1Cor 7:17 | KingComments | STEP | . When in a marriage one of the partners has become converted, an enormous gap arises at the same time between husband and wife. The believer wants to consider the will of God from that moment, while the unbeliever doesn’t want to. That can trigger tensions in the marriage. Those tensions can run so high that the unbeliever might want to leave. In such cases the believer doesn’t have to strain every nerve to prevent the unbelieving partner from leaving. In such cases the believer may often think that he/she has failed in his/her testimony. Who can say to have always been a perfect witness? I don’t say that to diminish our responsibility. When mistakes have been made, they ought to be confessed, also when mistakes have been made toward the unbeliever. But when, despite a sincere confession of mistakes, the unbeliever still wants to leave, let him leave. The only thing what is left for the believer, is to pray perseveringly for the unbeliever. How should the believer go on now? Paul says here that the brother or sister is not under bondage. Could it be that it means that another marriage is possible? In that way the opportunity for reunification would be wiped out, in case the unbeliever still would have been saved. Therefore an addition is written: “But God has called us to peace.” Through the conversion of a family member this peace can be taken away. This is how the Lord Jesus speaks about it when He says that He hasn’t come to bring peace, but to bring division ( ). . When in a family, one of the family members has accepted the Lord Jesus, division has arisen between the believer and the other unbelieving members. As I already said at the beginning of this section: this may cause tensions in certain cases, which may work out in such a way that in the relationship between husband and wife, the unbeliever may want to leave. Let him/her then leave, for God has called us to peace. The believer doesn’t need to do his/her utmost to keep the other, at the expense of peace. After all, it cannot be said with assurance that he or she will repent. . I think that for everyone who has ended up in such circumstances because of his/her conversion, peace can be found in this . This verse does make it easier for you to fit in with the situation and not to rebel against it. You find two reasons for that. The first reason has to do with the circumstances of your life. Whatever situation you may find yourself in, it doesn’t come as a surprise to God. The moment you accepted the Lord Jesus, He knew the situation in which you would find yourself. What He now would want you to do, is that you show in your surrounding the change that He has worked in your life. The second reason has to do with you personally. God has called you as you are. What that means is clarified in and the verses that follow. But the clarification is preceded by something significant: “And so I direct in all the churches.” Everything that Paul has to say here about marriage is not to be applied to everyone’s own pleasure. Neither is it restricted in terms of time. It doesn’t only concern the Corinthians, but it concerns all churches and for all times. It is good to think about that, especially in our time, in which marital morality is going down more and more and in which divorce is accepted as a common thing. . But now the question is how someone could be called. In other words: where did someone stand personally and what was his situation at the moment that God called him to accept the gospel? A person could have been circumcised or uncircumcised; he could have been called as a slave or as a free man, that is, not as a slave ( ). Did it matter to God whether someone was circumcised or uncircumcised? In former days it did, for in those days circumcision was the outer mark of the covenant that God had made with His people. But since the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, an outer mark has no additional value to God. Therefore the absence of such an outer mark doesn’t make a person lesser to God. The outer aspects have – as a basis of the relation to God – lost their meaning. The outer aspects don’t determine the relation to God anymore. What matters now is “the keeping of the commandments of God”. The point is the mind of your heart. Your love for God will become apparent from the obedience to what God has said. Then you would like to arrange your whole life according to His will. And when God gives His commandments about outward things as well, you will be willing to satisfy Him as well, out of love for Him. The ‘circumcised’ and the ‘uncircumcised’ may be applied by us as in the following comparison. The circumcised was someone who outwardly belonged to Israel, God’s earthly people. But if he really wanted to belong to God, he had to repent. In that way you might have been raised in a Christian family, but to really belong to God, you had to repent. Then the calling voice of God came and you repented. In that way you could say you have been called as a circumcised. The uncircumcised didn’t belong to the people of God in former days. Yet through repentance it was possible for him to belong to God. In that way you might be someone who has not been brought up with the Bible, but when you heard God’s calling voice, you repented and now you also belong to God. In that way you could say you are called as an uncircumcised. . It is not God’s purpose for you to change anything about that. I sometimes hear that it would be a disadvantage if someone is raised in a Christian family because you wouldn’t know so well what the world and sin are. Actually, you should – this is what people therefore say – live in sin for a while and forget about your Christian upbringing. But this is a wrong statement. Paul himself, for example, was a man who had been brought up with utterly religious standards. He hadn’t lived, as it is called ‘in the world’, but when he was converted, he later called himself the ”foremost” of all sinners ( ). In the same way, the awareness of sin is growing in you too as you make your way with God. Then it is no longer important from which background you have been converted. In your relationship with Him He will show you Who He Himself is and who you are. The point is whether you are willing to keep God’s commandments. Therefore it is not about your origin, but about your attitude, your obedience to God. Now read 1 Corinthians 7:15-20 again. Reflection: What are, in your view, the advantages of a Christian upbringing or of an unchristian upbringing? And what are the disadvantages?

‏ 1 Corinthians 7:17

God Has Called Us to Peace

1Cor 7:15. When in a marriage one of the partners has become converted, an enormous gap arises at the same time between husband and wife. The believer wants to consider the will of God from that moment, while the unbeliever doesn’t want to. That can trigger tensions in the marriage. Those tensions can run so high that the unbeliever might want to leave. In such cases the believer doesn’t have to strain every nerve to prevent the unbelieving partner from leaving.

In such cases the believer may often think that he/she has failed in his/her testimony. Who can say to have always been a perfect witness? I don’t say that to diminish our responsibility. When mistakes have been made, they ought to be confessed, also when mistakes have been made toward the unbeliever. But when, despite a sincere confession of mistakes, the unbeliever still wants to leave, let him leave. The only thing what is left for the believer, is to pray perseveringly for the unbeliever.

How should the believer go on now? Paul says here that the brother or sister is not under bondage. Could it be that it means that another marriage is possible? In that way the opportunity for reunification would be wiped out, in case the unbeliever still would have been saved. Therefore an addition is written: “But God has called us to peace.” Through the conversion of a family member this peace can be taken away. This is how the Lord Jesus speaks about it when He says that He hasn’t come to bring peace, but to bring division (Lk 12:51-53).

1Cor 7:16. When in a family, one of the family members has accepted the Lord Jesus, division has arisen between the believer and the other unbelieving members. As I already said at the beginning of this section: this may cause tensions in certain cases, which may work out in such a way that in the relationship between husband and wife, the unbeliever may want to leave. Let him/her then leave, for God has called us to peace. The believer doesn’t need to do his/her utmost to keep the other, at the expense of peace. After all, it cannot be said with assurance that he or she will repent.

1Cor 7:17. I think that for everyone who has ended up in such circumstances because of his/her conversion, peace can be found in this 1Cor 7:17. This verse does make it easier for you to fit in with the situation and not to rebel against it. You find two reasons for that. The first reason has to do with the circumstances of your life. Whatever situation you may find yourself in, it doesn’t come as a surprise to God. The moment you accepted the Lord Jesus, He knew the situation in which you would find yourself. What He now would want you to do, is that you show in your surrounding the change that He has worked in your life.

The second reason has to do with you personally. God has called you as you are. What that means is clarified in 1Cor 7:18 and the verses that follow. But the clarification is preceded by something significant: “And so I direct in all the churches.” Everything that Paul has to say here about marriage is not to be applied to everyone’s own pleasure. Neither is it restricted in terms of time. It doesn’t only concern the Corinthians, but it concerns all churches and for all times. It is good to think about that, especially in our time, in which marital morality is going down more and more and in which divorce is accepted as a common thing.

1Cor 7:18-19. But now the question is how someone could be called. In other words: where did someone stand personally and what was his situation at the moment that God called him to accept the gospel? A person could have been circumcised or uncircumcised; he could have been called as a slave or as a free man, that is, not as a slave (1Cor 7:21).

Did it matter to God whether someone was circumcised or uncircumcised? In former days it did, for in those days circumcision was the outer mark of the covenant that God had made with His people. But since the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, an outer mark has no additional value to God. Therefore the absence of such an outer mark doesn’t make a person lesser to God. The outer aspects have – as a basis of the relation to God – lost their meaning. The outer aspects don’t determine the relation to God anymore.

What matters now is “the keeping of the commandments of God”. The point is the mind of your heart. Your love for God will become apparent from the obedience to what God has said. Then you would like to arrange your whole life according to His will. And when God gives His commandments about outward things as well, you will be willing to satisfy Him as well, out of love for Him.

The ‘circumcised’ and the ‘uncircumcised’ may be applied by us as in the following comparison. The circumcised was someone who outwardly belonged to Israel, God’s earthly people. But if he really wanted to belong to God, he had to repent. In that way you might have been raised in a Christian family, but to really belong to God, you had to repent. Then the calling voice of God came and you repented. In that way you could say you have been called as a circumcised.

The uncircumcised didn’t belong to the people of God in former days. Yet through repentance it was possible for him to belong to God. In that way you might be someone who has not been brought up with the Bible, but when you heard God’s calling voice, you repented and now you also belong to God. In that way you could say you are called as an uncircumcised.

1Cor 7:20. It is not God’s purpose for you to change anything about that. I sometimes hear that it would be a disadvantage if someone is raised in a Christian family because you wouldn’t know so well what the world and sin are. Actually, you should – this is what people therefore say – live in sin for a while and forget about your Christian upbringing. But this is a wrong statement. Paul himself, for example, was a man who had been brought up with utterly religious standards. He hadn’t lived, as it is called ‘in the world’, but when he was converted, he later called himself the ”foremost” of all sinners (1Tim 1:15).

In the same way, the awareness of sin is growing in you too as you make your way with God. Then it is no longer important from which background you have been converted. In your relationship with Him He will show you Who He Himself is and who you are. The point is whether you are willing to keep God’s commandments. Therefore it is not about your origin, but about your attitude, your obedience to God.

Now read 1 Corinthians 7:15-20 again.

Reflection: What are, in your view, the advantages of a Christian upbringing or of an unchristian upbringing? And what are the disadvantages?