1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Unlike most of Paul's letters, in 1 Corinthians, Paul tends to move from specific cases to general rules rather than vice versa. In response to the Corinthians' questions, Paul spoke about marriage in the first 16 verses of the chapter. In the last section, specifically, he spoke of how husbands and wives ought to remain in their marriages and remain faithful to those marriages after becoming Christians, even if that marriage itself was not ideal. In this passage (which can be considered a sort of parenthesis or detour in chapter 7), Paul builds a general principle off of this—something applicable to other situations beyond marriage.

In verse 17, Paul lays out his proposition—a principle he was teaching now and which he had consistently taught throughout his ministry. The KJV uses the word 'ordain.' This means to order or arrange, and, according to Robertson, it was originally a military word. Paul had given the churches their marching orders on this point. 

And Paul's proposition is this: God's plan for us begins where we are. Salvation is an abrupt and drastic change; it makes a new man. But it often leaves that man in the same place—physically speaking—that he was before. Where we are is where we must begin and, frequently, where we must stay. 

Paul repeats the idea in verse 20, saying that a man should abide in the same calling he was in when God first called him. The point here is that he calls it a 'calling.' This echoes verse 17, where he speaks of what God has distributed or given to every man. In other words, the fact that an individual man exists in his particular situation is not a mere chance accident or the blind decision of a blind fate—it is the providence of God. And it is in the midst of that providential situation that a man can serve and glorify God—not in some other hypothetical situation that he wishes he was in but isn't.

This is a very subtle and nuanced point which becomes clearer if we look at everything Paul says.

In verses 18-19, he speaks of the Jews and the Gentiles. As we know from our introduction, the Corinthian church (like many NT churches) was a hybrid church, with both Jews and Gentiles, though probably the Gentiles predominated. And Paul's message is this: the Jews didn't need to be ashamed and try to hide their Jewish heritage. And the Gentiles didn't need to become Jews. But the thing we need to notice here is verse 19: “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” 

Being a Jew didn't make someone right with God, and not being a Jew didn't make one right with  God. God had his purpose in calling the Jewish nation; they had an important part in God's plan—but the idea was never that they would have any sort of intrinsic moral superiority. When it comes to our standing before or relationship with God, both circumcision and uncircumcision are meaningless.

Interestingly, Paul says almost exactly the same thing two other times, with slight variation. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” (Galatians 6:15) “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” (Galatians 5:6)

Before Christ, both the Jews and Gentiles are equal—they both need a new creature or new creation; that is, regeneration, a change worked by God in the heart. And this change is possible only through faith in God's word and love for God. But that faith and love will lead to a change in our actions and will cause us to desire to keep the commandments of God, as Paul says here.

But all of that means we can put a caveat or addendum to Paul's proposition. This idea of staying where you are only applies to things that are or can be within the sphere of God's commandments. There wasn't anything morally right or wrong about being a Jew or a Gentile. Therefore, those things don't matter here. Marriage, as we saw before, is something created and ordained by God. Therefore, a married person should stay married because, in that context, they can keep the commandments of God. But if, say, a man was living in an unmarried or adulterous affair before becoming a Christian, that is something he WOULD have to give up. 

When a person becomes a Christian, they must give up their sins. (Though even at that, there may be a learning process.) In that sense, there must be a radical, practical change. And for some people, this will mean a complete overturn of their lives. For others, it may be smaller changes (as far as anyone outside watching would measure it.) But many things will remain the same. A man will probably still be in the same physical location, the same social standing, the same profession, and many of the same relationships.

C. S. Lewis wrote this about his conversion: “Before I became a Christian I do not think I fully realised that one's life, after conversion, would inevitably consist in doing most of the same things one had been doing before, one hopes, in a new spirit, but still the same things.” There are some exceptions—some cases where God immediately calls people to embark on some new mission when converted, as with St. Paul—but for most people, the incidental details of life remain the same.

We see more of this if we move to the next point Paul makes. Paul uses the word doulos. It comes from a word meaning “to bind,” and it has the idea of one bound to serve another. It is usually translated in the KJV as “servant” but often would be better translated as slave. Slavery was a significant part of the world in the first century. At the time, slaves comprised about 1/3 of Rome's population. Slavery wasn't something fringe or unusual at the time—it was something very common, something everyone would have been familiar with. And many converts to Christianity were slaves. It was those without natural hope or freedom who would be most interested in the gospel of supernatural hope and freedom. 

Here, Paul addresses the slave—the one who became a Christian while in this less-than-ideal situation—and tells him: “care not for it.” Barnes paraphrases this: “Let it not be a subject of deep anxiety and distress; do not deem it to be disgraceful; let it not affect your spirits.” 

Look at what Paul says in verse 22. Paul says that the slave who is a Christian is the Lord's freeman. The Greek word for freeman means a slave who has been liberated. A Christian is someone that Christ has set free from the bondage of sin. And yet a Christian is also, in a sense, a slave—they belong to God and are under the obligation to serve and obey him. In a sense, there is equality; in a sense, both slave and free are the same before God. In the things that really matter, a slave and a free man are the same; both may be saved, and both may be used for God. Both are bound to God and both are truly free.

To be a slave is not the optimal situation, but even a slave could still serve God.  Their disadvantageous position could still be a place of service to God. In Titus 2:9-10, Paul told Titus to give this teaching to slaves: “Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” A slave still had a witness for God; if he behaved like a Christian, even as a slave, that would show off the power of God and His grace.

Those verses in Titus come at the end of a list of advice and commands for various classes of people and how they ought to act as Christians. Paul ends that passage with these words: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:11-14) Notice what Paul says there. God's grace of salvation has appeared to all men—the possibility of salvation is open to all, regardless of age or social station. Therefore, all people, even in this present world, can live for God. In verse 14, Paul says that Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us, to buy us, that we might be His special, his unique people belonging solely to Him.

That echoes what Paul says in our passage. This is the first half of verse 23: “Ye are bought with a price.” Just a slave could be set free if someone paid the price for his freedom, so we, as Christians (regardless of social standing in the world), have been set free by Christ and the price He paid for our freedom.

Paul says that even a slave could be a Christian and could be used for God. There was no shame or degradation in his position because he belonged to God like any other Christian. Therefore, his position should not be a cause for despair and concern. As Paul intimated earlier, the very fact that a man is in a particular situation is part of God's providence, and therefore that is where he can serve God. We must begin where we are.

And yet, for all that, Paul also recognized that the position of a slave was not ideal. That is why, after telling slaves not to be concerned about their position, adds, “But if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.” In the first century, a slave could be freed--by the decision of his master, by the payment of a friend, or sometimes even by buying his own freedom. Paul's advice was that if any such opportunity opens up, they should make use of it. One could be a Christian while a slave, but it was better to be free.

In verse 23, after reminding them they had been Christ had bought them with a price, Paul adds: “Be not ye the servants of men.” Some interpret this as meaning, “Do not consider yourselves the servants of men.” In other words, even a slave truly belonged to God and not to his master. That matches what Paul said in the previous verse and what he wrote to slaves in Ephesians 6:7: “With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” However, the phrase may have a more literal meaning. Robertson says it can be translated literally: “Stop becoming slaves of men.”

When we think of slavery, our main association is slavery as it existed in America before the Civil War. However, slavery in the first century was different in some respects—specifically, slavery was not necessarily racial in basis. A person could become a slave in several ways, including through debt. And a person, driven by some extremity, could choose to sell themselves into slavery. And Paul's exhortation, then, is to avoid such a course. Someone who has been set free from God should avoid slavery to man. (And while this is not Paul's point here, there is a clear case to be made here for abolitionism.)

The point is this. We must serve God where we are, but that doesn't mean that we have to accept our situation with blind fatalism; that doesn't mean we should live with blithe indifference to material circumstances. What it does mean is that we can't just ignore our present circumstances. I go back to what I said before—we must start where we are, even if we must end up somewhere else. God chooses our situations, but sometimes He chooses them as hurdles we must overcome or battles we must win. Anyone, anywhere can serve God, but it may be easier to serve God (and God may call them) to become something else and go somewhere else--because the point is that, in the end, situations and circumstances are of secondary importance but not of no importance.

In verse 24, Paul restates the proposition he already laid out in verses 17 and 20. Becoming a Christian does not miraculously transport us out of our present situation, and we must serve God where we are, even if we eventually move on to something else. But the interesting thing about verse 24 is that Paul says that in our situation, we should “abide with God.” Beacon says that this “suggests the idea of being by God's side in peace and rest, regardless of physical or social conditions.” We can abide with God, no matter where we are, which is why the where doesn't matter as much.