BIG IDEA:
EMBRACE WITH CONTENTMENT GOD’S SOVEREIGN PROVIDENTIAL DISPENSATION OF YOUR OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES AS YOU FOCUS ON SERVING CHRIST TO THE MAX
CONTEXT: MARITAL STATUS
Paul had been giving instruction in Chapter 7 regarding marital status. Apparently there was some level of discontent among the believers where there was an inordinate desire to change their state from single to married or from married to single. Maybe those who were in mixed marriages were envious of those who were in Christian unions. Maybe those who were married wished that they were single so that they could serve the Lord more devotedly. In any case, Paul feels a need to pause and address the wider problem of contentment with your assigned role in life. Each person must understand that God is providentially working in their circumstances. The priority must be on living by faith and obeying the commandments of Christ. Every person has opportunity to live out their calling from that perspective. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” For myself, I have this running joke with my family where when I start feeling sorry for myself or unhappy with my present circumstances I talk about “moving to Kansas” (= some nondescript place that is far away from my present situation). This passage addresses that struggle for contentment.
INTRODUCTION:
David Garland: No condition presents an obstacle to living the Christian life, since a Christian is now defined by God’s call (1:9) and nothing else. As Braxton (2000: 50) summarizes it, “Change of social status is not a precondition of the call, nor is change a natural consequence of the call.” What matters is keeping the commandments of God (7:19), in particular, avoiding fornication (7:2). Christians can keep the commandments of God whether circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, married or celibate. Thiselton (2000: 545) puts it well: “A Christian does not have to seek ‘the right situation’ in order to enjoy Christian freedom or to serve God’s call effectively.”
Gordon Fee: Under the rubric “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman,” some Corinthian believers were seeking to change their present status, apparently because they saw such a change as conforming to the more “spiritual” existence that they considered themselves already to have 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 “calling” Paul seeks to put their “spirituality” into a radically different perspective. God’s call to be in Christ (cf. 1:9) transcends all such settings, thus making them not so much unimportant per se, but basically irrelevant in terms of ultimate realities. Thus one should not seek change for its own sake, since one’s relationship with God has nothing at all to do with where a person is in terms of one’s social setting, but altogether with who one is in whatever setting one is found. That is, the call to Christ has created such a change in one’s essential relationship (with God) that one does not need to seek change in other relationships (with people). The latter are transformed and given new meaning by the former. Thus one is no better off, or worse, being in one condition or the other.
David Prior: He is, in effect, urging a basic attitude of contentment with whatever lot God gives to us, even if this includes circumstances which cause friction and frustration. To that extent he is urging the same approach to life’s other tensions as to marriage. There are three basic priorities in the apostle’s mind, all of which permeate his teaching in the rest of the chapter:
- the need to be firm in our situation;
- the need to be flexible about material things; and
- the need to be free from any distractions from our single purpose of pleasing the Lord.
In this paragraph he applies these three priorities to each of you (17). He takes two particular examples, circumcision and slavery, and he argues for a radical Christian approach to both. Circumcision and slavery represented the two most divisive phenomena in the world of the New Testament. Circumcision constituted the greatest religious barrier, slavery the biggest social barrier. In each case, Paul is bold enough to assert, the salvation of God in Christ has rendered them null and void. Any man or woman in Christ has been so remade that earthly status, or lack of it, is irrelevant. It is, therefore, a distraction for Christians to become obsessed with either issue.
Paul Gardner: Paul now lays out a principle that helps explain his perspective on marriage, divorce, singleness, and widowhood. This principle should guide Christian men and women in their choices and actions in their relationships with the opposite sex. It is summarized simply in v. 17. People should remain in the state in which they found themselves when God called them to faith, that is, either as unmarried or married. Christians must see that any decision to change that status, either from married to unmarried or unmarried to married, should not be made on the assumption that one state is less or more spiritual than another. Rather, the fact that God has called them is critical. If Christians look at their lives in terms of having graciously been called by God to live as part of his holy people and enabled by him with grace-gifts, then they will note great benefits as the Lord leads them in life. Using two illustrations, one from the ritual of circumcision (7:18–19) and one from the realm of slavery (7:21–23), Paul urges his audience three times to remain in the state in which they found themselves when they were called to faith (7:17, 20, 24). The two illustrations seem far removed from the question of marriage to which he returns in v. 25. However, both demonstrate that Christians should not change their status for so-called spiritual reasons. Just as neither circumcision nor uncircumcision provide spiritual or religious merit before God, so neither does marriage or singleness. God’s gracious call comes regardless of social status. This does not mean that Christians cannot change their social status. The slave can take advantage of the offer of freedom (7:21), and the unmarried can get married, but this is always to be done in the recognition that the Lord must lead.
Richard Hays: The purpose of all this, let us remember, is to function as an analogy in support of Paul’s argument that the married should not abandon their marriages and that the unmarried should not necessarily be urgently seeking partners. For many readers at the end of the twentieth century, the analogy may be more opaque and troubling than the point it is supposed to explain, but presumably Paul’s original audience in Corinth would have found it relatively clear and reassuring. Regardless of our evaluation of this particular argument, we can understand Paul’s basic advice: relax and “remain with God” (7:24) wherever you find yourself.
I. (:17) GENERAL PRINCIPLE: EMBRACE WITH CONTENTMENT GOD’S PARTICULAR CALLING FOR YOUR LIFE
A. Particular Application
(Repeated 2 other times: vv.20, 24 – Present Tense command – “let him walk”)
“Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one,
as God has called each,
in this manner let him walk.”
Robert Gundry: This verse forms a bridge to another topic, that of believers’ assignments, or callings. Jesus is the Lord who “has distributed [an assignment] to each [believer].” God the Father is the one who “has called each [believer].” The call equates with the distribution, and both of them occurred at conversion. The believer “is to be walking around [that is, conducting his or her life] in this way [that is, in accordance with his or her distribution/calling].” Which means, as Paul will go on to explain, that the believer is to be content with his or her state in life as it was when conversion occurred. Meanwhile, a second “in this way” points to consistency in what Paul says here. “I’m giving orders” points to the authority with which he says it (compare 1:1; 4:17). And “in all the churches” points to the equal applicability to all Christians of what he says.
- Matter of Priority
“Only”
- Matter of Providential Calling – applies to every realm of life
“Lord has assigned”
“God has called”
Gil Rugh: Talking about the situation in which you find yourself when God saves you. That effectual call which results in our turning to God in saving faith.
- Matter of Personal Application – no one can make this happen for you
“each one”
“called each”
“let him walk” = how we live out our Christian life; conduct ourselves
B. Universal Application
“And so I direct in all the churches.”
Still holds true for believers today – Don’t get this wrong!
David Garland: Informing them that he has ordered the same thing in all the churches (in his orbit of influence) does three things.
- First, it reminds them of his authoritative teaching as an apostle.
- Second, it makes clear that he is not giving them ad hoc counsel. This principle is the rule of thumb everywhere (Tomson 1990: 271).
- Third, by appealing to the practices of other churches, as he does throughout the letter (cf. 4:17; 11:16; 14:33; 16:1), he notifies them that deviating from this principle makes them peculiar.
Gordon Fee: Thus Paul tells them that being in Christ does not negate their present situation; but neither is he arguing that it absolutizes it. Rather, the call to Christ sets them free to live out their new life within it. It is not change per se that he is against, but change as a Christian; that is, becoming a believer does not require one to seek change of status. That is to give significance to one’s social setting. Paul’s point is that God’s call, which comes to people where they are as his gracious gift, totally eliminates social setting as having any kind of religious significance. And how better can he illustrate that than by the one mark of sociological distinction that formerly did have religious significance for him but does so no more—circumcision.
II. (:18-20) CASE STUDY #1: CULTURAL, ETHNIC IDENTITY
A. (:18) Don’t Despise Your Calling
- Called as Circumcised
“Was any man called when he was already circumcised?
He is not to become uncircumcised.”
Robert Gundry: Circumcision embarrassed some Jewish men when their penises were exposed at public baths and at athletic events in which they participated. (Athletes competed in the nude.) Gentiles usually considered circumcision a barbaric mutilation of the human body, but Jews and Gentiles heavily influenced by Judaism considered it a sign of belonging to God’s covenant people. Paul says to let neither the usual Gentile ridicule of circumcision nor the Judaistic insistence on it make a Christian man reverse his circumcision or get circumcised.
- Called as Uncircumcised
“Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised.”
You don’t have to remove your tattoos!
B. (:19) Focus on What Really Matters
- Viewed Negatively
“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing,”
Gordon Fee: The various situations in which one lives either by nature or by choice ultimately belong to the category of the irrelevant, in terms of one’s relationship with God. They obviously remain relevant in all kinds of other ways, all of which are irrelevant regarding Paul’s ultimate concern here.
- Viewed Positively – Serve Christ to the Max by Focused Obedience
“but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”
Gil Rugh: Not talking here keeping the Mosaic law; Paul recognizes here that the law of Christ is now what is binding for the church. That is how he can say that circumcision is no longer important. Gal. 5:6; 6:15
Paul Gardner: Most commentators therefore understand this to be a more general reference to God’s law, which is best expressed by Paul himself in Galatians 5:14: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself ’” (ESV). So, for example, Hodge quotes Galatians 5:6 by saying that the only thing that counts is “faith expressing itself through love.” This, he says, is the same thing as keeping God’s commands.
Richard Hays: His statement presupposes that the Law is to be read anew through a different hermeneutical lens, since Christ is the telos of the Law. (These ideas are more fully developed in Romans, especially Rom. 2:25–29; 8:1–4; 10:1–13; 13:8–10.) The Gentile Corinthians, perhaps already instructed about such matters by Paul, would have acknowledged the force of this argument. Coming to be a member of Christ’s people had not required them to change their ethnic status by becoming Jewish proselytes.
C. (:20) General Principle Repeated for Emphasis
“Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called.”
David Garland: To change one’s condition, thinking that it might spruce up one’s image before God or solidify one’s footing in salvation, ascribes more significance to external circumstances than they deserve. Since human categories are not ultimate, Christians may live out God’s calling in the social circumstances in which God’s call first reached them. This admonition does not mean they must remain in these circumstances but that they recognize that these circumstances do not hinder their calling to live as Christians (Fee 1987: 309). Paul adds for emphasis the phrase παρὰ θεῷ (para theō, before God) for his final reiteration of the guiding principle in 7:24. One can make changes in one’s estate, but nothing is to be gained “before God” from any attempt to upgrade one’s standing with God through these changes. Such a move implies that God’s call was somehow deficient and that salvation is something they need to achieve by dint of their own powers. Paul is not sanctifying the status quo but challenging the illusions of those who think it wise to desexualize their marriage relationship, to attempt to become celibate without the gift of celibacy, to divorce their spouses, and to laud such changes as a higher calling.
Gordon Fee: Two Illustrations:
A. First illustration: circumcision (18–20)
To the circumcised: do not change (18a)
To the uncircumcised: do not change (18b)
Reason: Neither counts (19)
Conclusion: Stay in your “calling” (20)
B. Second illustration: slavery (21–24)
To the slave: do not be concerned (21a)
Exception: If granted, make use of freedom (21b)
Reason:
(1) to slave: one is Christ’s freed person (22a)
(2) to free person: one is Christ’s slave (22b)
—Additional theological reason (23)
Conclusion: Stay in your “calling” with God (24)
III. (:21-24) CASE STUDY #2: ECONOMIC, OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY
A. (:21-22) Don’t Despise Your Calling
- Called as a Slave Man
“Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it;
but if you are able also to become free, rather do that.
For he who was called in the Lord while a slave,
is the Lord’s freedman;”
- Called as a Free Man
“likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.”
John Piper: He is saying that in the gospel there is an antidote for despair in menial jobs and an antidote for pride in highly esteemed jobs.
Gordon Fee: Paul now moves to a second supporting illustration, which in general is structured like the former. It begins with a word to the slave in the form of a question, followed by a command; and this is followed by a theological reason in support of the command.
B. (:23) Focus on What Really Matters
- Viewed Positively – Serve Christ to the Max as one who has been redeemed from bondage to sin
“You were bought with a price;”
- Viewed Negatively
“do not become slaves of men.”
John MacArthur: Here Paul does not mean physical slavery but spiritual slavery. He is speaking of becoming slaves of the ways of men, the ways of the world, the ways of the flesh. That is the slavery into which many of the Corinthian believers had fallen, the slavery that caused their divisions and strife and their immaturity and immorality. . .
God allows us to be where we are and to stay where we are for a purpose. Conversion is not the signal for a person to leave his social condition, his marriage or his singleness, his human master, or his other circumstances. We are to leave sin and anything that encourages sin; but otherwise we are to stay where we are until God moves us.
Craig Blomberg: It is worth recalling that slavery in ancient Rome did not always resemble the institution we know from the history of the Southern United States in the 1800s. To be sure there were cruel masters, but at times some slaves lived more like the indentured servants of wealthy families in medieval Europe. Others were government officials, teachers, traders, or artists. Unlike slaves in the American South, many were able to buy their own freedom; and many who could, chose not to, preferring instead the security of their patrons to the vagaries of freedom. Still, Paul knows that owning humans as property fundamentally contradicts their status in Christ (cf. Philem. 10–16), and he reminds all believers not to revert to physical or spiritual slavery, from which Christ’s atonement was intended to save them (v. 23).
C. (:24) General Principle Repeated for Emphasis
“Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition
in which he was called.”
Robert Gundry: “Alongside God” indicates that God himself stands with a believer in whatever state the believer found himself at the time God called him to salvation. Not bad company! So with the exception of slaves, it’s quite satisfactory, indeed required, to stay in that class. Though Christian slaves are to take an opportunity for freedom, they aren’t to revolt; and though within a church the barriers of class are to be broken down by common consent (see Galatians 3:28), in the world at large a forcible tearing down of such barriers by Christians would discredit the gospel. Stay put, then.