Bloom Where You are Planted

1 Corinthians 7:17-21

Today’s study addresses the subject of remaining faithful in your calling. I have titled this section of chapter seven, “Bloom where you are planted.” It is specifically given in the context of marriage, divorce and remarriage. However there are also numerous ways this principle of remaining in the place where God puts you can be broadly applied to many scenarios including: a difficult job, a rough neighborhood, an unfulfilling church, or a discouraging ministry.

Vs. 17-24

In our last study I briefly pointed out that there is a repeated theme in chapter seven which is to instruct the believers in Corinth not to initiate a change in their status but to remain in the condition they find themselves in. Look again with me at the pattern:

If your spouse has died and you find yourself single, remain single. (vs. 8)

If you are married, remain married. (vs. 10)

If you leave your husband remain unmarried or be reconciled. (vs. 11)

If your unbelieving spouse is willing to stay with you remain married. (vs. 12-13)

Later he will say to the virgin singles, it is good to remain single. (vs. 26)

And to those betrothed to a wife, do not seek to be loosed, remain as you are. (vs. 27)

And finally he ends the chapter with the statement that the widow is happier if she remains as she is. (vs. 40)

Now in verses 17-24 Paul takes time to address this theological principle of remaining in your calling which he is repeatedly using as the guiding principle to govern our marital status.

Again it is important to look at this in its context. Go back to verse one of the chapter. “Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” This whole discussion on divorce is stemming from the extreme view, that some of the Corinthian believers were promoting, which seems to have been the belief that one was more spiritual if they abstained completely from any sexual activity. Now Paul agreed with them that it was good to remain single. In fact some have referred to Paul as the lover of singleness (Piper, p. 172) because as we have seen he does advocate the spiritual advantages of the single life, (i.e., vs. 34-35). And for those who were single Paul affirms that it was indeed good for them to remain celibate.

But the problem was that some of them were taking Paul’s teaching to the extreme and applying it to marriage, teaching that if married couples really want to be spiritual they need to cut out all sexual activity and if necessary they should leave their spouse in order to accommodate a deeper walk with the Lord. This was a particularly compelling argument for those who were married to unbelievers, as it still is today for some believers involved in a difficult mixed marriage. However Paul strongly opposed the idea of abstinence in marriage and he also strongly opposed the idea of divorcing your spouse for any reason. And in the section of this chapter that we are looking at today Paul strongly affirms that one should never seek to change their marital status, or any other social status for that matter, with the misguided notion that such a change will give them any spiritual advantage.

In verses 17-24 there are two key themes. These are concisely summarized in verse 20, “Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.” The two themes are our “calling in which we were called”, and secondly to “remain in our calling.”

The verb, “called” is used eight times in these eight verses and the noun, “calling” is used once. Since the theme of our “calling” is so central to Paul’s discussion in these verses it is important that we understand what he means by our calling. The concept of being called by God is first of all a way of describing God leading us to salvation in Christ (see 1:9). God called me and made me His child when I was only six years old. Some of you were called and became Christian when you were adults.

Secondly our calling refers to the social circumstances of our life at the time that we were saved. Each of us was in a particular social setting when we were “called”. (Fee, p. 309) For example, perhaps some of you were married and involved in the medical profession when you put your faith in Christ as your Savior. You were therefore called as a married health professional. Others may have been single and studying in university when you were saved. So your calling was as a single student. Your calling not only refers to God bringing you to faith in Christ but it also refers to your circumstances or your place in society when Christ called you to follow Him.

Vs. 17 “But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.”

This verse is very awkward in the NKJV. Let’s look at how it is translated in some other versions:

1 Corinthians 7:17 NCV “But in any case each one of you should continue to live the way God has given you to live—the way you were when God called you . . .”

1 Corinthians 7:17 NLT “Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you . . .”

1 Corinthians 7:17 The Message paraphrases it this way, “And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life . . .”

Verse 17 is directly connected to the verses we studied last week regarding those believers who were married to unbelievers. Here Paul is saying that they need to recognize that their present situation of being married to an unbeliever is where they were when God called them and is therefore the place where they are to live out God’s call. The circumstance you found yourself in when God called you is also the place God has called you to. That place is your calling. It is your assignment or your mission field. You are to remain there. Therefore if you were married to an unbeliever when God called you to Christ you are not to try to get out of that situation so that you can have more freedom to grow in your faith. Instead recognize that by saving you in a mixed marriage God called you to be married to an unbeliever. Therefore God assigned you to live your life in Christ in that marriage. (Fee, p. 310

This does not mean that your circumstances in life will never change. Your unbelieving spouse may be converted to faith in Christ. Or your unsaved spouse may not be willing to live with a believer and may divorce you. But as much as it is up to you, you are to remain in that place to which you were called. If your spouse divorces you, then you have a new calling, you are now called to remain unmarried or be reconciled to your spouse.

The way that Eugene Peterson has paraphrased 1 Corinthians 7:15-17 in “The Message” is very insightful: “On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go. You don’t have to hold on desperately. God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can. You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God. You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God.

17“And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life . . .”

The last part of verse 17 says, “And so I ordain in all the churches.” Meaning this is not just a special instruction for the church at Corinth but this is the standard instruction for all Christians. Or as the Message paraphrases it, “Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches.”

Vs. 18 “Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.”

Here is an illustration of the same principle applied to a different circumstance other than marriage. There are probably a large variety of circumstances to which we could apply this principle.

The term “circumcised” refers to being a Jew and to be “uncircumcised” is to be a Gentile. If you were born and raised as a Jew, or if you were converted to Judaism before becoming a Christian, you do not become a better Christian by seeking to hide your Jewish identity or by abandoning your Jewish heritage. On the other hand, if you were a gentile before coming to Christ, you will not be a better Christian if you get circumcised and begin practicing all the Jewish customs. Changing the external circumstances in life does not make you a better Christian (unless of course those circumstances are inherently sinful, i.e., a prostitute or drug dealer). Whatever your circumstance was in life before you were saved that becomes your God ordained and sanctified place of ministry as a Christian. It is your calling.

There is a great variety of callings as 1 Corinthians 12:12-18 suggests: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

Vs. 19 “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.”

Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”

The externals can do nothing to improve or weaken our standing with Christ, everything hinges on God’s grace working through faith alone. It is God, not your status that defines who you are in life. If you are in Christ you are a righteous saint, totally acceptable and completely loved whatever your circumstances in life. Your position in society counts for nothing.

Paul’s point in saying that “circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing” is that they should apply this principle to their desire to change their marital status thinking that it might empower them to be more spiritual. Marriage is nothing; and celibacy is nothing, they can neither empower you nor hinder you, neither one gives you any advantage or favor with God. They are spiritually irrelevant. (Fee, p. 313)

But how are we to understand the rest of the verse coming from Paul the champion of grace, “Keeping the commandments of God is what matters”? Paul has just affirmed that the external works of the law, (circumcision) has no merit with God so we cannot interpret “keeping the commandments of God” as performing works that earn us favor with God. In Paul’s New Testament theology God’s external commandments become the internal “law of Christ”. For believers living under grace, keeping God’s commandments means obedience to the prompting and guidance of the indwelling Spirit of Christ which is far more radical than following any external moral code. (Barrett, p. 169)

The Christian life is very much a life of obedience, but God’s will that we follow is no longer an external list of laws, but now it is prompting coming from that still small voice of God’s Spirit within that we obey by the grace of His enabling power.

Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Romans 1:5 “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith.”

Ezekiel 36:27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

So in other words verse 19 is saying that it is not adjusting the external circumstances in life that is going to make your life spiritual but rather it is being led by the Spirit in a walk of obedience wherever you are that makes you spiritual. When you let God live through you He sanctifies your circumstances and they become holy, set apart unto Him that He might work in your circumstances for His glory. It is not by getting into the right place in life that we become holy. That is backwards. It is God in you who causes both you and your place in life to be holy. Wherever the presence of the Lord is—that place is holy.

This is the principle behind Paul’s teaching back in verse 14, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”

Now Paul summarizes in verse 20 what we have been studying:

Vs. 20 “Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.”

God wants us to live out our Christian life in the place where we were when God called us to Christ. You can be Christ-like and spiritual in whatever situation God has called you to. It is a mistake to think that you would be a much more godly man or woman if only you had a different spouse. It is a mistake to think that you would be so much more spiritual if only you were a pastor or a missionary than working with the foul mouthed people you have to put up with at the office every day. Bloom where God has planted you for His grace will enable you.

God is free to change your calling, but we are not free to change our own calling. God may in time call you to a different situation and you must follow. But then you are to remain where He has called you until He calls you elsewhere.

Now some people could despair and say, “Does this mean that I should never do anything to improve my situation in life? Should I never take a promotion or accept a job transfer? If I am in an abusive situation where my safety is at risk should I never get out? God’s word sheds some light on this in the next verse:

Vs. 21 “Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.”

So that we rightly understand what this verse is saying we need to also understand something about the slave culture. To be a slave was different than being an employee. If you were a slave you couldn’t hand in your notice and quit your job or put in a request for a transfer. Freedom to change his status was not a choice for the slave unless it was offered to him by the master. It was never the slave’s initiative to be free but rather the master’s initiative to offer freedom to the slave. As the next couple of verses make clear, we are all slaves of Christ by virtue of the fact that He redeemed us (purchased us) with the costly price of His own blood. That means we don’t initiate a change, but rather we follow wherever our Master leads us.

Verse 21 has some parallel with what we saw in verses 12, 13 and 15. You are to remain in that undesirable marriage so long as your partner is willing. Never initiate the divorce. But if your unbelieving spouse serves you with divorce papers you are not required to fight it. The principle is this, the Lord is our Master and we are His slave. If our Master opens the door and gives us the opportunity to be free from a difficult situation then you are free to take it. But none of us are free to initiate a change on our own. (Now in the situation of a highly abusive marriage where you and /or your children’s safety is at risk you are not required to continue exposing yourself to the danger. You should protect yourself. But you still do not initiate a divorce.)

This concept of remaining in the situation to which you are called, when understood is what makes the Bible’s statements on divorce and remarriage so difficult and controversial. It denies our imagined freedom and self-proclaimed rights to do what I want and calls me to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus. It lays out for us one aspect of what it means to embrace the cross and reckon myself dead to self but alive to God. We will look more closely at this in our next study.

How can we succeed in remaining faithful in our circumstances? How can we succeed at anything in the Christian life? We will only succeed by depending upon the grace of God.

Perhaps you have already abandoned that place to which God called you. Perhaps you have walked away from a marriage, or have entered into a second. Perhaps you have abandoned some other place of calling in your life in pursuit of another way that seemed right or more comfortable in your own eyes. Where does that leave you now? I think the first thing to fix in your mind is that your standing with God and your potential for spiritual development are not tied to your circumstances. God’s ultimate plan for your life is to conform you to the image of Christ and He can accomplish that in you no matter what your circumstances or how great your past failure. However, chances are that your responsibility now is to either remain where you are in your present circumstances, or else return and be reconciled to your first calling, if possible.

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