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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).
You were bought at a price;
God paid a high/big price for you(sing).
Jesus Christ paid for you with his blood/life.
You were bought at a price: Here Paul was speaking to all believers, both slaves and free people. This verse part is the same as 6:20a. See the notes on 6:20a. This is a metaphor taken from the custom of buying slaves in the market. When a man bought a slave, he owned him and the slave was obliged to obey his new master. In a similar way God paid for our freedom. So a believer does not belong to himself. He or she belongs to God.
This verse part uses a passive verb. There are two ways to translate it:
Using a passive verb. For example:
You were bought with a price. (NET)
Using an active verb. The actor could be either Christ or God. For example:
God paid a great price for you. (CEV)
do not become slaves of men.
So do not become slaves of any human being.
Therefore do not obey people in place of God/Christ/him.
do not become slaves of men: The phrase slaves of men is a figure of speech here. Paul was saying that he wanted the Corinthians to remember that Christ was their new master. They were not to follow or obey anyone who told them to do anything different from what Christ told them. Other ways to translate this include:
Don’t become anyone else’s slave. (compare the CEV)
men: In this context the Greek word that the BSB translates as men refers to any human being other than Christ himself.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε μή γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων)
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 you, who are bought, rather than focusing on the person doing the “buying.” If you must state who does the action, Paul implies that “God” does it. Alternate translation: [God bought you with a price]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε μή γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων)
Here Paul speaks as if the Corinthians were slaves whom God had bought with a price from someone else. Paul is speaking of what we often call “redemption.” The price is Christ’s death on the cross, which “redeems” believers from sin and evil powers. This is an important biblical metaphor so, if possible preserve the metaphor or express it as an analogy. Alternate translation: [you were bought with a price, which is the Messiah’s death]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε μή γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων)
Here Paul uses slaves as a description of anyone who follows and obeys someone else. Paul wants the Corinthians, whether they are slaves or “freedmen” in social and economic terms, to only obey and serve God, not men. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express slaves by clarifying that Paul has “serving” and “obeying” in mind. Alternate translation: [do not obey men] or [do not serve mere humans]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
ἀνθρώπων
˱of˲_people
Although men is masculine, Paul is using it to refer to anyone, whether man or woman. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express men with a non gendered word or refer to both genders. Alternate translation: [of people]
7:1-40 Paul consistently states his strong conviction that true Christians, as slaves of Christ, are wholly claimed by Christ the Lord for his own service. Because of this, he recommends that Christians remain single, but concedes that getting married is no sin.
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.