1 Corinthians 7:17 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

Calling in this place signifieth that station and course of life, wherein by the providence of God any man is set. Some think, that this precept hath a special reference to what went before, as if the sense were this: If God by his providence hath so ordered it that thy heart be changed, thy wife's or thy husband's heart being not yet changed, but he or she remaining pagans, yet let not this cause any separation between you, but, unless the unbeliever will depart, live yet as man and wife together, mutually performing conjugal offices each to other. But the following verses, \1 Corinthians 7:21,22\ where the apostle speaks of called being a servant, show this interpretation to be too narrow. The sense of the text is, that the profession of Christianity is consistent with any honest calling or course of life, and it is the will of God tliat Christians should not pretend their profession of religion, to excuse them from the duties of any relation wherein they are set. And so ordain I in all churches; this is a universal rule, and concerned not the church of Corinth only, but all other churches of Christ, being an apostolical constitution.

1 Corinthians 7:17

17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.