1 Corinthians 7:20

1Co 7:20-24. Let every man abide wherein he was called — Affect not to change without the clear and evident leadings of Providence, as there is generally greater reason to expect a man will enjoy comfort, and be holy and useful, in a situation to which he is accustomed, than in another to which he is a stranger. The apostle repeats the injunction because of its great importance; for they who are so unsettled in their minds as to be continually changing from one condition or line of life to another, seldom make progress, or are of much use to themselves or others, in any one. Art thou called being a servant — Or bondman, as δουλος properly signifies; care not for it — Do not much regard it, nor anxiously seek liberty: do not suppose that such a condition renders thee less acceptable to God, or is unworthy of a Christian. But if thou mayest be made free — By any lawful method; use it rather — Embrace the opportunity. He that is called in, or by, the Lord — To the Christian faith; being a servant — Or a bond-man; is the Lord’s freeman — Being delivered by him from the slavery of sin and Satan, and therefore possesses the greatest of all dignities. Likewise — In like manner; he that is called, being free — From the authority of any human master; is Christ’s servant — Or bondman; not free in this respect; not at his own disposal; not at liberty to do his own will, but bound to be subject and obedient to Christ. Surely, as Goodwin observes, “the apostle could not have expressed in stronger terms his deep conviction of the small importance of human distinctions than he here does; when, speaking of what seems, to great and generous minds, the most miserable lot, even that of a slave, he says, Care not for it.” To this Doddridge adds, “If liberty itself, the first of all temporal blessings, be not of so great importance as that a man, blessed with the high hopes and glorious consolations of Christianity, should make himself very solicitous about it, how much less in those comparatively trifling distinctions on which many lay so disproportionate, so extravagant a stress.” Ye are bought with a price — Christ hath redeemed you at the expense of his own blood, a price of infinite value; be not ye the servants — The slaves; of men — If it can by any lawful means be avoided, since so many evils, dangers, and snares are inseparable from such a condition. Brethren, let every man, &c. — Here the apostle repeats the same advice a third time in the compass of a few verses, intending, L’Enfant thinks, “to correct some disorders among the Christian slaves in Corinth, who, agreeably to the doctrine of the false teachers, claimed their liberty, on pretence that, as brethren in Christ, they were on an equality with their Christian masters.” Therein abide with God — Doing all things as unto God, and as in his immediate presence. They who thus abide with God, preserve a holy indifference with regard to outward things.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 7:20. Ἐν τῇ κλήσει, in the calling) The state in which the [heavenly] calling stumbles upon [finds] any one, is equivalent to a calling.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_7:20. An emphatic repetition of the rule after giving the illustration of it. Comp 1Co_7:24.

ἐν τῇ κλήσει ἧ ἐκλήθη] Since Calvin, expositors have often understood κλῆσις of the outward position in life, like our calling [Beruf], and have supplied ἐν before ᾗ in accordance with the pure Attic idiom (Stallbaum, a[1169] Plat. Phaed. p. 76 D; Kühner, a[1170] Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 32). So, recently, Rückert. But although κλῆσις (Dionys. Hal. Antt. v. 18) does expressly correspond to the Latin classis, a division of the burgesses, according to the true derivation of that technical term from the Greek, yet even profane writers never use κλῆσις in the sense of avocation [Beruf] (rank, and the like); and in the whole N. T. the Christian meaning of καλεῖν and κλῆσις is that in which they are invariably used, and so here also: in the calling (to the Messianic kingdom) through which (ᾗ being the dat. instrum., as in 2Ti_1:9) he was called. This may have been, that is to say, κλῆσις going forth from God to a circumcised man or an uncircumcised, to a slave or a freeman, etc. If, now, the man, for example, who was called in circumcision by a vocatio circumcisi thereafter restores the foreskin, so as to give himself out for an uncircumcised person, he does not abide in the calling through which he was called. The right interpretation is already given be Chrysostom and Theophylact (ἐν οἵῳ βίῳ καὶ ἐν οἵῳ τάγματι καὶ παλιτεύματι ὢν ἐπίστευσεν, ἐν τούτῳ μενέτω· κλῆσιν γὰρ τὴν εἰς τὴν πίστιν προσαγωγήν φησι). Comp 1Co_7:17 : ὡς κέκληκεν ὁ Θεός The emphatic ἐν ταύτῃ (1Co_6:4) points at the misdirected yearning for another state of matters through which another κλῆσις would present itself, as e.g. through the ἐπισπᾶσθαι a being called ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ, etc.

[1169] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1170] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 7:20 . Diff. views are taken of this ver., as κλῆσις is referred to the religious call or secular calling of the man; and as ᾗ is accordingly rendered “wherewith” (instrum. dat [1081] : cf. Eph 4:1 , 2Ti 1:9 ), or “wherein” (governed by the foregoing ἐν : cf. 1Co 7:241Co 7:24 ; see Wr [1082] , pp. 524 f.). The latter interpretation is negatived by the fact that it destroys the unity of sense between κλῆσις and ἐκλήθη (see note on 1Co 7:18 : does κλῆσις in Gr [1083] anywhere mean avocation? ). Besides, “circumcision” and “uncircumcision” are not “callings”. Yet P. is manifestly referring to outward conditions affecting the religious call. The stress of the sentence lies on μενέτω ( cf. 1Co 7:24 ); and Gal 3:2 f., 1Co 5:2-6 , give the clue to the Apostle’s meaning. A change of secular condition adopted under the idea that circumcision or uncircumcision is “something,” that it makes a diff [1084] in the eyes of God, would be a change of religious princple, an abandonment of the basis of our call to salvation by grace and through faith; cf. Gal 2:11-21 . The Gentile who embraced circumcision in order to fulfil the law of God was severing himself from Christ and falling from grace. The “abide” of 1 Cor. is parl [1085] to the “stand fast” of Gal.

[1081] dative case.

[1082] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[1083] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[1084] difference, different, differently.

[1085] parallel.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_7:20

Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

This is a repetition of the sentiment contained in 1Co_7:17, which is again repeated in 1Co_7:24. The word calling (κλῆσις), always in the New Testament means the call of God, that efficacious operation of his Spirit by which men are brought into the kingdom of Christ. It is hard, however, to make it bear that sense here. The meaning is plain enough. As he was called, so let him remain. But this is the idea detached from the form in which it is here expressed. The great majority of commentators agree in giving the word in this place the sense of vocation, as we use that word when we speak of the vocation of a mechanic or of a farmer. In whatever station or condition a man is called, therein let him remain. This of course is not intended to prohibit a mans endeavoring to better his condition. If he be a laborer when converted, he is not required always to remain a laborer. The meaning of the apostle evidently is, that no man should desire to change his status in life simply because he had become a Christian; as though he could not be a Christian and yet remain as he was. The gospel is just as well suited to men in one vocation as in another, and its blessings can be enjoyed in all their fullness equally in any condition of life. This is illustrated by an extreme case in the following verse.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the same calling--that is, the condition from which he is called a Jew, a Greek, a slave, or a freeman.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. Let every man abide in the same calling] As both the circumcised and uncircumcised, in Christ, have the same advantages, and to their believing the same facilities; so any situation of life is equally friendly to the salvation of the soul, if a man be faithful to the grace he has received. Therefore, in all situations a Christian should be content, for all things work together for good to him who loves God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Every man in the calling in which. This is the source from which other things are derived, — that every one should be contented with his calling, and pursue it, instead of seeking to betake himself to anything else. A calling in Scripture means a lawful mode of life, for it has a relation to God as calling us, — lest any one should abuse this statement to justify modes of life that are evidently wicked or vicious. But here it is asked, whether Paul means to establish any obligation, for it might seem as though the words conveyed this idea, that every one is bound to his calling, so that he must not abandon it. Now it were a very hard thing if a tailor were not at liberty to learn another trade, or if a merchant were not at liberty to betake himself to farming. I answer, that this is not what the Apostle intends, for he has it simply in view to correct that inconsiderate eagerness, which prompts some to change their condition without any proper reason, whether they do it from superstition, or from any other motive. Farther, he calls every one to this rule also — that they bear in mind what is suitable to their calling He does not, therefore, impose upon any one the necessity of continuing in the kind of life which he has once taken up, but rather condemns that restlessness, which prevents an individual from remaining in his condition with a peaceable mind and he exhorts, that every one stick by his trade, as the old proverb goes.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(20) Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.—This is an emphatic repetition of the principle on which the previous practical instruction is based. “Calling” must not here be regarded in the modern sense of profession or condition in life; it is nowhere so used in the New Testament, but always signifies God’s calling of us. (See Rom_11:29; Eph_1:18.) Continue to be Christians of the kind which God’s call to Christianity made you. If you were circumcised—and so God’s call into the Christian Church made you a circumcised Christian—continue so; don’t do anything which would seem to imply that some other change in addition to your “call” was necessary to complete your admission to the Church.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called] See note on ch. 1Co_1:20. It is not what we call man’s “vocation,” but God’s act of calling that is spoken of.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let every man abide in the same calling,.... Civil calling, station, and business of life,

wherein he was called; that is, in which he was when he was called by the grace of God; and is to be understood of such a calling, station, and business of life, as is lawful, honest, and of good report; otherwise he ought not to abide in it, but betake himself to another, as Matthew and Zacchaeus, when called by grace, left the scandalous employment of a publican: nor is it the apostle's sense, that a man that is in an honest way of living, may not change that for another that is equally so, as if a man was bound down to that sort of business he is in when first called; for no doubt it may be lawful, and there may be just reason for it in Providence, why a man should change his calling and station in life; though this ought not to be done rashly and unadvisedly, and without wise and good reasons; but the chief view of the apostle is to teach contentment in every condition, and station of life, and that persons should not be uneasy and restless in it, and seek for an alteration when there is no just occasion; and particularly he seems to have reference, either to the different state of married and unmarried persons, he had before been speaking of; see Co1 7:27 or to the different circumstances of Jew and Gentile, as circumcised or uncircumcised, as in the foregoing verse; or to the different condition of bond and free, servant and master, in the following verse; and persuades them to remain easy and satisfied, for that the Christian religion does not necessarily require a change in a man's civil circumstances of life.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

Ver. 20. Abide in the same calling] And therein learn to "maintain good works," or to be their craftsmen, to excel in their profession, honestis functionibus praeesse, as some render the apostle there, Tit 3:8; Tit 3:14. Αιεν αριστευειν και υπειροχον εμμεναι αλλων. These things are good and profitable unto men.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let every man abide - Let him remain or continue.

In the same calling - The same occupation, profession, rank of life. We use the word “calling” in the same sense to denote the occupation or profession of a man. Probably the original idea which led people to designate a profession as a CallinG was the belief that God called every man to the profession and rank which he occupies; that is, that it is by his “arrangement, or providence,” that he occupies that rank rather than another. In this way every man has a Call to the profession in which he is engaged as really as ministers of the gospel; and every man should have as clear evidence that “God has called” him to the sphere of life in which he moves as ministers of the gospel should have that God has called them to their appropriate profession. This declaration of Paul, that everyone is to remain in the same occupation or rank in which he was when he was converted, is to he taken in a general and not in an unqualified sense. It does not design to teach that a man is in no situation to seek a change in his profession when he becomes pious. But it is intended to show that religion was the friend of order; that it did not disregard or disarrange the relations of social life; that it was suited to produce contentment even in an humble walk, and to prevent repinings at the lot of those who were more favored or happy. That it did not design to prevent all change is apparent from the next verse, and from the nature of the case. some of the circumstances in which a change of condition, or of calling, may be proper when a man is converted, are the following:

(1) When a man is a slave, and he can obtain his freedom, 1Co 7:21.

(2) When a man is pursuing a wicked calling or course of life when he was converted, even if it is lucrative, he should abandon it as speedily as possible. Thus, if a man is engaged, as John Newton was, in the slave-trade, he should at once abandon it. If he is engaged in the manufacture or sale of ardent spirits, he should at once forsake the business, even at great personal sacrifice, and engage in a lawful and honorable employment; see the note at Act 19:19. No considerations can justify a continuance in a course of life like this after a man is converted. No consideration can make a business which is “evil, and only evil, and that continually,” proper or right.

(3) Where a man can increase his usefulness by choosing a new profession. Thus, the usefulness of many a man is greatly promoted by his leaving an agricultural, or mechanical employment; or by his leaving the bar, or the mercantile profession, and becoming a minister of the gospel. In such situations, religion not only permits a man to change his profession, but it demands it; nor will God smile upon him, or bless him, unless the change is made. An opportunity to become more useful imposes an obligation to change the course of life. And no man is permitted to waste his life and talents in a mere scheme of money-making, or in self-indulgence, when by changing his calling he can do more for the salvation of the world.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Let every man abide in the same state and condition of life in which he was when he was first converted to the faith of Christ, that is, supposing that he was in an honest course of life; for we read in the Acts that the conjurers burnt their books, and unlawful courses of life must not be adhered to after men have once given up their names to Christ. The apostle’s design is only to show, that the profession of Christianity maketh no state of life unlawful, which was before that profession lawful, nor dischargeth any from such as were before the duties of persons in their circumstances and relations. They too far strain this text, who interpret it into an obligation upon all men, not to alter that particular way and course of life and trading to which they were educated, and in which they formerly have been engaged; though such a thing be of too great moment and consequence for any to do without just advice and deliberation. The world is a mutable thing, and trades and particular courses of life wear out, and what will now bring in a due livelihood, possibly seven years hence will not furnish any with bread; and it is unreasonable in such a case to think, that the rule of Christian profession ties up a man under these changes of providence to such a particular course of life, as he cannot, in it, in the sweat of his face eat his bread.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Same calling—This calling does not imply what is theologically called an “effectual calling,” excepting so far as the agent’s voluntary acceptance has made it “effectual,” and so his regular and permanent calling. See our note on Rom_1:1.

He was called—A play upon words. Let every man remain in the secular calling wherein he was when the Gospel gave him a successful call to its blessings.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let every man abide in the same calling, etc. In accordance with this general principle, which illustrates the distinction between Christianity and violent social revolutions, St. John the Baptist had not bidden publicans or soldiers to abandon their callings, but to do their duty in that state of life to which God had called them. (Luk_3:12-14) The "calling" alluded to is not what is described as "a vocation," a calling in life, but the condition in which we are when we are called by God (comp. 1Co_1:26; Eph_1:18 Eph_4:1)

Vers. 20-24.

Christianity and slaves.

Christianity found slavery in existence. Proceeded upon wise lines for its extermination. Not by revolutionary violence. Worked from within rather than from without. Inculcated moral principles which, when fully realized and practically observed, involved the doom of slavery. Such passages as Mat_7:12 are in point. Occasionally there is more direct attack, as in the condemnation of men stealers in 1Ti_1:10. What message had Christianity to the slaves? It said

I SERVE GOD AS YOU ARE. As a slave you may do a good and important work. Your condition has some special opportunities. It will be something for the world to see a pious, conscientious, faithful slave. This you can be, for with all shackles you may be "the Lord"s freedman." A lesson for us. We often try to change our condition instead of glorifying God in it. All men seem to have fallen into the wrong places! For all men seem intensely anxious to change their condition. The powers, opportunities, time, of not a few are practically absorbed in this endeavour. And the craze is continuous. When the change is secured, another change is desired, and so on interminably. Men are used up in this insane struggle. It is not necessary to change our condition before we can do anything. The true way to the more favourable condition may be our glorifying God in the less favourable. The sterling piety of a slave became a strong protest against slavery itself. In various conditions the world needs to see the same faith and the same life. A man need care comparatively little about his external condition in this world, who is freed from the bondage of Satan and who tastes the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free. That is nothing compared with this. No human shackles can bind the soul. The slave with all his bonds could not be hindered from coming to Christ. No one can stop us. Not all men. Not all devils, Not all adverse circumstances. We can come if we will, whoever or whatever we are or in whatsoever condition. The responsibility is upon our shoulders, None shall say at last that they could not come. God hath not permitted man so to bind his fellow that the journey to the cross is an impossibility.

II IF YOU CAN OBTAIN YOUR FREEDOM BY RIGHTEOUS MEANS, DO SO. Not "do evil that good may come." But embrace any legitimate opportunity, for as a freedman you have generally more opportunities of service and less perils. When freed, you may make it more apparent, perhaps, that you are "Christ"s bondservant." To us: seek a freer position when opportunity is presented, since in that you may more abundantly serve God. That is the object which you must ever have in mind. Let not the freer position be for self, but for God. A more comfortable condition is not always a more useful one. When we are taking off one shackle we may be putting on another. It may be a heavier one.

III DO NOT BECOME SLAVES. It may be your duty to continue slaves, not to become such. This would be throwing away most important advantages. You are Christ"s, bought with a price; have by choice no other bonds upon you than your Master"s. To us: never seek a position in which service to Christ may be prejudiced, Here is a crucial test.

1. A rise in the social scale may impair our usefulness. The new house may tax our purse and check our charity, the numerous engagements our time, the atmosphere our piety, We may become "bondservants of men," and very miserable ones.

2. A more lucrative post may entail loss rather than gain greater occupation of time, larger demands upon our strength, even the shortening of our lives. All such things come into the account.

3. The removal to a more pleasant place of residence may mean the arrest of Christian activity. People remove from where they are wanted to where nobody wants them. God places them in the field to labour, where there is much to be done, but they contract a fondness for mountain air and scenery, and off they go, leaving their appointed work to take care of itself. And when they get to the mountain of delights there is nothing for them to do but to grumble, and this, it must be acknowledged, they do with most unflagging zeal. Christians seem to think they are their own masters, and can come and go for little reason or for none, and without any reference to the great work to which every Christian is pledged, viz. seeking to extend the kingdom of Christ among men. "My Father"s business" should be first with the disciple, as it was with his Lord. Instead of this, it is often practically lost sight of altogether, and people go without a thought or care from where the Father"s business is urgent and almost overwhelming in imporlance, to where in comparison it can be prosecuted only upon a most limited scale. Men listen to the "call" of inclination, not to the "call" of God (note vers. 20, 24). We must ever beware of running into bonds, Many of these are golden. Not the less binding. In whatever circumstances we may be placed we must refuse to be such bondservants of men as to impair our relation to God. At all costs, in every condition, his will and glory must be supreme. H.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the calling - The outward state. Wherein he is - When God calls him. Let him not seek to change this, without a clear direction from Providence.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The apostle seems to intimate from these words, that some persons converted to Christianity in the primitive times, apprehended that thereupon they must leave their worldly callings and employments, as if they were snares to them, or unnecessary diversions from better things.

No, says the apostle, Let every one in his calling, wherein he is called, therein abide with God; that is, look in what honest, civil calling they were found when they became Christians, let them keep to that calling still. For God doth not call us from our worldly employments and business, but calls us to be holy in them ; nor doth our serving God any whit acquit or discharge us from serving one another.

But particularly it was the opinion of some servants converted to Christianity, that their spiritual freedom by Christ exempted them from all civil service to their masters. The apostle therefore tells them they are indeed freed by Christ, from sinful slavery, but not from civil servitude and subjection; from Jewish bondage, but not from Christian obedience.

Learn hence, That Christianity doth not free men from any civil obligations which before they lay under. Our advantages by Christ are spiritual, and not secular; no man’s outward condition is changed by his becoming a Christian; though he be now the Lord’s freeman, yet he is a servant still, if he was so before; nay, their Christianity did not exempt them from their secular relation to their heathen and infidel masters. A service to man doth not exempt us from, nor is inconsistent with, the service of God; so our spiritual calling doth not make void our civil; Therefore let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let each man abide in that calling [trade or social condition] wherein he was called .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Let each man abide, etc. In that secular condition of life in which he was when called.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

Here the words "us" and "we" refer to all Christians and include Paul's audience. (See: Inclusive "We")

remain in the calling

Here "calling" refers to the work or social position in which you were involved. AT: "live and work as you did"

Were you ... called you? Do not be ... you can become

Paul is speaking to the Corinthians as if they were one person, so all instances of "you" and the command "be" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)

Were you a slave when God called you? Do not be concerned

This can be stated as a statement. AT: "To those who were slaves when God called you to believe, I say this: do not be concerned" (See: Rhetorical Question)

the Lord's freeman

This freeman is forgiven by God and therefore free from Satan and sin.

You have been bought with a price

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Christ bought you by dying for you" (See: Active or Passive)

Brothers

Here this means fellow Christians, including both men and women.

when we were called to believe

This can be stated in active form. AT: "when God called us to believe in him" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

call

believe

servant

free

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

20. κλήσει. The word (see note on ch. 1Co 1:26) does not mean calling in our modern sense of the life to which a man has been called; but refers to God’s act. ‘Let every man abide,’ not in the condition which God placed him by the call, but in the condition in which that call found him. For God’s call is not intended to change our earthly position, but to enable us to serve God in it. The passage cited by so many commentators from Ovid’s Fasti ‘Qua positus fueris, in statione mane’ (or rather manes) relates to an altogether different subject. But Aristophanes (Wasps, 1431) has ἔρδοι τις ἣν ἕκαστος εἰδείη τέχνην. Cp. (Cicero ‘quam quisque novit artem in ea se exerceat.’ And Marcus Aurelius Meditations IV. 31 τὸ τέχνιον ὃ ἔμαθες φίλει, τούτῳ προσαναπαύου.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20.] Formal repetition of the general precept, as again ver. 24.

κλῆσις is not the calling in life, for it never has that meaning either in classical or Hellenistic Greek (in the example which Wetst. gives from Dion. Hal. Antt. iv. 20, κλήσεις is used to express the Latin ‘classes,’—ἃς καλοῦσιν Ῥωμαῖοι κλήσεις, and so is not a Greek word at all); but strictly calling (‘vocatio’) by God, as in ref. The κλῆσις of a circumcised person would be a calling in circumcision,—and by this he was to abide.

ἐν τῇ … ἐν ταύτῃ] See ch. 6:4: emphatic.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. Repetition of the principle laid down; ‘In the secular surroundings of the calling in which he is called, in these let him, abide’; and ἐν ταύτῃ emphasizes the charge to make no change of condition.† In N.T., κλῆσις is almost exclusively Pauline, and it means either the act of calling (Php 3:14) or the circumstances in which the calling took place (1:26 and here): it does not mean ‘vocation.’ Lightfoot quotes Epictetus (i. 29 § 46), μάρτυς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ κεκλημὲνος, and (§ 49) ταῦτα μέλλεις μαρτυρεῖν καὶ καταισχύνειν τὴν κλῆσιν ἣν κέκληκεν [ὁ Θεός].

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Calling [κλησει] , Not the condition or occupation, a meaning which the word does not have in classical Greek, nor in the New Testament, where it always signifies the call of God into His kingdom through conversion. Paul means : If God 's call was to you as a circumcised man or as an uncircumcised man; as a slave or as a freedman - abide in that condition. Compare ch. 1 26.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 20. “Let every man remain faithful to the calling wherewith he was called.” — Literally: “Let every man abide in the calling wherewith he was called.” The word κλῆσις, call, vocation, cannot denote the earthly state or profession; it is applied here, as elsewhere, to the call to salvation. The pronoun ᾗ with ἐκλήθη would suffice to prove this: “the call with which he was called.” Only the idea of the call must be taken to embrace all the external circumstances which furnish the occasion and determine the manner of it. What a difference between the manner of calling in the case of one circumcised and of one uncircumcised! Now this earthly situation, appointed by God, must not be left at one’s own will. What was the means of thy call will not fail to exercise thy fidelity.

This maxim, which closes the treatment of the first example, serves as a transition to that of the second.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.