“Primary or Secondary”
1 Corinthians 7:17-31
Bob DeGray
May 28, 2006
Key Sentence
When God is primary, worldly questions are of secondary importance.
Outline
I. Circumcision or Uncircumcision? Secondary to obedience. (1 Cor. 7:17-20)
II. Slave or Free? Secondary to service. (1 Cor 7:21-24)
III. Married or Single? Secondary (1 Cor 7:25-28)
IV. Any worldly pursuit? Secondary to eternity. (1 Cor 7:29-31)
Message
All of us have had moments when we’ve been surprised to find a Christian heart in an unexpected place. Todd Cobbs told a story recently about a time he and Don Schwartz were witnessing door-to-door and one door was opened by a big bearded guy with tattoos and ear-rings and the whole nine yards. Todd remembers thinking ‘Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one.’ But after they introduced themselves and told this guy what they were doing, it turned out he was a believer, and he thought it was great that they were sharing Christ. They prayed together and had a good time of fellowship. The point is that external appearance and external circumstances don’t make a Christian - it’s a matter of the heart. Circumstantial things like appearance or financial condition or vocation are really of secondary importance compared to the primary issue of a heart that knows God. That’s what the Apostle Paul is saying in 1st Corinthians 7:17-31 - he’s talking about what is secondary and unimportant, and thus by implication, what’s primary and important. And we need to apply that truth to our own lives: when God is primary, worldly questions are of secondary importance.I. Circumcision or Uncircumcision? Secondary to obedience. (1 Cor. 7:17-20)
Let’s begin with 1 Corinthians 17:17-20 where Paul says that the issue of circumcision or uncircumcision is secondary. 1 Cor. 7:17-20 Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. 20Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
Paul has just been teaching about contentment even in difficult marriages, and he’ll return to the subject of marriage, but he pauses to broaden his thoughts. The principle is found in verse 17: “Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.” Paul’s principle, or rule, is one not intended for the Corinthians alone, but one he gives to everybody: as a believer and follower of God, status or condition in life is of secondary importance. So there could be many questions which may be important to you, or may affect your life greatly, but which you don’t need to worry about in the bigger picture of serving God. The King James says “but as God has distributed to every man, and as the Lord has called every one, so let him walk.” God has assigned, God has called, and we are to walk where he put us, or, in the classic overused phrase, to bloom where we are planted. To illustrate this Paul uses two key examples: circumcision and slavery.
One commentator says that these “represented the two most divisive phenomena in the New Testament world. Circumcision constituted the greatest religious barrier, slavery the biggest social barrier.” But Paul argues for a distinctively Christian approach to both. Verse 18 “Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.” Circumcision was a great barrier, because the Jews saw anyone who was uncircumcised as cut off from the blessings of God. On the other side, the Greeks considered circumcision a matter for scorn, the mark of a despised people. So in a church of Jews and Gentiles there was great friction: should the church promote circumcision, allow it, or forbid it? That same tension had created a crisis in Galatia, which Paul had responded to very forcefully. He was against circumcision for Gentile converts because it was a return to works salvation and legalistic righteousness. So to be circumcised or not is of no spiritual value; and there is no use envying those who are or despising those who are not.
Paul says what really counts here is obedience to God: God is primary, everything else is secondary. Verse 19 “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts.” Paul doesn’t develop what he means by obedience here, but elsewhere he makes it clear that obedience to God’s commands can only be expected in those who have become obedient to the gospel, obedient by faith. 2 Thes. 1:8 “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” At the beginning of Romans he says of his own calling: “we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.” So the first priority in life, the primary reason we’re here, is to trust in Jesus by faith for rescue from sin; to obey his command by turning from dependence on ourselves, from rebellion and sin and trusting that his death on the cross provides rescue and reconciliation. This is the obedience of faith, which is followed by obedience to the Lord’s commands, he moral law.
Now before we move on we ought to try to bring this teaching on circumcision down to today. One clear application is in the area of judging people on externals. We have this mental image of what a Christian ought to look like, what behaviors are acceptable for a Christian, and when someone violates that image I think we get this sense of ‘oh boy - uncircumcised’. But as Todd and Don found at the door of that apartment, there are many times when external appearance is the least important part of a person: we could very well be missing a blessing if we allow externals to speak louder than a person’s faith and obedience. What constitutes the ‘circumcised / uncircumcised’ barrier for you: Bearded? Long haired? Unwashed? Pierced? Overweight? Weather-beaten? Immodestly dressed? A smoker? Whatever it is, even if it’s significant, it’s not a primary issue compared with knowing God by faith and not a reason to shy away from fellowship. If circumcised Jews and uncircumcised Greeks can be part of the same body, surely we can.
II. Slave or Free? Secondary to service. (1 Cor 7:21-24)
Paul moves on to the major social barrier: slave or free? Verses 21 to 24: Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you--though if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.
Slavery was a major institution in the Roman world. Many millions, from 20 to 40 percent of the population, were slaves. And the message of Christianity tended to be most accepted by those in the lower, downtrodden classes. As a result many Christians in all the early churches were slaves. Some of Paul’s readers would have been slaves, some would have been free, and there would have been a huge barrier between the two. Paul’s counsel? ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s of secondary importance compared to your new life as freed people who are slaves of Christ.’ Verse 21: “Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you--although if you can gain your freedom, do so.” I love the balance of that verse: don’t let it trouble you. If God has called you as a slave he will give you the grace to live as a slave. On the other hand, if you can gain your freedom, do so. Paul sees the value of freedom: I suspect he sees it in terms of increased opportunity to serve the Lord. The letter to Philemon, in which Paul seems to ask Philemon to free the slave Onesimus and send him to Paul as a co-worker, bears this out.
But mostly Paul sees the whole question as secondary. Verse 22 “For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.” Paul isn’t making up paradoxes - he’s contrasting what is true from God’s point of view to what is true from man’s point of view. You might be a slave, or an employee who feels like a slave, but from God’s point of view and in the most important and primary sense, you have been set free. Paul said to the Galatians: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” There is a freedom in Christ, especially freedom from the tyranny of the law and of sin. Jesus taught that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” but that “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” When we trust Christ and depend on him to save us from the sin that enslaves us, we are rescued and set free.
On the other hand, whether you’re slave or free in this world, when you’re saved you are made a slave, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ. In fact a careful study of Paul’s letters reveals this as one of the primary ways he defines himself, and I believe this should be at the core of our self image: I’m a servant; I’m a slave; I’m a bond servant.” Verse 23 “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” This is the second time Paul’s said “You were bought at a price.” Believers are those for whom Jesus paid the full price to free us from sin to serve him. The worst thing a believer can do, having been set free from sin, is to voluntarily become it’s slave.
So, in light of this dramatic truth, ‘you were bought at a price by the sacrifice of Christ’, questions of worldly freedom or worldly slavery become less important. Serving Christ as his free willing bondsman is primary: everything else secondary. Paul says it for the third time in verse 24: “Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.” An example of these truths can be seen in the life of St. Patrick. Born to a Christian family in western Britain, Patrick was the son of a Roman governor. At sixteen Patrick was taken to Ireland by raiders. At the time Ireland was predominantly pagan and druidic. For six years he was a slave to a druid chief, working as a shepherd, and d ring that time he took hold of the faith of his childhood, and drew near to God. At the end of six years he escaped, but now he was God’s slave, and after studying in Britain and Europe he returned as a missionary to Ireland. His knowledge of the language and tribes, gained as a slave served him well as the Lord’s slave. Patrick’s worldly state was secondary to his primary focus - the service of God.
III. Married or Single? Secondary (1 Cor 7:25-28)
IV. Any worldly pursuit? Secondary to eternity. (1 Cor 7:29-31)
So, circumcision or uncircumcision? Secondary to obeying God. Slavery or freedom? Secondary to serving Christ. Next Paul identifies marriage questions as secondary. Verses 25-28: Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. 27Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
Paul begins to talk about virgins, those who have never been married. He’s already talked to married couples, widows, single people and those struggling in their marriages. But even in this arena wht Paul wants to say is that when the Lord is primary, everything else is secondary, not important enough to consume you. Even whether you will be married or stay single. Verse 25: “I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.” He implies, as he did in verses 10 and 11, that at times he has a command from the Lord - he knows the teaching of Jesus on a subject. But sometimes he doesn’t. On this subject of first marriages we have no particular guidance from the Gospels either. So Paul says “By God’s mercy I think my opinion is trustworthy.” He recognizes that if he says or writes anything valuable, it’s not because of his own merit but because he is a creature of God’s mercy; saved and ministering by God’s mercy - as are we all.
So what is Paul’s judgment? Verse 26 “because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.” What is ‘the present crisis?’ There are at least three theories. Some say Paul is talking about a crisis of persecution or trouble in Corinth at that time; a local and temporary situation. They would then argue that the opinions Paul gives here are not universally applicable. That’s possible.
At the other extreme many affirm that Paul is looking for the second coming of Christ and that the church is in the last days. And though Christ has not yet come, this caution is still applicable to us because he could come at any time. I tend to agree with that, but I’d mix in a little of the third view which says these words are applicable to us because there is always a present crisis - it may be a culture in meltdown, or persecution, or a critical need for evangelism or missions, but there’s always a clear call to have the Lord’s work as a priority and to give all else secondary importance.
In fact, although he’s supposed to be talking to the unmarried, Paul quickly applices this principle to others. Verse 27: “Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife.” Paul identifies the whole married / unmarried question as secondary; don’t worry about these things; the things of God are more important. On the other hand, because these other things are of secondary importance, you can often make a decision either way without sinning. Verse 28: “If you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.” There is no sin in marriage. Paul already taught that it is better to marry than to burn. An unmarried woman who chooses to marry has not sinned. But Paul is a realist and recognizes that especially in hard times people who are married will face greater stresses than single people. You can see an example of this in the e-mails we’ve been receiving from Pastor Wilson in India, whose church is facing persecution. The second e-mail Tim Rask forwarded said: “Dear in Christ; Hindu militants are after me so I am away from my family and staying in a secret place. Since my children go to school they could not come. Now my wife and my two children are staying alone. Pray for their safety.” The first thing on Pastor Wilson’s mind was his wife and children: that’s both inevitable and right.
So the principle of primary / secondary as applied to marrying might be stated like this: pursue the things of God, and if God brings someone alongside, consider marriage. Elizabeth Elliot lived this principle all her life, never going out of her way to try to find marriage, but eventually being married three times, to Jim Elliot who was famously martyred in South America, to Addison Leitch, a professor at Gordon Conwell Seminary, who died of cancers and finally to Lars Gren, who as he says, is ‘doing quite well, thank you’. But in her life, serving God has always been primary, and the question of being married or not married, though important, was secondary to the primary goal of being used by God in the present crises.
IV. Any worldly pursuit? Secondary to eternity. (1 Cor 7:29-31)
In our last few verse Paul expands the scope of this teaching. I Corinthians 7:19-31 29What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
“The time is short” - literally ‘the time has been shortened’ - we are closer now than we have ever been. To what? Almost certainly, again, to the return of Christ, though some commentators have suggested otherwise. It’s clear to me that Paul lived in anticipation of Christ’s return and made life decisions based on it - not to go out on a mountaintop and wait, as some groups have, but to go out and minister and witness and show God’s love to those who desperately need to know Jesus. We do not know the day or the hour of his return, and we need to be urgent about serving. Once again, we’ve been told the study of eschatology or last things is unimportant, but we find Paul often using Christ’s return to influence people’s lives.
So, verse 29: “From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none” Again, this is talking about priorities, not absolutes. We’ve already seen that Paul is not entirely against marriage, and he is against anything that looks like abstinence in marriage. So if he is not saying those things, what’s he saying? That marriage is not primary; it is secondary to the urgency of serving the Lord now; that all of us need to live as if the time were short. Jesus said in Matthew 25 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” and then he went on to tell the parable of the talents, which was all about serving until the master returns.
So who should live as if the time were short? The circumcised and the uncircumcised, the slave and the free man, the married and the unmarried, those considering marriage . . and the list goes on. Verse 30: “those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not” Earthly sadness and earthly pleasure are secondary considerations. Paul could easily have done the same thing he did for ‘slave’ and ‘free’. Let those who grieve not grieve like other men, for we have the promise of the rapture and the resurrection; but if you mourn, mourn about those who die without the Lord. In the same way, those who are happy should not be happy in the things of this world, but as Paul says to the Philippians, they should rejoice in the Lord - same word. When God is primary all other things are secondary.
And of course this applies to one of the characteristic sins of our culture, materialism: Paul says in verse 30 “those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep” and in verse 31 “those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them.” Stuff consumes us. Even in the last two weeks I’ve gotten a new computer and a new phone and I find myself chortling over my mad high-techness. And that’s not even necessarily bad but it is truly secondary; tertiary, quaternary, however far you want to take it. Where God is primary possessions are not to possess us and tools are not to use us. The NIV phrase is striking - those who use the things of the world are not to be engrossed in them - caught up, wrapped up in them. In our culture it’s a huge challenge to redeem the time we give to stuff; to our cars, to our yards, to our houses, yes to our computers, to the internet even if used purely, to work, to hobbies, yes Bob even to running. You could make a list of the things that consume you: not one of them necessarily bad, but all of them necessarily secondary.
These verses are in a sense the clincher of Paul’s argument - some might debate him about circumcision or uncircumcision, slave or free, married or unmarried, but when he adds not being consumed by the things of this world, being stewards of what God gives us and managing these things on his behalf, then it becomes crystal clear what Paul’s words are all about: they are about priorities, yours and mine, and what is most important or primary to us. Written between every line is the word God; obedience to God, service to God; a recognition that the time is short and eternity with God begins soon. Verse 31 “For this world in its present form is passing away.” There will come a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
In church history there have been more than a few who have radically recognized the primacy of God in their lives. Francis of Assissi was rich, but he gave up all he had not just to serve God, but to draw others into a life where God was primary. In the modern era, a generation ago, we think of R. G. LaTourneau: some of our kids have gone to the school he founded. He was a brilliant engineer and industrialist and built a multi-million dollar company. But as one biographer says “It is not LeTourneau’s inventions, or even his success as a businessman that keeps his name alive in Christian circles. Instead, it is his lifelong commitment to remain true to the discovery which he made at the death of his firstborn son - that spiritual priorities are the only correct priorities.”This was evident in his use of worldly possessions. By the end of his life he was giving ninety percent of his profits for the Lord’s work and keeping only ten percent for himself. Seeing himself as the Lord’s steward, he supported missions, evangelism and discipleship. He wasn’t caught up by the things he had or the things he used; the Lord was primary; everything else was secondary. This is Paul’s teaching. May it be so for us.