1 Corinthians 7

Posted on Jul 14, 2017 in Bible (NT) in a Year |

Friday

17 Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you.

So, some words of wisdom from Paul on how to live our lives in light of our new Christian status. Should we marry? Shouldn’t we? Who do we marry? Who do we leave? These are pertinent questions even in our society.

But I want to focus in on a short passage within this chapter – verses 17-24. In my bible the heading reads: Live as you were called. There is a recurring message in these verses.

17 Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. 20 Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you.24 Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.

This whole chapter is dealing with how as new Christians we should live in relationship with those around us. It is obvious that Paul is answering questions that have been posed to him previously and these are his answers.

Husbands and wives should not abstain from sexual relationships and a believing spouse doesn’t have to leave the unbelieving spouse. There are a few exceptions, but becoming a Christians doesn’t mean that God is severing our marriage vows. That is a covenant that should continue to be honored.

I can attest to the fact that a believing wife can win over her unbelieving husband, it just takes a continuous walk in faith and a whole lot of prayer.

The message here is that you should stay in your relationships and not try to destroy them or walk away from them, but the exception is if the unbeliever is not willing to maintain the relationship and deserts the believer, then the believer is under no obligation to continue the relationship.

So having said that, Paul turns to a couple of other issues. One being circumcised vs uncircumcised. Basically what he is saying is that you don’t need to change who you are when you become a Christian,  that is not the important issue. If you were Jewish – fine, don’t try to become a Gentile and if you are a Gentile, you don’t need to become Jewish first to be a Christian. The important issue isn’t circumcision; see what Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 2:25, “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.” (ESV)
 
You see it isn’t cultural, it isn’t national, it isn’t your background, it is where your heart is… now, today.  Obedience to God is so much more important then your past.. Paul will tell us again, that there is no difference between status in Galatians 3:28. If there is no difference then what are you boasting about? Differences are of little importance to God compared to whether you are devoting yourself to his Word. Are you living in obedience to His commandments? Where you are in your faith journey? Are you drawing closer to Him?
 

Those are the important issues.

Grace and Peace

Pastor Kathy