1 Corinthians 7:15-24

7:15 But if the unbeliever wants a divorce, let it take place. In these circumstances the brother or sister is not bound. ¹  God has called you in peace. 7:16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? ²  Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation? ³ 

The Circumstances of Your Calling

7:17 Nevertheless, ⁴  as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches. 7:18 Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. ⁵  Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Instead, keeping God’s commandments is what counts. 7:20 Let each one remain in that situation in life ⁶  in which he was called. 7:21 Were you called as a slave? ⁷  Do not worry about it. But if indeed you are able to be free, make the most of the opportunity. 7:22 For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. In the same way, the one who was called as a free person is Christ’s slave. 7:23 You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men. 7:24 In whatever situation someone was called, brothers and sisters, ⁸  let him remain in it with God.

[7:15]  ¹ sn Interpreters differ over the implication of the statement the brother or sister is not bound. One view is that the believer is “not bound to continue the marriage,” i.e., not so slavishly tied to the instruction about not divorcing (cf. vv. 10-11) that he or she refuses to face reality when the unbelieving spouse is unwilling to continue the relationship. In this view divorce is allowable under these circumstances, but not remarriage (v. 11 still applies: remain unmarried or be reconciled). The other view is that the believer is “not bound in regard to marriage,” i.e., free to remain single or to remarry. The argument for this view is the conceptual parallel with vv. 39-40, where a wife is said to be “bound” (a different word in Greek, but the same concept) as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is “free” to marry as she wishes, only in the Lord. If the parallel holds, then not bound in v. 15 also means “free to marry another.”

[7:16]  ² tn Grk “will save your husband?” The meaning is obviously that the wife would be the human agent in leading her husband to salvation.

[7:16]  ³ tn Grk “will save your wife?” The meaning is obviously that the husband would be the human agent in leading his wife to salvation.

[7:17]  ⁴ tn Or “only”; Grk “if not.”

[7:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “Let him not pull over the foreskin,” that is, attempt to reverse the appearance of circumcision by a surgical procedure. This was sometimes done by Hellenistic Jews to hide the embarrassment of circumcision (1 Macc 1:15; Josephus, Ant. 12.5.1 [12.241]). Cf. BDAG 380 s.v. ἐπισπάω 3.

[7:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “in the calling.” “Calling” in Paul is God’s work of drawing people to faith in Christ. As in 1:26, calling here stands by metonymy for a person’s circumstances when he becomes a Christian.

[7:21]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “servant” (KJV), though almost all modern translations render the word as “slave” here.

[7:24]  ⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.