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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:18 - 7:24
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
A general application of these truths:
v. 18. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.
v. 10. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
v. 20. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
v. 21. Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it; but If thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
v. 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.
v. 23. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
v. 24. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
Just as the matter of marriage was regulated by Paul in such a way that no one was to deal presumptuously, but was always to have the proper regard for God's gift and call, so he wanted the same principles applied in other matters of daily life: As a circumcised person was any one called? Do not try to remove its sign. Paul is here referring to such renegade Jews, some of whom may have been found in the Corinthian church, as resorted to an operation to efface the sign of their nationality, probably to signify their entire repudiation of the Law. His ruling is strictly against this practice. And, on the other hand: In uncircumcision, as a Gentile, is any one called? Let him not be circumcised. It was just as little to be commended that the Gentile Christians attempted to reach the highest state of perfection by submitting to the Jewish sacrament. And the reason for this uncompromising attitude of Paul was: Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; upon neither of these does the worth of a Christian in the eyes of God depend, in no way do they represent religious qualifications. The observing of the commandments of God, faith working by love, a new creature, is everything. Circumcision is no longer a sacrament, but a mere custom without the slightest religious or moral value; God looks upon the heart, upon the activity which faith develops in observing the demands of His holy will. See Gal_6:15. Where true, living faith is found, there the members of one nation are like those of another, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither German nor American, they are all one in Christ Jesus. See Gal_3:28. And therefore let everyone remain in that same state in which he was called. It is not necessary to change either nationality or station in life in order to be acceptable to the Lord: He understands every language equally well, and the callous spots on a man's hands do not debar him from any of the privileges of God's kingdom.
Paul illustrates this by a second example, bringing out especially the social distinction of the times: As a slave were you called? Do not let it worry you; but if you can become free, rather make use of that. The members of the Corinthian congregation that were slaves were naturally anxious to have their liberty, and the teaching of the Gospel was understood by them to favor this longing. But a Christian slave was not to fear that he could not serve the Lord and be just as dear to Him in this state. The Lord having called him through the Gospel while he was in that social position would continue to show him His mercy even if he continued to be a slave for the rest of his life. At the same time, however, the apostle conceded that a slave may well make use of the opportunity to become free, to accept such a gift of grace from the hands of God. In either event the social state makes no difference, as far as the Lord is concerned: For the man called in the Lord as a slave, while he holds the position, the station of a slave, is nevertheless the Lord's freeman; likewise the man that is called while he is free is Christ's servant. This is a paradox, but a very beautiful way of describing the relation of both the bond and the free to the Lord. "Christ buys us from our old master, sin, and then sets us free; but a service is still due from the freedman to the patron. " The freedom spoken of here is, of course, spiritual freedom, according to which our liberation from the power of sin, by that token, gives us the strength to serve the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. And here the apostle calls out an emphatic warning: With a price you were bought, 1Pe_1:18-19. The price of redemption which had to be laid down to deliver us from the slavery of sin and Satan was so immeasurably great that it must serve for all times to deter us from a very -foolish step, that of becoming servants of men, of selling ourselves into the vilest of slavery by abandoning the truth of Scriptures and permitting ourselves to be swayed and governed by the imagination and wisdom of men. And the Corinthians could readily make the application of the word in their own case, namely, not to make themselves so dependent upon any man as to imagine that they were not really free, even though they had a master over them. And so Paul once more sums up the thought of the entire section: Every one wherein he was called, brethren, in this let him remain before God. That relation, that station in life which a person occupied when he came to faith he may retain without one qualm for the rest of his days. Let it but be before God, in the sight of God, that the entire life be one of faith and of holy works, well-pleasing to the Lord.