Remain in the Calling You Were Called In
17 Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies. 18 Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is keeping God’s commandments. 20 Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it. 22 For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant. 23 You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men. 24 Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.
The chapter's governing principle, stated three times and tested against the two great social divisions of the ancient world — circumcision and slavery.
Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.
The principle behind everything in the chapter, and Paul notes that it is not a local rule. Two ideas are joined: what a person has been distributed — their circumstances — and their calling. Conversion does not require a change of station; it requires that the station be occupied differently.
Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.
The first test case is the great religious divide of the age, and the ruling is symmetrical: nobody should try to change categories. This is the same apostle who fought hard against circumcision being imposed on Gentile converts Galatians 5:2 Galatians 5:6 — and the consistency is in the reason, stated next.
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is keeping God’s commandments.
Both sides of the argument are dismissed in one clause. The marker is nothing, in either direction, and what replaces it is not a further marker but a life: keeping God's commandments. A congregation preoccupied with categories and party badges 1 Corinthians 1:12 is told that the thing that counts is obedience, which no one can wear.
Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it.
The second test case is slavery, and a large part of this congregation would have been affected — the letter assumes both slaves and free among its readers 1 Corinthians 12:13. The instruction has two halves and both matter. A believing slave's standing before God is not diminished by his condition, so he need not be troubled about it; and freedom, if it becomes available, is to be taken. Nothing here commends the institution or counsels resignation to it. What it refuses is the idea that a slave must be freed before he can serve God fully.
For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.
The sentence crosses the two conditions over, and it is the most subversive line in the chapter. Each man is given the other's title. The slave is free; the free man is a slave. Neither can look at the other and see a difference that matters, which does more damage to the social hierarchy than a rule about manumission would.
You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men.
The purchase language from the previous chapter 1 Corinthians 6:20, applied now to social standing rather than to sexual conduct. Someone already owned cannot be at anyone else's disposal in the way that matters — and the warning is addressed to everyone, since a free man can be enslaved to other men's opinions as thoroughly as any household servant. Then the principle a third time: let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God 1 Corinthians 7:24. The last two words carry the weight. Not stay put, but stay there with God.
held with reason What this mark means