Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Bird's-eye view

In this section of his first letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul lays down a foundational principle for Christian living that cuts across a host of practical questions about marriage, social status, and religious identity. The principle is this: the gospel of Jesus Christ radically redefines a person's ultimate identity, which means their external circumstances, or "calling," are relativized. They are not unimportant, but they are no longer ultimate. Paul's central command is for believers to "remain" in the station they were in when God called them into His kingdom. This is not a command for social stagnation or a prohibition against improving one's lot. Rather, it is a radical call to contentment and faithfulness right where you are, because your true identity is now "in Christ."

Using the potent examples of circumcision and slavery, Paul demonstrates that these defining social and religious markers of the old world have been rendered secondary by the cross. Whether a man is a Jew or a Gentile, a slave or a free man, is nothing compared to the new reality of being a freedman of the Lord and a slave of Christ. The gospel does not obliterate these external distinctions, but it completely transforms their meaning. The ultimate reality for the believer is not their social status but their spiritual station. They have been "bought with a price," and therefore their primary allegiance is to God, lived out faithfully in whatever circumstance they find themselves.

Outline

Context In 1 Corinthians

This passage is situated in a larger section (Chapter 7) where Paul is answering specific questions the Corinthian church had posed to him, likely in a letter. The overarching theme is how to live out the Christian faith in various domestic and social situations, particularly concerning marriage, singleness, and divorce. The Corinthians, it seems, were prone to a kind of over-realized eschatology, thinking that their new life in Christ required a radical break from all their previous earthly ties and statuses. Some apparently thought they should leave their unbelieving spouses, or that all believers should be celibate. Paul's instruction here serves as a corrective to this chaotic spiritual enthusiasm. He is teaching them that conversion does not mean blowing up your life circumstances. Rather, the gospel transforms your life from within those circumstances. This principle of "remaining in your calling" provides the theological bedrock for all the specific advice he gives about marriage and singleness in the surrounding verses.

Key Issues

The Great Reversal

The gospel of Jesus Christ does not just tweak our worldview; it turns it completely upside down. Or, more accurately, it turns it right side up. In the world's economy, everything depends on your external status. Are you rich or poor? Powerful or weak? Educated or ignorant? Jew or Gentile? Slave or free? These are the categories that define a man and determine his worth. But Paul comes along and says that in the kingdom of God, these are all secondary. They are not nothing, but they are next to nothing.

The central reality, the one thing that defines you, is your position "in the Lord." This is the great reversal. The man who is a slave in the eyes of the world is, if he is a believer, the Lord's freedman. He has been liberated from the ultimate bondage of sin and death. And the man who is a free citizen of the Roman Empire is, if he is a believer, Christ's slave. He has joyfully submitted himself to the absolute authority of a new Master. This doesn't mean the slave should not seek freedom if he can, but it does mean his ultimate identity and dignity are not dependent on that freedom. His worth was settled at the cross. This principle is a bombshell dropped into the middle of a world built on pride, status, and power. It teaches us that our primary task is not to change our circumstances, but to glorify God within them.

Verse by Verse Commentary

17 Only, 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.

Paul lays down the general principle that will govern the specific examples to follow. The word "assigned" or "distributed" points to God's sovereignty. Your lot in life, your circumstances when you were converted, were not an accident. God, in His providence, assigned them to you. The "calling" here refers to the effectual call of God unto salvation. So the principle is this: let your manner of life, your "walk," be consistent with the providential station you were in when God saved you. This is not a suggestion; Paul says he "directs" or "ordains" this in all the churches. This is a universal apostolic rule. It's a call to stability and faithfulness in the place where grace found you, rather than a frantic, discontented scramble to change your outward identity to match your new inward one.

18 Was 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.

His first example is the most significant religious and ethnic divider of the ancient world: circumcision. If a Jewish man was converted to Christ, he was not to undergo a surgical procedure to reverse his circumcision, which was apparently something that happened among Hellenized Jews who were ashamed of their heritage. He is to remain a Jewish Christian. Conversely, if a Gentile was converted, he must not seek to be circumcised. This was the central point of controversy with the Judaizers that Paul battled in Galatians. To seek circumcision was to place oneself under the obligations of the Mosaic law and, in effect, to nullify the grace of Christ. The point is that your standing before God is not affected by this external sign one way or the other.

19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.

This is a revolutionary statement. For a Jew, circumcision was everything. It was the sign of the covenant, the mark of God's chosen people. For a Gentile, uncircumcision was the sign of being an outsider. Paul declares both to be "nothing." They have no spiritual efficacy in the new covenant. They don't make you righteous or unrighteous. What, then, has replaced them as the defining characteristic of a true child of God? The keeping of the commandments of God. This is not a return to legalism. Paul is not saying we are saved by our obedience. He is saying that the evidence of true, saving faith is a life of loving obedience to God's commands, empowered by the Holy Spirit. The external sign has been replaced by the internal reality of a changed heart that delights in God's law.

20 Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.

Paul repeats the central principle for emphasis. The word for "condition" is the same root as "calling." Stay in the calling in which you were called. This is a direct command against the kind of social and religious restlessness that was troubling the Corinthian church. God called you as a carpenter? Remain a carpenter. He called you as a wife and mother? Remain a wife and mother. Your vocation is the stage on which you are to live out your devotion to Christ. Don't despise the stage; glorify God on it.

21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it. But if you are able also to become free, rather do that.

Now he turns to the most dramatic social distinction: slavery. His first word to the slave is astonishing: "Do not worry about it." Or, "Let it not be a care to you." This is not to minimize the hardships of slavery. It is to maximize the glory of their new identity in Christ. Your status as a slave should not be the central, all-consuming concern of your life, because you have been set free from a far greater bondage. However, Paul immediately qualifies this. This is not an endorsement of slavery as an institution. He adds, "But if you are able also to become free, rather do that." The ESV says "avail yourself of the opportunity." Freedom is preferable. It is a good gift, and a slave should pursue it if a legitimate opportunity arises. The gospel does not make us indifferent to earthly good, but it keeps us from making an idol of it.

22 For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.

Here is the theological heart of the matter, the great reversal. The Christian slave has been set free by the highest authority in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a freedman of the Lord, liberated from sin, death, and the devil. His earthly master may own his time, but Christ owns his soul. In the same way, the man who is a free citizen, perhaps even a master of slaves, has a new identity. He is Christ's slave. He has willingly submitted to the absolute ownership of the Lord who bought him. In the church, the earthly slave has a higher status than his earthly master who is an unbeliever, and the believing master and believing slave are brothers, one in Christ, both equally submitted to their one true Master in heaven.

23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

This applies to both the slave and the free man. The "price" is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. This is the language of the slave market, of redemption. God bought you out of the bondage of sin. Because He has paid this ultimate price, your ultimate allegiance belongs to Him alone. Therefore, "do not become slaves of men." For the free man, this means not allowing yourself to be enslaved by human opinion, worldly philosophy, or sinful desires. For the slave, it is a radical call to inner freedom. Your earthly master may command your body, but he cannot command your conscience. You serve your earthly master as unto the Lord, but your ultimate Master is Christ. You are not truly the slave of the man who owns you; you are the slave of the God who redeemed you.

24 Brothers, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

Paul concludes by restating the principle a third time, but with a crucial addition: "remain with God." This is the key. This is not a call to stoic resignation, but to active communion. Whatever your station, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, married or single, the calling is to live out that role in conscious fellowship with God. He is with you in your circumstances, and you are to be with Him. This transforms the most menial task into an act of worship and the most difficult station into a place of fellowship with the Almighty. Your circumstances do not define you, but they are the God-ordained arena in which you are to walk with Him.

Application

The principle Paul lays down here is a potent antidote to the twin poisons of our age: discontentment and the idolatry of identity politics. We live in a culture that is obsessed with external identity markers and is constantly telling us that our circumstances define us and that our chief end is to change those circumstances to find "our true self." The gospel says the opposite. It says your true self is found not by changing your circumstances, but by being found by Christ within them.

This means the Christian life is to be characterized by a rugged contentment. Are you in a job you don't particularly like? Don't make it your first priority to escape, but to glorify God as the best employee you can be, walking with Him in that place. Are you single and wishing you were married? Don't let that desire consume you. Remain with God in your singleness, knowing that your ultimate identity is not "married" or "single" but "in Christ." This doesn't forbid us from seeking to better our lot, just as Paul encouraged the slave to seek freedom. But it means our happiness and our identity are not contingent on that change. We are already complete in Christ.

Furthermore, this passage demolishes the worldly obsession with being defined by our race, class, or station. In Christ, these things are rendered secondary. Our primary identity is that we are blood-bought children of the King. We are slaves of Christ and freedmen of the Lord. When we grasp this, we are liberated from the tyranny of human opinion and the frantic need to prove our worth through our external status. We can rest, knowing we were bought with a price, and we can get on with the business of faithfully serving our new Master in whatever place He has sovereignly assigned us.