1 Corinthians 7:20-24 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Let every man abide wherein he was called Affect not to change without the clear and evident leadings of Providence, as there is generally greater reason to expect a man will enjoy comfort, and be holy and useful, in a situation to which he is accustomed, than in another to which he is a stranger. The apostle repeats the injunction because of its great importance; for they who are so unsettled in their minds as to be continually changing from one condition or line of life to another, seldom make progress, or are of much use to themselves or others, in any one. Art thou called being a servant Or bondman, as δουλος properly signifies; care not for it Do not much regard it, nor anxiously seek liberty: do not suppose that such a condition renders thee less acceptable to God, or is unworthy of a Christian. But if thou mayest be made free By any lawful method; use it rather Embrace the opportunity. He that is called in, or by, the Lord To the Christian faith; being a servant Or a bond-man; is the Lord's freeman Being delivered by him from the slavery of sin and Satan, and therefore possesses the greatest of all dignities. Likewise In like manner; he that is called, being free From the authority of any human master; is Christ's servant Or bondman; not free in this respect; not at his own disposal; not at liberty to do his own will, but bound to be subject and obedient to Christ. Surely, as Goodwin observes, “the apostle could not have expressed in stronger terms his deep conviction of the small importance of human distinctions than he here does; when, speaking of what seems, to great and generous minds, the most miserable lot, even that of a slave, he says, Care not for it.” To this Doddridge adds, “If liberty itself, the first of all temporal blessings, be not of so great importance as that a man, blessed with the high hopes and glorious consolations of Christianity, should make himself very solicitous about it, how much less in those comparatively trifling distinctions on which many lay so disproportionate, so extravagant a stress.” Ye are bought with a price Christ hath redeemed you at the expense of his own blood, a price of infinite value; be not ye the servants The slaves; of men If it can by any lawful means be avoided, since so many evils, dangers, and snares are inseparable from such a condition. Brethren, let every man, &c. Here the apostle repeats the same advice a third time in the compass of a few verses, intending, L'Enfant thinks, “to correct some disorders among the Christian slaves in Corinth, who, agreeably to the doctrine of the false teachers, claimed their liberty, on pretence that, as brethren in Christ, they were on an equality with their Christian masters.” Therein abide with God Doing all things as unto God, and as in his immediate presence. They who thus abide with God, preserve a holy indifference with regard to outward things.