lake, but deep beneath, the water is at the same temperature in winter and in summer. Storms may sweep the face of the deep, but in the abyss there is calm which is not stagnation. So he that cleaves to Christ is delivered from the slavery that binds men to the details and accidents of outward life.
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 us. Dare to be singular; take your beliefs at first hand from the Master. Never mind what fellow-slaves say. It is His smile or frown that is of importance. ‘Ye are bought with a price; be not servants of men.’
And so, brethren, ‘choose you this day whom ye will serve.’ You are not made to be independent. You must serve some thing or person. Recognise the narrow limitations within which your choice lies, and the issues which depend upon it. It is not whether you will serve Christ or whether you will be free. It is whether you will serve Christ or your own worst self, the world, men, and I was going to add, the flesh and the devil. Make your choice. He has bought you. You belong to Him by His death. Yield yourselves to Him, it is the only way of breaking your chains. He that doeth sin is the servant of sin. ‘If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed,’ and not only free; for the King’s slaves are princes and nobles, and ‘all things are yours, and ye are Christ’s.’ They who say to Him ‘O Lord! truly I am Thy servant,’ receive from Him the rank of kings and priests to God, and shall reign with Him for ever.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
is = was.
Lord. App-98.
freeman = absolutely free. Greek. apeleutheros, a much stronger word than “free” in 1Co 7:21. Only here.
also. Omit.
Christ’s. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22.] Ground of the above precept. For the slave who was called in the Lord (not, as E. V. and De Wette, He who is called in the Lord, being a slave, which would be , see above, :
, as the element in which what is about to be stated takes place) is the Lords freedman ( with genit. is not here in the ordinary sense of libertus alicujus, any ones manumitted slave: for the former master was sin or the devil, see on ch. 1Co 6:20;-but only a freedman belonging to Christ, viz. freed by Christ from the service of another. This the reader would understand as a matter of course. Meyer): similarly he that was called being free (not here, , see above) is the slave of Christ. Christs service is perfect freedom, and the Christians freedom is the service of Christ. But here the Apostle takes, in each case, one member of this double antithesis from the outer world, one from the spiritual. The (actual) slave is (spiritually) free: the (actually) free is a (spiritual) slave. So that the two are so mingled, in the Lord, that the slave need not trouble himself about his slavery, nor seek for this worlds freedom, seeing he has a more glorious freedom in Christ, and seeing also that his brethren who seem to be free in this world are in fact Christs servants, as he is a servant. It will be plain that the reason given in this verse is quite inconsistent with the prevalent modern rendering of 1Co 7:21.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 7:22. , freedman) , one free, and who also was never a slave; , a freedman, who had been a slave.-, of the Lord) Christ, which presently after occurs.- , he that being free is called) At the beginning of the verse the word called is put before a servant; here free is placed before the word called, for the sake of emphasis, that he may be also included, who, in consequence of his calling, obtains the power of acquiring freedom. Comp. on the arrangement of the words, Gal 4:25, note.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 7:22
1Co 7:22
For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lords freedman:-God does not require so much from him, so he is the Lords freedman. [The Lords freedman was one set free from service to sin (Rom 6:22) by Christ. These words simply mean that the slave who hears and becomes obedient to the faith, and is thus brought into union with Christ as his Master, is thereby made free (Joh 8:32; Joh 8:36) from every kind of bondage; and made free by Christ. So complete is this freedom that it cannot be destroyed or weakened even in civil bondage. He is even free while serving his earthly master to earn the highest possible reward; for the apostle teaches that if slaves do their duty to their earthly masters as to Christ they will receive the reward of the inheritance, for they serve the Lord Christ. (Col 3:24).]
likewise he that was called being free, is Christs bondservant.-He is under obligations to devote more of his time and means to the service of God, so is Gods slave. [The distinction between master and slave is obliterated. To be the Lords freedman and the Lords bond servant are the same thing. The Lords freedman is the one whom the Lord has redeemed from Satan and made his own; and the Lords bond servant is also one whom he purchased with his own blood. (Act 20:28). So that master and slave stand on the same level before Christ.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
is the: Luk 1:74, Luk 1:75, Joh 8:32-36, Rom 6:18-22, Gal 5:1, Gal 5:13, Eph 6:5, Eph 6:6, Col 3:22-24, Phm 1:16, 1Pe 2:16
freeman: Gr. made free
is Christ’s: 1Co 9:19, Psa 116:16, Rom 1:1, Gal 1:10, Col 4:12, 1Pe 2:16, 2Pe 1:1, Jud 1:1
Reciprocal: Lev 25:55 – my servants Act 2:18 – on my servants Rom 12:11 – serving Rom 14:18 – in 1Co 3:23 – ye 1Co 12:13 – bond Eph 6:9 – knowing Col 3:11 – bond Col 3:24 – for 1Ti 6:1 – servants 2Ti 2:4 – that he
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 7:22. Two kinds of service and freedom are meant here, the temporal under a human master, and the spiritual under Christ. Hence a man can be a servant under the former and yet be free from sin while being a servant of Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Vv. 22, 23. For he that was called in the Lord being a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he that was called being free is Christ’s slave. 23. Ye were bought with a price: become not the slaves of men!
According to most commentators, 1Co 7:22 is intended to justify the counsel to prefer servitude. Edwards: A reason why the Christian slave should continue a slave rather than accept liberty. The reasoning in itself would be admissible: The slave being spiritually free, and the free believer morally a slave, the contrast is neutralized; why make a change of state?
But this verse may quite as well justify the counsel of 1Co 7:21, as we have understood it; not in the sense that the first proposition of 1Co 7:22 would justify the first counsel of 1Co 7:21, and the second proposition the second. For in this case the second proposition would not answer the purpose, for the Christian slave called to liberty is not in the position of the free Christian who becomes the slave of Christ. It must be borne in mind that the second part of 1Co 7:21 was a restriction arising in connection with the first, a sort of parenthesis; after which Paul returns to the general idea. We must therefore disentangle the thought common to the two propositions of 1Co 7:22, and apply it to the passage as a whole: If in Christ slaves become free, and the free slaves, then neither slavery nor liberty is to be dreaded for the believer! Slavery will not take away from him his inward liberty, for he is Christ’s freedman; and liberty will not plunge him into licence, for he has become Christ’s slave. The consequence is, that the Christian slave may either remain a slave, or become free, without harm. For, in the latter case, he enters the class of the free who become the Lord’s slaves.
The expression does not signify: called to communion with the Lord, but: called by a call addressed in the Lord.
The gen. here is at once that of cause and of possession. The sentence of emancipation was pronounced by the Lord; by it He delivered this spiritual slave from the power and condemnation of sin; thenceforth this freedman belongs to Him as His servant.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lord’s freedman: likewise he that was called being free, is Christ’s bondservant.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
7:22 For he that is called in the {q} Lord, [being] a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, [being] free, is Christ’s servant.
(q) He that is in the state of a servant, and is called to be a Christian.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul’s emphasis on the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God comes back into view in this section of verses (cf. 1Co 1:10 to 1Co 4:21). Priorities are in view. Does the Corinthian slave view himself primarily as a slave or as a freedman? A freedman was a person who had formerly been a slave but had received manumission, been set free. He was both, a slave of men but the freedman of God. Does the freedman view himself primarily as a freedman or as a slave? He was both, a freedman socially but the Lord’s slave spiritually.
"This imagery, of course, must be understood in light of Greco-Roman slavery, not that of recent American history. Slavery was in fact the bottom rung on the social order, but for the most part it provided generally well for up to one-third of the population in a city like Corinth or Rome. The slave had considerable freedom and very often experienced mutual benefit along with the master. The owner received the benefit of the slave’s services; and the slave had steady ’employment,’ including having all his or her basic needs met-indeed, for many to be a slave was preferable to being a freedman, whose securities were often tenuous at best. But the one thing that marked the slave was that in the final analysis, he did not belong to himself but to another. That is Paul’s point with this imagery." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 319.]
It is unfortunate that many Christians today choose to focus on their limitations rather than on their possibilities as representatives of Jesus Christ. We should use the abilities and opportunities that God gives us rather than feeling sorry for ourselves because we do not have other abilities or opportunities.