The Apostle Paul wrote an entire chapter on living a
Christian life (1 Cor. 7). He did not
sugar-coat the difficulty of being faithful, nor did he ignore the intense
persecution of believers at the time of his writing (v. 26). The chapter is a
depressing picture of how difficult it was for the individual, especially when
you take into consideration one’s obligations to God (v. 18-20, 32, 34-35, 40),
one’s obligations to family (v. 2-5, 9-17, 27-28, 33-34, 36, 39), and one’s
obligations to “a job” (v. 21-24).
Regardless of the challenges facing the believer, Paul
stated that they were not to be an excuse for failing to meet one’s
responsibilities. If one was called to
faith in Christ, being circumcised or uncircumcised, he was to remain as he was
when Christ called him (v. 18-20). If he
was called being either married or single, he was to remain as such (v. 1-17, 27). If he was called while being a slave
(indentured servant), he was to complete his obligation to those in authority
over him (v. 21-24).
Paul had several things to say about a believer’s responsibility
to make wise choices. First, to the
single, he recommended they remain single (v. 7), unless they could not control
themselves (v. 2, 9). While that seems
to contradict what God said about marriage (Gen. 2:18-25), Paul was taking into
consideration the work of (v. 29-35), and persecution of the Church (v. 26) of
his day.
When he spoke of a man remaining circumcised, he obviously
was not referring to becoming uncircumcised physically. I don’t even know if that is possible today,
but I am sure it was not in Paul’s day. I believe he meant for those Christians with a
Jewish background, to continue honoring their Jewish heritage, such as
celebrating the Feasts of Israel. Similarly,
those Christians who were from a Gentile background should not try to “become
Jewish.” He wrote elsewhere that neither
circumcision, nor uncircumcision mattered for the born again believer (Gal. 5:6;
6:15; Col. 3:11).
To me, this chapter is teaching believers to consider the
circumstances in which they find themselves when making plans and decisions. What the Word teaches about things should be
applied when the circumstances allow for such an application. For instance, Paul wrote there is neither
bond nor free in Christ (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11), and yet, in this chapter, he
clearly states a bond servant should remain as such (v. 21-24). As I pointed out earlier, there are times when
marriage is appropriate, and times when marriage is counter productive (v. 26-40).
Born again believers are supposed to walk in the Spirit, and
in so doing, He will give us discernment to evaluate our circumstances, and the
wisdom to apply the appropriate passages of Scripture to our lives. As Ecclesiastes says, there is a time “for
different stuff” (Eccl. 3:1-8).
Reading God’s Word will give one knowledge.
Walking in the Spirit will give one the wisdom to apply it.
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