1 Corinthians 7:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

As circumcision brings no profit, and uncircumcision does no harm, so also slavery and freedom are alike. But to show this as clearly as possible, he says: “But if you can also become free, rather make use of it,” that is, serve all the more. Why, then, does he command the one who can become free to remain a slave? So that he may show that slavery not only does no harm, but even brings benefit. I know that some maintain that the words “rather make use of it” are spoken of freedom. They explain them thus: if you can become free, then be freed. But such a thought would be wholly contrary to Paul’s intention. He is consoling the slave and proving that slavery causes him no harm. He would not then command him to seek freedom. Otherwise someone might say: if I cannot become free, then I suffer humiliation and harm. The Greek terms are χρησαι and μαλλον χρησαι.

After finishing this discussion, he again returns to virgins, saying: “Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord” (1 Cor 7:25). What meaning has the comparison of Jew and Gentile, slave and free, amid discussions of marriage and virginity? Second, what can be the meaning of the words: “Was anyone called in circumcision? Let him not bring on uncircumcision” (non adducat praeputium). Can one who has once circumcised the foreskin, if he wishes, receive it again? Then in what sense can the words be explained: “For the slave called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise the one called free is Christ’s slave” (1 Cor 7:22)? Fourth, how does the one who commanded slaves to obey their earthly masters now say: “Do not become slaves of men” (1 Cor 7:23)? Finally, how can the words “Let each remain before God in the state in which he was called” apply to slavery or circumcision? This is also contrary to the preceding thought. For if we have heard, “Do not become slaves of men,” on what grounds can we remain in the calling in which we were called? Many believed while having earthly masters, whom they are now forbidden to obey. Further, with regard to circumcision, what does it mean to remain in the same calling in which they were called? Elsewhere the same Apostle cries out: “Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing” (Gal 5:2). It remains, therefore, to take circumcision and uncircumcision, slave and free, as adapted to the meaning of what was said above and dependent on what precedes. “Was anyone called in circumcision? Let him not bring on uncircumcision.” The Apostle says: if at the time when you were called and believed in Christ, you were called as one circumcised from a woman and were unmarried, then do not marry. That is, do not bring on uncircumcision, so as not to burden the freedom of circumcision and chastity with the weight of marriage. Likewise, if anyone is called in uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised. He says: you had a wife when you believed. Do not regard faith as a cause of discord, because God has called us in peace.

None of this is an obstacle to piety.” Concerning slavery in particular, he says: “As circumcision brings no profit, and uncircumcision does no harm, so also slavery and freedom are alike. But to show this as clearly as possible, the Apostle says: ‘But if you can also become free, rather make use of it’ (χρησαι), that is, serve all the more. I know that some maintain that the words ‘rather make use of it’ are spoken of freedom. They explain them thus: if you can become free, then be freed. But such a thought would be wholly contrary to Paul’s intention. He is consoling the slave and proving that slavery causes no harm. He would not then command him to seek freedom. In relation to Christ, he says, both are equal: you are a slave, and so is your master. When is a slave free while remaining a slave? When he is freed from passions and diseases of the soul, and does not surrender to greed, anger, and other such passions.” Conversely, when is a free man a slave? When he serves men in some evil thing, in gluttony, greed, or vainglory. Such a man, though free, is worse than any slave. Here is an example of both. Joseph was a slave, but he did not serve men slavishly, for he did not submit to his mistress. She, on the contrary, though free, proved lower than any slave. Today we have no slaves, but we have servants and masters, superiors and subordinates. These lessons apply to all Christians who occupy different positions in society. To persuade Christians all the more to preserve their outward condition, the Apostle says that he teaches this to Christians everywhere. This statement has great significance both historically and for the practice of the Church. It concerns the establishment of common orders of life for all Christians, not in conflict with other prevailing orders, insofar as those are not contrary to the spirit of the Christian faith. According to blessed Theophylact, “The Apostle said this so that Christians, knowing that they have other Christians sharing the same order of life, might be more zealously disposed to obedience to the Apostle’s decree.”

Others report that during the persecution of Antiochus many Jews used these means to conceal their Jewishness. Some suppose that certain Jews who had believed did the same. Some did so out of zeal, so that no trace of Judaism might remain. Others did so for some other reason. It is thought that with them in mind St. Paul wrote: do not do this. It is useless labor. Circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing in the work of salvation. Perhaps it was so. Why does he say: let the uncircumcised not be circumcised? Were there really some who, having been called uncircumcised, were circumcised? Evidently there were. They were brought to this by the arguments of the Judaizers. Theophylact writes: “Some, on the contrary, were carried away by the apparent great glory of circumcision and were circumcised after receiving the faith. To them St. Paul says that this adds nothing to the work of faith and salvation.” The Apostle mentions both cases either to prevent them, or to rebuke and correct them.