If we are faithful in what God has called us to do, we will be brought up (budding). God has a plan, and He is preparing for us to bloom. God brings us through trials in order for us to blossom. We are to wait for Him while He prepares us to be in the condition that we are to be in.
In this scripture, Paul urges the Corinthians to be less concerned with changing their states of life, than with answering God’s call wherever it finds them. The Corinthians were prepared to make full changes without thoroughly considering the consequences. Paul was writing to say that Christian’s ought to be Christians in whatever location they are in. We can take care of God’s work and show our faith anywhere that we are at. If an individual becomes a Christian after marriage, and the spouse is not a believer, that individual does not need to divorce that one and then to be married to a Christian to live for Christ. Stay married. Try not to expect that we are in some unacceptable spot. We might be exactly where God needs us to be.
He says in this passage that God is the person who has appointed these specific spots in the life of His children when they were called into the faith. God plans to utilize every one of us. That implies serving and complying with the specific positions and connections we were in when He called us. A few, obviously, are called to go or move, either genuinely or socially. In any case, this may not be the situation for everybody. The principal openings for apprenticeship, administration, and submission might be right where we are.
• 1 Corinthians 7:20, Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
Circumcision was a sizable portion of the Jews’ relationship with God. Indeed, before Christ came, circumcision was directed by God for all who professed to follow him (Genesis 17:9-14; Leviticus 12:1-3). However, after Christ’s crucifixion, circumcision was not, at this point essential (Acts 15; Romans 4:9-11; Galatians 5:2-4; Colossians 2:11). If a person was a Gentile, they should not try to be an Israelite (circumcision practice). Pleasing God is a higher priority than noticing traditional ceremonies.
• Galatians 5:6, For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
• Colossians 3:11, Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Paul is repeating what he said in verse seventeen. This does not mean Christians should decline to permit any progressions to their life or conditions. Given the circumstances, he is cautioning them not to stress over changing their status, or to transform it for some unacceptable reasons.
For what reason may another Christian look to make a quick, uncommon change to their conditions? Why should a Christian surge head-first into chastity, to leave a job, divorce a spouse, be circumcised, or break their responsibility as a bondservant?
One misguided explanation may be an endeavor to make oneself more satisfactory to the Lord. As Paul wrote in the first chapter, numerous people who came to Christ in Corinth were not considered good by the world. Few were customarily insightful or affluent or of honorable birth (1 Corinthians 1:26-27). Maybe, once saved, they wanted to become more decent by some quantifiable norm for Christ to accept them.
One more justification for needing to change conditions subsequent to coming to faith in Christ, they might want to be viewed as more spiritual or commendable by fellow Christians. Paul had previously commented on the proud and critical perspectives of the Corinthians. Maybe they were contending to look more spiritually qualified to one another. Once more, Paul clarifies this as a useless objective.
We can become so worried about what we could be doing for God elsewhere that we pass up on the incredible opportunities that God has for us right where we are. Paul had said that when a person becomes a Christian, he ought to proceed with the work he has recently been doing, if it is not corrupt or unethical. We may be right where God wants us to be.
Every type of work can become Christian work when we understand that the motivation behind our life is to respect, serve, and stand up for Christ. Since God has set us where we are at, we are to search cautiously for opportunities to serve Him there. Be content where we are at and let God produce the growth that He wants for us.
• Galatians 5:13, For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
• Ephesians 6:6, Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
• 1 Peter 2:16, As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
Slavery was regular practice all through the Roman Empire. A few Christians in the Corinthian church were slaves. In today’s society, the idea of slavery brings about visualization of kidnapping, abuse, shackles, and racism. People often sold themselves as bondservants to pay off debts.
Whatever the case, Paul said that even though they were captives to men, they were liberated from the power of transgression in their lives. Individuals today are captives to sin until they submit their lives to Christ, who alone can vanquish sin’s power. Sin, pride, and dread at this point do not have control over us, similarly as a slaveowner no longer has control over the slaves he has sold. The Bible says we become slaves to Christ when we become Christians (Romans 6:18), yet this really implies we acquire our freedom since wrongdoing no longer controls us.
• 1 Corinthians 6:20, For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Paul closes this passage, rehashing for the third time that the Christians in Corinth ought to stay in whatever condition or circumstance they had when they came to faith in Christ. This incorporates being single or married, whether uncircumcised or circumcised, and either as a slave or as a free person. This is not expressed as an order: “you should stay as you are.” Rather, it is Paul’s consolation that Christians are not committed to look for any of those situations with spiritual reasons.
Indeed, Paul has included conditions under which it is reasonable for a Christian to search out a change their status. Single individuals who “get overwhelmed with emotion” ought to, truth be told, get married (1 Corinthians 7:8-9). Those wedded to unbelievers ought not battle their adjustment of status if their life partner requests a divorce (1 Corinthians 7:15). Slaves who have the chance to be liberated should take it (1 Corinthians 7:21). At the end of the day, the Scripture’s order here is certainly not a sweeping limitation on changing from one circumstance then onto the next, ever.
Paul knew how to be content wherever God had him. We should stop focusing on a move or promotion and learn how to grow where we are currently planted. God is teaching us how to trust in Him in all our circumstances. Every step in our life prepares us for the next step. Stop complaining and be a blessing.
• Romans 12:4, For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
• Philippians 4:11-13, Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
