1Co 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
1Co 7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
1Co 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
Bonhoeffer- 'How different it all sounds from the calling of the first disciples! They had to leave everything and follow Jesus. Now we are told- "Let each man abide in the calling wherein he was called." How are we to reconcile the contradiction? Only by recognizing the underlying motive both of the call of Jesus and of the exhortation of the apostle. In both cases it is the same-- to bring their hearers into the fellowship of the Body of Christ. The only way the first disciples could enter that fellowship was by going with Jesus. But now through the Word and Sacrament the Body of Christ is no longer confined to a single place. The risen and exalted Lord had returned to the earth to be nearer than ever before. The Body of Christ has penetrated into the heart of the world in the form of the Church. The baptized Christian is baptized into that Body. Christ has come to him and taken his life into his own, thus robbing the world of its own. If a man is baptized as a slave, he has now as a slave become a partaker in the common life of the Body of Christ. As a slave he is already torn from the world's clutches, and become a freedman of Christ. That is why the slave is told to stay as he is. As a member of the Body of Christ he has acquired a freedom which no rebellion or revolution could have brought him. Of course St. Paul does not mean thereby to bind him more closely to the world, or to give him a spiritual anchor so that he can continue his life in the world. When he admonishes the slave to stay as he is, it is not because he wants to make him a better citizen of the world or a more loyal one. It is not as though St. Paul were trying to condone or gloss over a black spot in the social order. He does not mean that the class-structure of secular society is so good and godly an institution that it would be wrong to upset it by revolution. The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside-down by the work of Jesus Christ, which has wrought a liberation for freeman and slave alike. A revolution would only obscure that divine New Order which Jesus Christ has established. It would also hinder and delay the disruption of the existing world order in the coming of the kingdom of God. It would be equally wrong to suppose that St Paul imagines that the fulfillment of our secular calling is itself the living of the Christian life. No, his real meaning is that to renounce rebellion and revolution is the most appropriate way of expressing our conviction that the Christian hope is not set on this world, but on Christ and his kingdom.. And so-- let a slave remain a slave! It is not reform that the world needs, for it is already ripe for destruction. And so - let the slave remain a slave. He enjoys a better promise. Surely there is enough judgment for the world and comfort for the slave in the fact that God 'took upon himself the form of a slave' (Phil.2:7) when he came to earth.'
My thoughts- How true, and yet right now in our world today there is a constant rebellion against what we call injustice. It is true that there are so many injustices in the world we can't begin to count them all. It is equally true that turning a blind eye to injustices can result in the atrocious tortures of our fellow man. So where do we draw a line? Where do we say this is too much, we must step in? Do we really forever and always have to turn the other cheek and accept that abuse will go on? Do we fight for others, if not ourselves? Aren't we to do all we can out of love for others to protect them, care for them, as we know Jesus would?
One thing I think it is very easy for us to forget; when Jesus walked the earth before His death and resurrection, during the three years of his ministry there were gross atrocities taking place. Those awful abuses didn't stop during His time upon earth, they went right on. The Romans didn't suddenly become less abusive of all those they ruled over. Their debase entertainments didn't cease. The debauchery was alive and well all around the world that Jesus lived in and He did NOT call for His apostles to rise up and destroy those who were committing the worst of sins. Jesus did not send His disciples to war to free the abused slaves. Yet somehow we believe that we should in all good conscience go to war to keep people from hurting others.
I know it sounds as if I'm advocating abuse but I'm not, not any more than our Savior did as He walked the earth teaching, preaching, living and loving, as He was put to death for us.
We have to live for Christ, in Christ. We have to live for the world to come. Jesus came to teach us that there is hope and it is found in Him, in the kingdom of heaven. He did not come to teach us to fight here and now as if we truly believe we can rid the world of evil and bring in peace. We have no such power!
We must LOVE, He taught LOVE for one another, but He did not teach us to force others to love, he did not teach us that this world will fill up with Christ followers. In fact, Jesus taught us the opposite.
Luk 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
In the days of Noah the world was FILLED with evil.
In the days of Sodom and Gomorrah the world was FILLED with evil.
In the days of the second coming of Christ the world will be FILLED with evil.
With our God telling us how things will be, why do we imagine we have some sort of power to rid the world of evil? We do NOT. We are to LOVE others, but NEVER force love, it ceases to be love the instant it is forced.
Where we find ourselves in life we are to live in Christ, seeking to LOVE as He would have us LOVE.
This isn't a popular belief, especially nowadays, but it is God's belief, it is a Biblical belief, it is our Savior's belief.
We are to live in Christ and we are free in Christ because we are living for the world to come, not the world that exists all around us.
All that surrounds us is temporary to eternity and we must NEVER forget that, not ever!
By the grace and mercy of our LORD, let us live in HIM in all things.
1Co 7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
1Co 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
Bonhoeffer- 'How different it all sounds from the calling of the first disciples! They had to leave everything and follow Jesus. Now we are told- "Let each man abide in the calling wherein he was called." How are we to reconcile the contradiction? Only by recognizing the underlying motive both of the call of Jesus and of the exhortation of the apostle. In both cases it is the same-- to bring their hearers into the fellowship of the Body of Christ. The only way the first disciples could enter that fellowship was by going with Jesus. But now through the Word and Sacrament the Body of Christ is no longer confined to a single place. The risen and exalted Lord had returned to the earth to be nearer than ever before. The Body of Christ has penetrated into the heart of the world in the form of the Church. The baptized Christian is baptized into that Body. Christ has come to him and taken his life into his own, thus robbing the world of its own. If a man is baptized as a slave, he has now as a slave become a partaker in the common life of the Body of Christ. As a slave he is already torn from the world's clutches, and become a freedman of Christ. That is why the slave is told to stay as he is. As a member of the Body of Christ he has acquired a freedom which no rebellion or revolution could have brought him. Of course St. Paul does not mean thereby to bind him more closely to the world, or to give him a spiritual anchor so that he can continue his life in the world. When he admonishes the slave to stay as he is, it is not because he wants to make him a better citizen of the world or a more loyal one. It is not as though St. Paul were trying to condone or gloss over a black spot in the social order. He does not mean that the class-structure of secular society is so good and godly an institution that it would be wrong to upset it by revolution. The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside-down by the work of Jesus Christ, which has wrought a liberation for freeman and slave alike. A revolution would only obscure that divine New Order which Jesus Christ has established. It would also hinder and delay the disruption of the existing world order in the coming of the kingdom of God. It would be equally wrong to suppose that St Paul imagines that the fulfillment of our secular calling is itself the living of the Christian life. No, his real meaning is that to renounce rebellion and revolution is the most appropriate way of expressing our conviction that the Christian hope is not set on this world, but on Christ and his kingdom.. And so-- let a slave remain a slave! It is not reform that the world needs, for it is already ripe for destruction. And so - let the slave remain a slave. He enjoys a better promise. Surely there is enough judgment for the world and comfort for the slave in the fact that God 'took upon himself the form of a slave' (Phil.2:7) when he came to earth.'
My thoughts- How true, and yet right now in our world today there is a constant rebellion against what we call injustice. It is true that there are so many injustices in the world we can't begin to count them all. It is equally true that turning a blind eye to injustices can result in the atrocious tortures of our fellow man. So where do we draw a line? Where do we say this is too much, we must step in? Do we really forever and always have to turn the other cheek and accept that abuse will go on? Do we fight for others, if not ourselves? Aren't we to do all we can out of love for others to protect them, care for them, as we know Jesus would?
One thing I think it is very easy for us to forget; when Jesus walked the earth before His death and resurrection, during the three years of his ministry there were gross atrocities taking place. Those awful abuses didn't stop during His time upon earth, they went right on. The Romans didn't suddenly become less abusive of all those they ruled over. Their debase entertainments didn't cease. The debauchery was alive and well all around the world that Jesus lived in and He did NOT call for His apostles to rise up and destroy those who were committing the worst of sins. Jesus did not send His disciples to war to free the abused slaves. Yet somehow we believe that we should in all good conscience go to war to keep people from hurting others.
I know it sounds as if I'm advocating abuse but I'm not, not any more than our Savior did as He walked the earth teaching, preaching, living and loving, as He was put to death for us.
We have to live for Christ, in Christ. We have to live for the world to come. Jesus came to teach us that there is hope and it is found in Him, in the kingdom of heaven. He did not come to teach us to fight here and now as if we truly believe we can rid the world of evil and bring in peace. We have no such power!
We must LOVE, He taught LOVE for one another, but He did not teach us to force others to love, he did not teach us that this world will fill up with Christ followers. In fact, Jesus taught us the opposite.
Luk 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
In the days of Noah the world was FILLED with evil.
In the days of Sodom and Gomorrah the world was FILLED with evil.
In the days of the second coming of Christ the world will be FILLED with evil.
With our God telling us how things will be, why do we imagine we have some sort of power to rid the world of evil? We do NOT. We are to LOVE others, but NEVER force love, it ceases to be love the instant it is forced.
Where we find ourselves in life we are to live in Christ, seeking to LOVE as He would have us LOVE.
This isn't a popular belief, especially nowadays, but it is God's belief, it is a Biblical belief, it is our Savior's belief.
We are to live in Christ and we are free in Christ because we are living for the world to come, not the world that exists all around us.
All that surrounds us is temporary to eternity and we must NEVER forget that, not ever!
By the grace and mercy of our LORD, let us live in HIM in all things.
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