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This teaching of theirs has not been contrived by the invention and speculation of inquisitive men; nor are they propagating mere human teaching as some people do. They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship.
They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens, they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country.
They marry and have children just like every one else; but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present "in the flesh" but they do not live "according to the flesh". They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws, and go beyond the laws in their own lives.
They love every one, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor.
Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens, and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any Reason for their hostility.
To put it simply -- the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world. The soul is spread through all parts of the body and Christians through all the cities of the world. The soul is in the body but is not of the body; Christians are in the world but not of the world.
This passage is from an anonymous letter to Diognetus, possibly dating from the second century.
Christians are still found in all walks of life, they are spread throughout the world. We saw in 1 Corinthians 7:14 that believers are to have a sanctifying influence on their world. The next section, 1 Corinthians 7:17-24, is controversial, but I believe that Paul continues with this idea that unbelievers are sanctified by believers. The seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians is devoted to marriage and some of the problems related to it. In verses 1-7 Paul established the general principle that marriage is the norm for Christians but that singleness, as a special gift of God, is good. There is nothing wrong with being single.
We saw last week that in verses 8-16 Paul applied that basic truth to four groups of believers: (1) those who were formerly married; (2) those who were married to believers; (3) those who were married to unbelievers and who wanted to remain married; and (4) those who were married to unbelievers and who wanted to leave the marriage. Next week, we'll look at Paul's words to those who were single and had never been married.
This morning we want to look at verses 17-24, which serve to enforce what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 (NKJV):
"But to the rest [believers married to unbelievers] I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy."
Paul told the Corinthian believers not to leave their unsaved spouses. An unsaved spouse would not defile a believer but he would in fact sanctify that unbelieving spouse. The believer's testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ sets his spouse apart to a place of blessing because of the influence of the gospel. Paul said that a believer ought to stay the way he was when God called him to salvation, even if he is in a mixed marriage, yoked to an unbeliever.
In the middle of his discourse on marriage, Paul digressed to emphasize a rule that he mentioned three times. The rule he gave to all the church was "Remain in the place that God has placed you." The principle is stated in verse 17, verse 20, and verse 23. The situation which a believer was in when God called him to salvation is the situation in which he was to remain. He provided two illustrations: circumcision and uncircumcision, and slaves and freedmen. The first statement of this rule occurs in verse 17:
But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.
The phrase 'has distributed' is from the Greek word merizo which means to part, to apportion, bestow, distribute, divide, give part. It implies that God determines everyone's course in life. The NIV puts it this way, "Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him."
The sovereignty of God rules over each person's vocation in life. It is God who calls different people to be farmers, plumbers, physicians, salesmen, cab drivers, pilots, soldiers and preachers. God rules over the affairs of men and he chooses believers in various vocations to influence the world.
Proverbs 16:1 (NKJV) "The preparations of the heart belong to
man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD."
Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) "In his heart a man plans his course, but the
LORD determines his steps."
If the Lord determines the steps of man, is this not proof that he is being governed by God?
Proverbs 19:21 (NKJV) "There are many plans in a man's heart,
Nevertheless the Lord's counsel; that will stand."
Proverbs 21:1 (NIV) "The king's heart is in the hand of the
LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases."
If the heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord, and if "He turns it wherever He will," then is it not clear that all men are completely beneath the governmental control of the Almighty?
Isaiah 46:9-10 (NKJV) "Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,'"
It is impossible to bring to nought the purpose of God. God has placed you in life where He wants you because you are to be an influence in your situation. You are to bloom where you are planted. Remain in the place that God has placed you.
Obviously, Paul did not mean for believers to stay in occupations or professions that were inherently immoral or illegal. A thief was not to keep stealing, a temple prostitute was not to continue her prostitution. Everything sinful was to be forsaken. The issue had to do with a believer's contentment in his social conditions and situations. God's people must live as Christians, whatever the social, economic, and religious levels of society they are in. Christians can live as Christians in a dictatorship, a democracy, or even under anarchy. A believer can live as a Christian whether he is a man, woman, child, married, single, divorced, Jew, Gentile, slave, or free. We can live as Christians in Russia, China or the United States. Whatever we are and wherever we are, we can live as Christians. In other words, the entire verse implies that a believer should function faithfully in whatever state he was in when he came to the Lord without immediately seeking to change his state. A relationship with Christ is compatible with any social relation or position.
Paul laid down one of the first rules of Christianity: "Be a Christian where you are." Often when a person becomes a Christian, he wants to break away from his job and his circle of friends to begin a new life. We have a tendency to want to break away from all non-Christians. We isolate ourselves from the world when we should insulate ourselves. Jesus prayed this in John 17:15 (NKJV):
"I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one."
The end of 1 Corinthians 7:17 addresses the command to stay in a given situation to all the churches. Some things in this chapter were addressed only to the Corinthians or others in similar situations of persecution, but this principle is for all the churches.
In 1 Corinthians 7:18 Paul gave the first illustration of this principle:
"Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised."
Circumcision had to do with a person's identity as Jew or Gentile. Circumcision identified the Jews and often the Jews would exert pressure on Gentile Christians to be circumcised.
Acts 15:1 (NKJV) "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
While there was pressure on some Gentile Christians to be circumcised, circumcision was an embarrassment in the Roman world. Roman gymnasia were centers of athletic competition, and Roman baths were regularly used for discussing business and politics. Men remained nude in both settings so that Jews were immediately recognizable. According to 1 Maccabees 1:15 some Jewish men "made themselves uncircumcised." Josephus tells us that during the Greek rule of the eastern Mediterranean several centuries before Christ, some Jewish men who wanted to be accepted into Greek society had surgery to make themselves appear uncircumcised. The Roman Celsius, in the first century A.D., wrote a detailed description of the surgical procedure for decircumcision. Paul told the Corinthian believers, "Don't worry about your racial identity. Stay as you are."
Paul made it very clear that circumcision was not necessary for salvation or for blessing. According to 1 Corinthians 7:19, it had no spiritual significance or value for Christians at all.
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.
Ethnic background or external circumstances are of no importance to living the Christian life. What really matters is keeping God's commands, obedience! We can be obedient anywhere and in any circumstance. The heart is what counts.
Romans 2:25-28 (NKJV) "For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew [one of God's people] who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew [one of God's people] who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God."
Race and marks of race make no difference. A person can serve God as a Jew or Gentile. We worry about so many things that don't matter when what really matters is our obedience to God. In 1 Samuel 15 we see that God requires total obedience from His children above all else.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NKJV) "Then Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king."
Saul was removed as king because he was not fully obedient. Are you involved in the externals in attempting to please God? How is your obedience to His Word? Parents, are you teaching your children the importance of obedience? In the series, "Growing Kids God's Way", Gary Ezzo says, "When a child continually disobeys, he is in sin. When parents continually reinforce that disobedience, (by not dealing with it) they are in sin. Obedience and disobedience are moral acts, not individual preferences." Our obedience is of paramount importance to God.
After Paul gave the illustration of circumcision, he repeated the principle in 1 Corinthians 7:20: "Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called." A believer can live obediently in any situation, in any location. Paul's emphasis here is on the words calling and called. The word called is the Greek word kaleo which refers to the irresistible divine call by which a sinner passes from death to life. The word calling, which is the Greek word klesis, refers to one's situation in life. Spiritual rebirth is not merely to be a vertical link between a person and God, but also a horizontal relation that touches his neighbor. A calling can be understood as a position or a vocation in which a believer lives in obedience to God's precepts, thus being a sanctifying influence on those around him. We are to live for the Lord faithfully in whatever position of life we are in.
Paul's main point was that no man should desire to change his status in life simply because he had become a Christian, as though he could not be a Christian and yet remain as he was. The reality of the Gospel can be lived out equally well in any vocation. This principle is illustrated by the extreme case of slavery in the verse 21.
Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.
No circumstance can keep us from living the Christian life. The word servant is the Greek word doulos which comes from deo which means to bind. It conveys the idea that the slave is bound to his master.
Don't think of slavery in the sense of the racial slavery in early America. We have come to regard slavery as one of the greatest crimes in American history. But American slavery was not the Biblical idea of slavery. Paul was proud to be a slave of Jesus Christ. Peter, James and John called themselves slaves. Jesus himself was called the doulos of God.
Slavery was prevalent and widely accepted in the ancient world. The economies of Egypt, Greece, and Rome were based on slave labor. In the first century A.D., one out of three persons in Italy and one out of five elsewhere was a slave. Many slaves were domestic and civil servants. Some were temple slaves and others were craftsmen. Some slaves were forced to become gladiators. Some were highly intelligent and held responsible positions. Legally, a slave had no rights, but most were treated humanely and were better off than many free persons. Domestics were considered part of the family and some were greatly loved by their masters. The institution of slavery was unquestioned. A person could become a slave as a result of capture in war, default on a debt, voluntarily selling oneself, being sold as a child by destitute parents, birth to slave parents, a sentence for a crime, and kidnapping and piracy. Slavery cut across races and nationalities.
Slavery laws appear in Exodus 21:1-11; Leviticus 25:39-55; and Deuteronomy 15:12-18. Most of these concern humane treatment and freeing of slaves. Paul and Peter insisted that Christian slaves be obedient to their masters (Eph. 6:5-8; Col. 3:22-25; 1 Tim. 6:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:18-21). Masters were urged to be kind to their slaves (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1).
Paul said, "Even if you're a slave, don't worry about it. Allow God to use you right where you are." This directly contradicts the thinking of many of us today. We are not to fight for our freedom; we are to remain in the state we were in when we were converted. We are allowed to obtain our freedom if possible, but we are not to fight for it. God commands us to be a sanctifying influence right where we are. God needs Christians in every walk of life to be an influence for him. By living holy lives, we sanctify and we influence those around us. We can't influence people if we're not around them.
Matthew 13:33 (NKJV) "Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."
Those who belong to God are to influence their world. This can be done in any vocation. A believer is only limited by his obedience. The Bible tells about many slaves who influenced their world for the Lord. They had a sanctifying effect on everything they contacted. Joseph was a slave in Potiphar's house. He was a faithful witness for the Lord and a sanctifying influence on that house. God blessed him and promoted him to the number two position in the kingdom. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were slaves in Babylon and they all had a tremendous influence on their world. Paul reiterated the truth that no one has to change his vocation to serve God. God wants to use his people where He has placed them.
Too often we're like the demoniac of Luke 8. As soon as we come to Christ, we want to leave our old environment and only spend time with Christians. Notice what Jesus told the man who was delivered from the demons:
Luke 8:38-40 (NKJV) "Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him."
That demonstrates our principle, "Remain in the place that God has placed you. Be an influence right where you are." You don't need to find a new job when you become a Christian. You don't need to quit your racquet ball club, or golf association, or officers' wives' club. If you're a teenager and you come to Christ, you don't need to go to a Christian school. We need to be around unbelievers so we can be a witness. How much contact do you have with unbelievers? We can't fulfill the great commission if we don't associate with the unsaved.
Paul told the Corinthian believers who were slaves to use any opportunity to become free, but they were not to make freedom the preoccupation of their lives. Each believer is to be preoccupied with serving the Lord and influencing the world for Christ in whatever vocation he is in.
For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ's slave. (1 Corinthians 7:22)
The slave who trusted Christ was the Lord's freedman. In Christ we are free from the slavery that really matters: in Him we are freed from sin, from Satan, from judgement and condemnation, and from an everlasting punishment in hell. The freedom that we have in Christ is so great a blessing that our earthly condition is of little significnce. This verse states that one's worldly position is not the important thing since one who is called is at the same time a freedman of the Lord and a servant of Christ. The free man who comes to Christ is the Lord's slave and is to render obedience to the Lord. Every vocation then becomes Christian service performed for the Master. There is no distinction between secular and sacred work because all work is sacred:
Colossians 3:22-24 (NKJV) "Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."
All service, all employment is to be done for the Lord; every job is sacred service when done for the Lord.
What is a believer's motivation for sacred service? "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men" (1 Corinthians 7:23). Paul repeated the words of 6:20 for the identical purpose of stating the motivation for obedience to Christ. In all earthly service he is to realize that his obedience and service are to Christ, not to men because God bought us with the price of Christ's blood and we are His bondslaves.
Picture a slave market or prison. The people there are in bondage and cannot free themselves. Jesus came and paid the price to redeem those in captivity. Jesus Christ did this for you: he bought you from the slave market of sin. The New Testament emphasizes both the fact of deliverance and the ransom price. Jesus said that He came "to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Paul wrote, "Ye are not your own; For ye are bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Peter declared that "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,... But with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19a). This imagery pictures rescue from bondage through the costly self-giving of Jesus. You are Jesus Christ's purchased possession.
Paul told the Corinthians, "Be not the servants of men." Paul was speaking of becoming slaves to the ways of men, the ways of the world. We are not to be men-pleasers, but in all things we should act from a sense of duty to God. The desire for liberation from slavery could have been itself a slavery to merely human distinctions.
Paul illustrated the principle of remaining in a vocation with the examples of race and slavery. In 1 Corinthians 7:24 he repeated the principle for the third time: "Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called." Paul said, "Live for the Lord where you are. Be an influence for Him in the vocation that he called you to." We are prone to think that a change in circumstances is always the answer to a problem. We think, "If I had a different job, or a different wife, or if I lived in a different neighborhood, I could really live for the Lord". But the problem is usually within us and not around us. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.
This principle has many applications. Paul introduced it in his discussion of marriage. He told the Corinthians, "You may have been married for the second or third time when you were saved. God does not intend you to jettison your present marriage to go back to your first husband". A believer is to remain in the state he was in when he was saved, as long as it is not immoral or unbiblical.
Be a testimony right where you are. For many men and women this is a very difficult thing to do. It can be difficult to live for the Lord when we are surrounded by the unsaved. Paul gave a word of encouragement to them and to us in verse 24. A believer is to remain "with God" in his situation. If you are in a difficult situation such as marriage to an unbeliever, or a job surrounded by unbelievers, bear in mind that God is right there with you in that situation to strengthen you and work through your life. Remember Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Believer, God is with us and His power is available to us if we will depend upon Him. The circumstances of life can become very difficult and trying but remember, God is with us. 1 Samuel 14 illustrates the victory that is possible when we are dependant upon God:
1 Samuel 14:6,14 (NKJV) "Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.".... "That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land."
If God is on your side, what or who should you fear? God can use one person who is committed to Him because God plus one person is a majority. Whatever your circumstances, remember the Lord is with you: depend upon him and trust in His power.
While the examples used in verses 17-24 are circumcision and uncircumcision, slavery and freedom, the point Paul made in the wider context is that we are to remain in the place where we were when God called us to salvation in order to be a sanctifying influence upon all we come in contact with. Whatever your vocation, whatever your race or position in life, whatever your circumstances, you are to be a sanctifying influence for the Lord. And remember, the darker your circumstances are, the brighter your light will shine for the Lord.
May God help us to understand that with Him by our side we are to be a sanctifying influence to all we come in contact with. Jesus put it this way in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:16 (NKJV) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
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