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…Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called…So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

1 Corinthians 7:17, 20, 24

In order for one to “rightly handle the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), one must first look at the immediate context of any biblical verse under consideration.  Who is talking?  To whom are they speaking?  What is the topic discussed between them?  Additionally, one must also remember that “the entirety of (God’s) Word is truth” (Ps. 119:160a), meaning that one must also consider what the rest of Scripture says about the topic at hand.

I bring this out because some have taken the verses quoted above to mean that “if God calls me to be a Christian while I am involved in a sexually immoral relationship such as adulterous, homosexual, incestuous, or pre-marital unions, or if I become a Christian while I am living a life of drunkenness, drug addiction, thievery, or any other sin of which I am fond and habitually practice, then God is fine with me continuing in those lifestyles.”  Such could not be further from the truth. For one thing, the entirety of Scripture makes it clear that God expects Christians to repent of their sins both in order to receive initial forgiveness of sins upon becoming Christians (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30-31; 1 Cor. 6:9-11) and afterwards as they live their lives as saved believers (Acts 8:22; Rom. 6:1-18; 2 Cor. 7:10-11; 1 John 1:7-9).  Additionally, a closer examination of the immediate context shows that Paul is addressing the question of whether Christians are allowed by God to be married to non-Christians (7:12ff).  Apparently, some in the church at Corinth had converted to Christ but their spouse had not.  Were they allowed to remain married now that they are a Christian but their spouse remains outside of Christ?  As we saw last week in our study of verses 12-16, God through Paul directed them to remain married.  It is within this context that Paul says, “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” (7:17).  If God called you through the gospel (2 Thess 2:14) and you answered his call by obeying the gospel (1 Pet. 4:17) while married, then stay married.  Again, this assumes that the marriage is not adulterous (cf. Matt. 19:9), homosexual, incestuous, bigamous, or sinful in any way, as God demands repentance of all sins (Acts 17:30).

To illustrate his point, Paul gives other situations of life in which people who convert to Christianity might be living.  He mentions circumcision first, likely because that also was a controversy in the early church (7:18-19; cf. Acts 15; Galatians).  If one became a Christian while circumcised or uncircumcised, that was fine and the new convert should not feel the need to undergo any type of surgery to change anything due to his newfound Christianity.  All that mattered is that they obeyed God, who never commanded anything about circumcision in the new covenant.  The same principle applies if one obeyed the gospel while serving as a slave (7:21-23).  Slavery was common in the Roman Empire, whether it be imprisonment for crimes, indentured servitude to pay off debt, or kidnapping people to bring them into chattel slavery, the latter being condemned as sin (1 Tim. 1:9-11).  A slave who converted to Christianity could gain their freedom if the opportunity presented itself but should also recognize that they were now set free from sin.  In like manner, a free person who obeyed the gospel should recognize that they are now a slave to the Christ who had purchased them with his blood (cf. Acts 20:28).

The point Paul is making is that Christians “should remain in the condition in which (they were) called” (7:20; cf. 7:17, 24).  If you were married and obeyed the gospel, stay married even if your spouse did not convert alongside you.                                                                                                –

— Jon