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§20 God’s Gifts and the Corinthians’ Calling (1 Cor. 7:17–24)

This section is still addressed to “the rest” (v. 12), which may indicate that having addressed the various groups he named regarding the questions of how men and women are to relate in terms of marriage, sex, and divorce, Paul thinks he has covered those related fields of concern. Therefore, he shifts the focus in this next segment of the letter, although he is still concerned with the general issue of the Christians’ need or desire to alter their present social status, perhaps as a demonstration of Christian freedom. In brief, Paul tells the Corinthians that they are to live in the state that they were allotted by the Lord. In turn, Paul illustrates this idea by referring to circumcision and to slavery. Then the concluding lines of this section reiterate the basic idea that the Corinthians are to remain before God in the state in which God called them. How is the reader of today to comprehend and apply this notion? Is there relevance?

Some preliminary observations may aid comprehension. Above all, Paul’s thought is relative to his thoroughgoing apocalyptic eschatology, as is clear from what follows in 7:31b, “For this world in its present form is passing away.” Paul maintains that God saves the believers regardless of their worldly social status; remaining in the social state in which one was called demonstrates that what humans do does not effect salvation; worldly social change is not equivalent to salvation. Ultimately, the calling of Christians by God creates real freedom. All who are called are freed, in spite of social circumstances, to obey God. Paul argues vigorously that the saving work of God eliminates the boundaries of sacred and profane, for God’s saving work knows no sociological limitations.

Nevertheless, Paul’s first-century, apocalyptic-eschatologically formed convictions produce statements that rankle the social and ethical sensibilities of some later readers. Paul’s point of view is not ours, however, so grasping the simple sense of his words and viewing them in relation to Paul’s own day and age and eschatological convictions should mitigate inappropriate criticism of his teachings.

7:17 / Paul refocuses the deliberations in this verse. Quite literally he writes, “At any rate, to each as the Lord allotted, each as God has called; thus let one walk—and thus in all the churches I direct.” Paul’s grammar is simple, but his choice of words is subtle, even enigmatic; so translations supply words and phrases to clarify Paul’s elusive statements. The NIV’s introduction of the verb should retain, the phrase to which, and the explanatory paraphrasing This is the rule I lay down together add a tone of moral oughtness, depersonalize the focus of Paul’s thought, and lapse into heavy, static moralizing. This rendering misses the personal concern of Paul’s statement, its dynamic confidence in God, and its gentle tone of encouragement and direction.

Far from being heavy-handed, Paul is concerned that the Corinthians alter their social status in celebration and display of their Christian freedom, and he assures them that God attends to their lives as they are. Whatever place in life was granted to the believer by the God-given gift of life, that is the capacity in which God came to the Corinthians and called them. Thus, the Corinthian Christians are able to live with the assurance of God’s concern and in the dignity of knowing that God had brought them to a new life in faith and in the church in their present earthly statuses. Moreover, Paul assures the Corinthians that they are not alone in this endeavor, for all the churches are called and directed in this same manner, even as Paul himself lives this way. The subtlety of Paul’s statement suggests that one should imagine his gently checking, nudging, and encouraging the believers in Corinth. Reading and hearing from this point of view, one perceives a different Paul and even a different God from the one suggested by the severe and clumsy rendering of the NIV and most other translations. One may easily misread the NIV to reveal a cold-hearted Paul and a capricious and indifferent God, but that understanding does not fit in the context of this epistle.

7:18 / Moving from the general idea that social change is unnecessary, perhaps even undesirable, Paul takes up the issue of being circumcised. He applies or illustrates the idea of the Christians’ remaining in the state in which God called them by telling the Corinthian men neither to get uncircumcised nor to be circumcised. Such change was ill-advised, and Paul offers no exception to his declarations.

At the heart of this matter is the question of the necessity for Christians to take on the sign of God’s covenant of circumcision with Abraham and the Jews. In antiquity, unlike today, this issue was crucial. Baths were public places, and in Greco-Roman settings Jews often suffered ridicule from non-Jews who viewed their religious practice as barbarian. Indeed, some Jews underwent the tedious and painful process of eliminating the physical impression of circumcision in order to avoid stigmatization. In regard to such a controversial matter, Paul says, Don’t bother. Jews could be scandalized even as some Gentiles might be comforted by the advice.

7:19 / To emphasize his contention, Paul bluntly states the irrelevance of the matter in two simple, balanced rhetorical phrases, literally, Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Then, he offers clarification in rhetorical juxtaposition, literally, “but observance of God’s commandments.” Yet for the Jew, being circumcised was God’s commandment, and if a Gentile were to become one of God’s people, circumcision seemed a necessary sign of obedience. Paul disagrees, which is remarkable for someone who was trained as a Pharisee.

Behind Paul’s bold declaration is the recognition that symbolic, even physical acts are not the heart of the matter of keeping God’s commands. Rather, as Paul has said, “The body is … meant … for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (6:13). The essence of Christian life is relational; the believers are brought by God into a new relationship through Jesus Christ and in that relationship they are empowered by God to live faithfully and freely, not merely to do things to demonstrate their freedom (see 1:8). For Paul, obedience to God is the natural outcome of living in a faithful relationship to God through the gift of grace.

7:20 / This verse briefly states the point that Paul has made and remade throughout this segment of the letter. The statement functions here to reiterate what was said about circumcision and to prepare the way for what is to follow concerning slavery and freedom.

7:21 / Circumcision may no longer pose the problem it did for the Corinthians, but these remarks about slavery seem vital in a world that has known and still knows the inhumane practice of one human’s being so arrogant as to own another. Moreover, the implications of this specific issue are taken as analogous to the dynamics of other patterns of human relatedness, such as management/labor, business owner/employee, privileged/deprived, and powerful/vulnerable. Thus, from our perspective Paul may seem callous or cold. Again, however, one must remember that given Paul’s apocalyptic-eschatologically formed perspective—“the form of this world is passing away” (7:31b)—current social status is ultimately unimportant. Rather, in one’s life on this earth, one is to be concerned with developing one’s new relationship to God in the context of the church and the world and living a life in continuity with God’s grace. Freedom per se is a secondary concern for Paul. As one interpreter summarized Paul’s attitude, “Why hustle to join a lame-duck administration?”

7:22 / Paul works through rhetorical phrases to elaborate and explain his advice. He offers an off-balance contrast in verse 22:

a Christian slave is the Lord’s free person in the Lord;

likewise, a free person is the Lord’s slave.

The emphasis of Paul’s wording indicates that the idea of being “in the Lord” dominates simple social conventions. The category “in the Lord” supersedes all else, and in that context all other qualifiers are made relatively unimportant. The call of God releases the slave to the new freedom of an ultimate relationship with God, as the call of God enslaves the free person to that same ultimate relatedness. Essentially Paul portrays all humans as being on a level playing field from a theological point of view. From Paul’s short-sighted apocalyptic perspective, social status is unimportant and not worth one’s ultimate concern. From a later Christian vantage point, since we know from Paul that social standing means nothing to God, we are free to judge and alter social patterns, always remembering that such changes are not of ultimate importance (that’s why they may be made!), that social status is not salvation, and that the status quo of human social order does not have God’s imprimatur for eternity.

7:23 / Having grouped slaves and free together “in the Lord,” Paul now makes a statement that is beautifully ambiguous: You were bought at a price. The forms of “you” here and throughout the verse are plural, so that Paul is addressing all previously named parties—slave and free—with this declaration. Thus, slaves would hear the words to mean that they were ransomed, into either freedom or a new lordship or both; the free would hear that they had been purchased into bondage to the one who had paid the price. Since both groups of believers belong to the Lord, a relationship that was above qualification or compromise, Paul can add, Do not become slaves of men. Paul’s metaphor does not address the question of to whom the price was paid. Some interpreters argue that the price that Paul mentions was paid to God to appease divine wrath; others understand that the price was paid to the forces of evil to which the humans were in bondage. Paul’s wording does not indicate to whom the price was paid, and since he offers no explicit remarks we may conclude that for Paul the issue was not important.

7:24 / Paul restates his overall concern and conviction, literally: “Each in whatever one was called, brothers and sisters, in this let one remain with God!” As before, the wording of Paul’s Greek emphasizes the personal dimension and relational dynamics of Christian life. While the NIV’s translation catches the general sense of the statement, it makes it sound more like a cold commandment than a word of comfort, assurance, and care. Paul’s desire for the Corinthians is that they may be in such a relationship with God that they are about the work of God’s mission. No matter what one’s earthly status may be, if the believer’s life is formed and directed in and out of a vital relationship to God, the believer’s life will be one of faithful service.