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In an earlier letter to Paul, the Corinthians had mentioned some problems and asked him some questions. There are no longer any copies of this letter, so we can only guess what they wrote by reading Paul’s answers. Apparently some of the questions the Corinthians had asked were about marriage and sex. In this section Paul discussed these topics. He wrote about sexual intercourse, divorce, marrying again after a person’s husband or wife dies, and never marrying.
From the way Paul talked, it appears that the Corinthians were thinking that if believers want to be holy, they should abstain from sexual relations. The Corinthians were wondering if married people should sleep together, if Christians who were married to non-Christians should divorce them, and if Christians should get married. Paul gave them some wise teaching on each of these topics. In 7:1–16 he addressed Christians who were married. In 7:17–24 he wrote about his general rule for Christians: Remain as you are. In 7:25–38 he taught Christians who were not married. In 7:39–40 he addressed women whose husbands had died.
Other possible section headings include:
Paul gave/wrote instructions about Christian marriage
Paul’s teaching on marriage
In these verses Paul taught the Corinthians his general rule or principle: “Remain as you are.” He said that a believer does not have to change his or her situation in life to please God. So each believer should try to stay the way they were when God called them to belong to Christ. They could serve him as Jew or Gentile, married or single, and slave or free. They could please God in whatever situation he has put them.
In these verses Paul began by giving his general rule (7:17). Then he gave an example of this rule: When you become a Christian, it does not matter if you are circumcised or not; just stay that way (7:18–19). Then he repeated the general rule (7:20). Then he gave a second example: When you become a Christian, it does not matter if you are a slave; you can serve God as a slave or as a free man (7:21–23). Then he repeated his general rule (7:24).
Each one should remain in the situation he was in when he was called.
Each believer should remain living in the situation/condition he was in when God called/chose him/her to become one of his people.
When you become a believer, it is best if you do not try to change your position in life. You should keep on living the way you were when God called/chose you to become a believer.
Each one should remain in the situation he was in when he was called: This verse says almost the same thing as 7:17. Paul repeated that the believers were to remain as they were when they came to believe on Christ. This is a major theme of this chapter.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure
ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ κλήσει ᾗ ἐκλήθη, ἐν ταύτῃ μενέτω
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ κλήσει ᾗ ἐκλήθη ἐν ταύτῃ μενέτω)
The order of elements in this sentence might be confusing in your language. If your language would structure this sentence in a different way, you could rearrange the elements so that they sound more natural. Paul has arranged the elements to emphasize in the calling in which he was called, so retain the emphasis on this element if possible. Alternate translation: [Let each one remain in the calling in which he was called]
ἐν τῇ κλήσει ᾗ ἐκλήθη
in the calling ˱in˲_which ˱he˲_˓was˒_called
Alternate translation: [in the calling which God gave to him] or [in his own calling from God]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
ἐκλήθη & μενέτω
˱he˲_˓was˒_called & ˱him˲_˓let_be˒_remaining
Here, the words translated he and him are written in masculine form, but they refer to anyone, no matter what their gender might be. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind he and himby using words that do not have gender, or you could use both genders. Alternate translation: [he or she was called, let him or her remain]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ἐκλήθη
˱he˲_˓was˒_called
If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Paul uses the passive form here to focus on the person who is called rather than focusing on the person doing the “calling.” If you must state who does the action, Paul implies that “God” does it. Alternate translation: [God called him]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / imperative3p
μενέτω
˱him˲_˓let_be˒_remaining
Here Paul uses a third-person imperative. If you have third-person imperatives in your language, you could use one here. If you do not have third-person imperatives, you could express the idea using a word such as “should” or “must.” Alternate translation: [he must remain]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἐν ταύτῃ μενέτω
in in this ˱him˲_˓let_be˒_remaining
Here, remain in refers to faithfully serving God in a specific situation. In other words, Paul does not want them to try to change their social and economic situation. Instead, they should serve God in the situation in which God called them. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind remain in plainly or with a comparable metaphor. Alternate translation: [let him live his life in that] or [let him be content in that]
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.