1 Corinthians 7:17-24 - Regulated Living Conditions

Marc Minter

FBC Diana

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

1 Corinthians 7:17–24

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Main Point: God has assigned or called us to live within our unique life-conditions; therefore, our main and comprehensive priority is to glorify God wherever we are.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Do you sometimes wish that your situation in life was better? What if you had more money? What if you had more toys? What if you had more free time to do the stuff you want?

What if your spouse treated you better? What if your kids were more responsible and respectful? What if your house didn’t always need fixing?

Wouldn’t it be amazing if that ailment had a cure? Wouldn’t you like it if that problem was solved? How great would it be if your situation was better?

But what if it doesn’t get any better?

What if (Lord, help us), what if your situation in life gets worse?

Does the Bible only teach us how to live “successful” lives as Christians in this world? Or does God call Christians to live faithful lives in whatever condition they find themselves… good or bad… success or failure… pleasure or pain?

Today we’re continuing our study through the book of 1 Corinthians, and we’re still in the portion of that letter (from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth) which is focused on regulating or ordering the practical features of daily Christian living.

Our passage today is a sort of summary statement of a principle that Paul has been and will continue applying in various ways throughout the letter. Let’s read and consider this principle together, and let’s consider how it applies to us.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 7:17–24 (ESV)

17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it.

(But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.

23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

Main Idea:

God has assigned or called us to live within our unique life-conditions; therefore, our main and comprehensive priority is to glorify God wherever we are.

Sermon

1. Two Kinds of Calling

In our passage this morning, there is a single principle repeated three times, and there are two applications of this principle that touch on two of the basic statuses or positions that a person might have in the ancient society of Corinth – ethnicity (either Jew or Gentile) and slavery (either servant or freeman).

The principle (repeated in v17, 20, and 24) is that God “calls” or “assigns” each person to his or her particular social, economic, and political status in “life” (v17). And, therefore, the Christian should be content with his or her status or position, and “remain” there as a faithful servant of God.

But this vocational “calling” or positional“calling” (a “calling” to a certain living “condition”) is probably not the way we are used to thinking about God’s “call” in the New Testament. When we see God’s “call” or “calling” in the Bible, we are likely to think in terms of salvation… and it’s not wrong for us to do that.

Indeed, the Apostle Paul speaks of two different kinds of “calling” in our passage today, both of which are from “God.” One is a “call” (v18, 21) into Christianity or into salvation, and the other is a “call” into a particular living “condition” or “situation” (NIV) or “assigned… life” (v17).

Let’s consider each one in turn.

First, the “calling” into salvation (v18, 21). Paul asks three questions in our passage: (1) “18a Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised?” (2) “18b Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised?” (3) “21 Were you a bondservant when called?”

In all three of these questions, Paul is talking about various conditions of one’s “life” when he or she was “called” to believe and follow Jesus. And this vocabulary should already be familiar to us from 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

Paul addressed this letter to “the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…” (1 Cor. 1:2).

Paul comforted them by saying that God “is faithful” to “sustain [them] to the end,” since God is the one “by whom [they] were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:8-9).

And Paul distinguished the believers in Corinth, whether they were Jews or Gentiles (i.e., non-Jews), from unbelievers by telling them that the believers are those God had “called” by His own “power” and “wisdom” to believe the message of “Christ crucified” even though that message was “foolish” to the unbelieving world (1 Cor. 1:21-25).

This concept of “calling” is pervasive throughout the NT. Christians are those “called” in “the grace of Christ” (Gal. 1:6). Christians are “called… out of darkness [and] into [the] marvelous light” of Christ (1 Pet. 2:9). And Christians are “called” to join Christ in “the riches of his glorious inheritance” (Eph. 1:18).

And this “calling” is always from God, intoChrist, by or through the power of the Holy Spirit. When the gospel is taught or preached, and sinners hear the best news of all time, some of them hear it and believe! And the believing ones are those who are “chosen” (Eph. 1:4) or “called” by God “before the foundation of the world” (2 Tim. 1:9) to be “born again” (1 Pet. 1:3) [made spiritually alive] and “joined” to Christ in real time (1 Cor. 6:17) by “the Spirit of… God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

Brothers and sisters, if any of us are believing ones here today, it is ultimately because God (in His exceedingly great grace) has “called” us to Himself by the irresistible power of His Spirit through the hearing of the message about Christ! This is the effectual call of God that brings sinners like us into salvation.

And God neither consults us nor depends upon us to make this calling effective. The same God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” at the time of creation “has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). And He does this by the power of His Spirit through the ordinary means of telling the gospel story.

Friend, if you’re here today, and you are not believing and following Jesus, then I pray that God will open your eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Christ. And if you want to talk more about this, then let’s do that after the service.

So, one kind of “calling” in our passage is to salvation, and the other is the “calling” to a particular living “condition” (v20, 24) or “assigned… life” (v17). With this second kind of “calling,” the Apostle Paul is teaching the Corinthian Christians to think about their status in “life” or their living “conditions” as (at least in some sense) an assignment from God… not as a limitation to be overcome.

You know, if I had to pick one fundamental aspect of the Christian worldview that clashes most with the worldview that is common to our culture, it might be this one right here. Even many Christians today are prone to think in terms of what Thomas Sowell called an “unconstrained” vision.[i]

Now, Sowell is an economist, and not a theologian; and so far as I know, he’s is not even a Christian. But he is an important public thinker in our time, and even at 93 years old, he’s still thinking and speaking sharply. His book A Conflict of Visions (published in 1987 and 2007) articulates well the differences between a theistic view of human nature and potential and a secular or naturalistic one.[ii]

For the secularist and the agnostic and the atheist (i.e., the naturalist), human nature is unconstrained, and so is the human potential for good. From this perspective, human nature changes over time, and given the right circumstances, man is perfectible… not in the sense that man can actually be perfect, but that man can and should throw off the limitations of circumstantial boundaries in order to strive for the freedom to pursue his best… however he defines it.

A good example of this unconstrained way of thinking is the notion of self-identity and the demand for everyone else to comply with one’s self-identity. If my parents or my pastor, my friends or my neighbors, my government or even my biology become obstacles to my own sense of self-identity and expression, then everyone else must get out of the way and let me try to be the best me I want.

But the person with a constrained view of the human nature and potential does not see the boundaries of family, religion, or government as obstacles to self-discovery. Instead, he or she understands that human nature is always constrained by all sorts of limitations, and even pervasively tainted by sinful desire and error.

Again, Sowell is not (to my knowledge) a Christian, but his description of a constrained vision fits very well with the biblical and historically Christian understanding of “original sin” or human depravity or a sin nature. The Bible teaches us that the worst possible condition we can have is one in which we are perfectly free to “listen to our hearts” or pursue our passions without anyone or anything to keep us from destroying ourselves.

Friends, if we feel as though our present circumstances are only getting in the way of attaining all that we want in life, then it is possible that we are not viewing our circumstances rightly. Our passage teaches us that God is the one who has “assigned” or “called” us to the “life” we have, and the repeated command here is to “remain” and to glorify God in “whatever condition” we find ourselves.

2. One Principle of Remaining

As I’ve been saying, there is one principle repeated three times in our passage this morning… all meant to hammer home this idea of vocational “calling” or positional“calling” or “calling” to a condition of life (v17, 20, 24).

In v17, Paul says, “let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.”

In v20, we read, “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.”

And in v24, it says, “So, brothers [i.e., Christians], in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.”

Let’s consider this principle of “remaining,” first by pointing out what it does not mean, and then by summarizing what it does mean.

First, it does not mean that Christians ought to remain in sin. We are not excused to be sinful, simply because we are prone to be sinful. In v19, Paul says, “neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God” (v19).

Some of us may be wondering why in the world Paul would mention something like “circumcision” here, so let me briefly explain. The Old Testament practice of circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:1-3, 15:1-21, 17:1-14), which was carried forward into the Mosaic covenant.

Throughout the Old Testament, entrance into the covenant blessings of God began with the “circumcision” of all males in the family. This practice, then, was not only an ethnic symbol (to be a true Israelite, your males must be circumcised) but also a religious symbol (this practice was commanded by the God of Israel).

When Jesus came, He said repeatedly that the symbols of the Old Testament were all meant to point to Him… He is the better Israel, the better Moses, the better sacrifice… the better prophet, the better priest, and the better king. Everything from circumcision to Sabbath, from tabernacles to religious calendars, everything terminated in and on the Christ (or the Messiah)!

But even the believing Jews of the first century had a tough time letting go of their religious and ethnic practices. So, many of them tried to bring the religious and ethnic obligations of the Mosaic covenant into the New Covenant church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 15, there was even a church meeting to discuss what to do about believing Jews and believing Gentiles coming together as Christians. Ultimately, the decision in Acts 15, and the consistent teaching of the New Testament is that faith alone in Christ alone is what justifies a guilty sinner, and not any act of obedience to God’s law (including circumcision).

But in our passage, Paul is not contrasting obedience and faith; he’s contrasting a physical characteristic with “keeping” or guarding or observing “the commandments of God” (v19). In short, Paul is saying here that your ethnic identity or your cultural experience or even your traditional heritage are not as important as your posture toward God’s commands and instructions.

Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, whether you are a male or a female, whether you have a rich or pitiful religious background, these are as “nothing” in comparison to your obligation and your effort to “keep” or “observe” God’s commands. Therefore, “keeping” or “observing” God’s commands is what “counts” … indeed, in some sense, that is all that “counts” (v19).

Brothers and sisters, whatever our life experience has been, whatever our personalities, whatever our resources, and whatever our opportunities, we are all obligated to strive for obedience to God. As Christians we must begin by acknowledging that we have not obeyed God, and therefore we deserve God’s judgment and curse. This is the first use of the law, and it drives us to Christ.[iii]

We know that we are sinners, and so we know that we need a Savior… And (praise God!) He has provided us with just such a Savior! Jesus came to save repenting and believing sinners… and it is His obedience (and not our own) that is our ground for right standing before God… We simply trust or believe in Him.

But the third use of the law is to teachChristians how we ought to live as Christians. The Ten Commandments reveal the character of God, and so we look there to learn the fundamental origin for what is morally right or wrong in any given circumstance. The Mosaic covenant applies the Ten Commandments to the nation-state of OT Israel, and the many commands in the NT apply the Ten Commandments to Christians – both inside and outside the church.

So, when Paul commands Christians here to “remain” in the “condition” that “the Lord has assigned” (v17, 20, 24), he does not mean that Christians are not required to strive toward progress in holiness and in wisdom regarding Christian doctrine and practice. On the contrary, Christians are absolutely to “repent” or turn away from sin (Acts 2:28, 3:19; 2 Cor. 7:10; Rev. 2:5), to “obey” Christ’s commands (2 Cor. 10:5; 2 Thess. 3:14; Heb. 5:9), and to strive for “growth” in spiritual “maturity” (Eph. 4:11-16) and practical “holiness” (2 Cor. 7:1).

Brothers and sisters, how are you striving to “keep the commandments of God” (v19)? In what specific ways are you growing in your understanding of God’s commands? And how are you aiming to live in keeping with them?

May God help us to be the sort of Christians who think less about how our circumstances might limit our obedience to God, and more about how we can lovingly and humbly obey God in our own particular circumstances.

Second, our passage does not mean to teach us that Christians ought always to remain in their circumstances. We are not commanded to remain poor or ignorant or dependent upon others just because that’s the way we lived before we heard and believed the gospel. At the end of v21, Paul says, “if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of [or “make use of”] the opportunity” (v21).

We don’t have the time to get into the weeds regarding the function of the term “bondservant” or “servant” (KJV) or “slave” (NASB, NIV). It is true that the Bible does not condemn every kind of “slavery,” and that’s because the sort of slavery that probably comes to our minds is not the only kind there is… either in history or still today. But for our purposes, it would help us to know that Paul has in view a debtor or immigrant or maybe (in our context) a lower-level employee.

In the ancient Graeco-Roman world, it was common for a poor man or for a man who had immigrated from the world outside to sell himself into the service of a wealthier household. The man would, of course, bring his family along with him, and the enslaved family would serve as domestic employees.

There is reason to believe that at least one-third of the population of Corinth were slaves, and that another third were previous slaves who had earned their freedom. The remaining third of the population were likely natural born citizens of the Roman empire. And there is also reason to believe that slaves had it pretty good in some cases… they could pursue education, there were laws that supported the better treatment of slaves, and slaves could sometimes climb the social ladder.

And yet, to be a slave was clearly a social, economic, and political disadvantage. Slaves were of a lower class of society, they owned very little, and they did not have the full rights of citizens. And that’s why Paul tells the Christian slaves that they ought to “avail” themselves of the “opportunity” to “gain [their] freedom” if they can (v21).

Therefore, the principle here – “remain in the condition” you are – is not fatalistic. It is not a call to mediocrity. It is not urging Christians to be doormats or mindless employees or peasants in a worldly kingdom. No, Christians ought to “gain [their] freedom” if they can (v21)! Christians ought to work hard to excel on the job… they ought to strive for greater education… they ought to make use of their rights as citizens… and they ought to aim for greater freedoms if possible.

But this begs the question… if Christians are not here commanded to be spiritually lazy or to merely have an outward or symbolic religiosity… but rather to pursue holiness and spiritual maturity… and if Christians are not to be unambitious with their lives… but rather to strive for the improvement of their social and economic and political circumstances… then what does Paul mean to “remain” in the “condition” that “the Lord has assigned” (v17, 20, 24)?

It seems to me that the point here is emphasis or priority.

In both cases (with ethnic and religious background, and with social-economic status), Paul’s instruction is the same: “Don’t ‘seek circumcision,’ and don’t ‘seek to remove the marks of circumcision’” (v18)… “Don’t ‘be concerned about’ being a ‘bondservant’” (v21). Instead, whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, “keep the commandments of God” (v19)… and remember that whether you are a “bondservant” or a “freedman” in your society, you are both a “bondservant” and a “freedman” of “Christ” (v22).

In fact, v23 ought to remind us of the overarching command that is driving all of Paul’s specific applications throughout this portion of the letter! In v23, Paul says, “You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men” (v23).

But what is he saying?!

He’s saying the same thing here that he said at the end of chapter 6: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

It doesn’t matter if you are the richest man in town; you are not your own, you are a bondservant of God. It doesn’t matter if you are the poorest and weakest and least significant; you were bought with a price, and you are free in Christ Jesus. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got all the religious institutions in your pedigree; your traditions and legalistic disciplines don’t even compare to simple obedience in everyday Christian living. And it doesn’t matter if you are brand-new to this whole Christianity thing; all of us are sinners saved by grace, and all of us are humbly aiming to grow in faith and in the knowledge of Christ.

That’s what I mean by emphasis or priority… I believe what our passage is driving at is the upending of our assumption that Christian conversion is a transformation of circumstances more than it is a transformation of character.

This flies directly in the face of the prosperity gospel, and it probably pushes back against most of us (at least a little) this morning. The prosperity gospel says that becoming a Christian entitles you to all sorts of material blessings (health, wealth, and prosperity), and popular Evangelicalism says much the same, but it uses softer and more therapeutic language.

“Is your marriage struggling? Then Jesus will fix your spouse.”

“Are you in financial straits? Then biblical budgeting is the solution.”

“Are your kids wayward and misbehaving? Then apply the disciplines of a godly home, and they will turn out just fine.”

“Is your health a daily concern? Then pray, and God will most definitely make you well.”

“Are you depressed? Then come to Jesus, and you’ll never feel sorrow or despair again.”

Friends, I’m not saying that Jesus cannot heal your marriage… or that biblical principles won’t help your finances… or that godly disciplines won’t help your kids… or that God doesn’t heal sickness and disease… or that genuine fellowship with Christ and with His people won’t affect your heart and mind.

But friends, I am saying that these are not the promises of the gospel… and these are not the main or chief or highest priorities of Christian living. Rather, the highest priority of Christian living is to glorify God in the circumstances you have.

3. Three Implications for Us Today

First, don’t try to throw off all your circumstantial limits, but aim to live within them as a divinely “assigned” frame for Christian faithfulness and ministry.

What does it look like for a married or single woman in a rural community with your skills and personality and family situation to live faithfully in service to Christ? What does it look like for a woman like you to love Jesus and love your neighbor? What does it look like for a woman like you (with all your faults and limitations) to honor marriage, to work diligently, to spend wisely, to speak gently, to submit to your husband (if you have one), and to wield authority in the lives of your children (if you have any at home)?

And for men. What does it look like for a godly man with your skills and personality and family situation to live faithfully for Christ? What does it look like for a man like you to love Jesus and to love your neighbor? What does it look like for a man like you (with all your flaws and limitations) to honor marriage, to work diligently, to spend wisely, to speak honestly, to lead your family (if you have one), and to wield authority in the lives of those God has placed under you?

Brothers and sisters, how much better would our lives and our witness be if we treated the circumstantial boundaries of our lives (your age, your gender, your strengths, your weaknesses, your means, and your opportunities) as a sort of frame for the picture God is drawing for our Christian witness?

Let’s stop thinking that we would be better if things were different, and let’s strive to live differently (with God’s help) in the conditions we have right now!

Second, don’t shape your aspirations and your expectations according to the world around you, but aspire to glorify God from your living conditions.

Here I’m thinking especially of v22-23. “You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men” (v23). The world would have us believe that any position of servanthood is bad and oppressive and stifling. But we are instructed here that both the “bondservant” and the “free” person are able and even obligated to serve the Lord as His “bondservant” (v22).

The American Dream is shaped by worldly measurements of success (more money, more prestige, more property, more luxury). But this is not the goal or hope of Christian living. We already have all the riches of a glorious inheritance in Christ. Our names are known to God in heaven. Our God and Father owns the whole world, and nothing can compare to the luxury and joy of walking with Christ now and being with Him in glory.

But both in this life and in the life to come, we are not free to pursue complete autonomy. We are never going to be our own masters. We will either be ruled by our sinful desires, or we will be ruled by a good and gracious King. We must learn to aspire to faithfulness, and not to self-advancement at any cost.

Third, in whatever condition you find yourself, live for and with the Lord. Look with me to v24. Paul concludes his thought here by saying, “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (v24).

He says something very similar in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). And Paul wrote the same to the church in Colossae, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17).

There is a Christian idea here that has been called living life “coram Deo” or living before the face of God.[iv] R.C. Sproul once wrote, “To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, [and] to the glory of God.”

Brothers and sisters, whatever our living conditions, wherever we find ourselves today, we are where we are, under the sovereign and regulated plan of God Almighty. He has put us right where He wants us, and He intends us to grow here as Christians and to mature as disciples… to use the means and opportunities and personalities and aspirations we have in diligent service to Christ and to others around us… and to serve Him as faithful subjects… and to do all of it with Him right by our side.

May God help us, and may God be with us as we go.

Endnotes

[i] For a good introduction to and summary of Sowell’s book “A Conflict of Visions,” I recommend this brief article by Justin Taylor. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/a-conflict-of-visions-or-why-cant-we-all-get-along/ [ii] See this book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Visions-Ideological-Political-Struggles/dp/0465002056 [iii] Here is an excellent and short introduction to the Reformed concept of God’s law having three uses: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/threefold-use-law [iv] Here is a great introduction and summary of this concept: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-does-coram-deo-mean

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

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