Lectionary Calendar
Monday, October 21st, 2024
the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

1 Corinthians 7:23

All of you, slave and free both, were once held hostage in a sinful society. Then a huge sum was paid out for your ransom. So please don't, out of old habit, slip back into being or doing what everyone else tells you. Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   Holiness;   Marriage;   Redemption;   Servant;   The Topic Concordance - Calling;   Freedom/liberty;   Servants;   Service;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Redemption;   Servants;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Servant;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Consecration;   Freedom;   Justice;   Redemption;   Servant;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Corinthians, First and Second, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Polygamy;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Sacrifice;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Atonement;   Black People and Biblical Perspectives;   Imagery;   Lord;   1 Corinthians;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Marriage;   Philemon, Epistle to;   Slave, Slavery;   Woman;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Brotherly Love;   Debt, Debtor;   Love;   Mediation Mediator;   Mediator;   Metaphor;   Priest;   Propitiation;   Redemption;   Redemption (2);   Sacrifice (2);   Slave, Slavery;   Socialism;   Trade and Commerce;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Corinthians;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corinthians, First Epistle to the;   Ransom;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
God paid a high price for you, so don't be slaves to anyone else.
Revised Standard Version
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ye are dearly bought be not mennes seruauntes.
Hebrew Names Version
You were bought with a price. Don't become bondservants of men.
International Standard Version
You were bought for a price. Stop becoming slaves of people.Leviticus 25:42; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18-19;">[xr]
New American Standard Bible
You were bought for a price; do not become slaves of people.
New Century Version
You all were bought at a great price, so do not become slaves of people.
Update Bible Version
You were bought with a price; don't become slaves of men.
Webster's Bible Translation
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
English Standard Version
You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
World English Bible
You were bought with a price. Don't become bondservants of men.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Ye are bought with a price; do not become the servants of men.
Weymouth's New Testament
You have all been redeemed at infinite cost: do not become slaves to men.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
With prijs ye ben bouyt; nyle ye be maad seruauntis of men.
English Revised Version
Ye were bought with a price; become not bondservants of men.
Berean Standard Bible
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
Contemporary English Version
God paid a great price for you. So don't become slaves of anyone else.
Amplified Bible
You were bought with a price [a precious price paid by Christ]; do not become slaves to men [but to Christ].
American Standard Version
Ye were bought with a price; become not bondservants of men.
Bible in Basic English
It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men.
Complete Jewish Bible
You were bought at a price, so do not become slaves of other human beings.
Darby Translation
Ye have been bought with a price; do not be the bondmen of men.
Etheridge Translation
With a price are you bought; you will not be servants of men.
Murdock Translation
Ye are bought with a price; become not the servants of men.
King James Version (1611)
Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the seruants of men.
New Living Translation
God paid a high price for you, so don't be enslaved by the world.
New Life Bible
He paid a great price for you when He bought you. Do not let yourselves become servants owned by men.
New Revised Standard
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Yee are bought with a price: be not the seruants of men.
George Lamsa Translation
You have been bought with a price; you must not therefore become slaves of men.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
With a price, have ye been bought, - do not become bond-servants of men:
Douay-Rheims Bible
You are bought with a price: be not made the bondslaves of men.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye are dearely bought, be not ye the seruauntes of men.
Good News Translation
God bought you for a price; so do not become slaves of people.
Christian Standard Bible®
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people.
King James Version
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Lexham English Bible
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
Literal Translation
You were redeemed with a price; do not become slaves of men.
Young's Literal Translation
with a price ye were bought, become not servants of men;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ye are dearly boughte, be not ye the seruauntes of men.
Mace New Testament (1729)
have you been redeemed from slavery? then, don't turn slaves.
New English Translation
You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.
New King James Version
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
Simplified Cowboy Version
God paid a terrible price for you, so don't tie-on to the world's ways.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
Legacy Standard Bible
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

Contextual Overview

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. Don't think I'm being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches. 18Were you Jewish at the time God called you? Don't try to remove the evidence. Were you non-Jewish at the time of your call? Don't become a Jew. Being Jewish isn't the point. The really important thing is obeying God's call, following his commands. 20Stay where you were when God called your name. Were you a slave? Slavery is no roadblock to obeying and believing. I don't mean you're stuck and can't leave. If you have a chance at freedom, go ahead and take it. I'm simply trying to point out that under your new Master you're going to experience a marvelous freedom you would never have dreamed of. On the other hand, if you were free when Christ called you, you'll experience a delightful "enslavement to God" you would never have dreamed of. 23All of you, slave and free both, were once held hostage in a sinful society. Then a huge sum was paid out for your ransom. So please don't, out of old habit, slip back into being or doing what everyone else tells you. Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

are: 1 Corinthians 6:20, Leviticus 25:42, Acts 20:28, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 1:18, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 Peter 3:18, Revelation 5:9

be: Matthew 23:8-11, Galatians 2:4

Reciprocal: Leviticus 25:55 - my servants 2 Timothy 2:4 - that he 2 Peter 2:1 - bought

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.
Genesis 7:17
The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered—the high-water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.
Psalms 91:1
You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow, Say this: " God , you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!" That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you— under them you're perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you. You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses. Yes, because God 's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door. He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they'll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path.
Proverbs 11:4
A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart, but a principled life can stand up to the worst.
Matthew 25:46
"Then those ‘goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep' to their eternal reward."
Hebrews 11:7
By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
2 Peter 2:9
So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye are bought with a price,.... Some read these words interrogatively, as 1 Corinthians 7:18, "are ye bought with a price?" and suppose them directed to such who had bought out their time of servitude with a sum of money, and ought not to return to their former condition; but they are rather to be read affirmatively, and to be understood of all, whether freemen or servants, that are bought with the inestimable price of Christ's blood, as in 1 Corinthians 6:20 and contain in them a reason why such as are called by the grace of God, whilst in a state of civil servitude, are Christ's freemen, because they are redeemed by him from sin, Satan, the law, and from among men; and also why such as are called by the grace of God, being in a state of civil liberty, are Christ's servants, because he has purchased them with his blood, and therefore has a right unto them, both to their persons and service:

be not ye the servants of men: not that the apostle dissuades such as are redeemed by Christ, and are believers in him, from being the servants of men in a civil sense; for this would be to contradict himself, who here and elsewhere exhorts servants to continue in the service of their masters, and to perform it heartily and cheerfully, and with great sincerity and integrity; but his meaning is, that since they were redeemed from a vain conversation by the blood of Christ, they should not be servants to the lusts of men, nor obey them in things sinful and wicked, which were contrary to law and Gospel, and which were made unlawful by the word of God, and were a breach of the command of their Lord and master Christ; nor should they in matters of religion and the worship of God submit to the authority of any set of men whatever, or be subject to the doctrines and commandments of men; whether these relate to Jewish ceremonies, or Gentile superstitions, or be a mixture of both: they were to call no man master upon earth; nor suffer any to lord it over them, as the false teachers very much did in this church; but to acknowledge Christ, who had bought them to be their only Lord and master. The allusion seems to he to a tradition of the Jews, that the Israelites being redeemed out of Egypt were the servants of God, and not of men p;

"R. Jochanan ben Zaccai was explaining this Scripture, Exodus 21:6 how different the ear is from all the members of the body; says the holy blessed God, the ear that heard my voice on Mount Sinai, at the time I said, the children of Israel are my servants, ולא עבדים לעבדים, and "not servants to servants"; and this goes and gets itself a master, let it be bored: R. Simeon ben Ribbi was explaining the same Scripture, how different the door and the door post were from all the parts of the house; says the holy blessed God, the door and the door post, which were witnesses in Egypt, at the time that I passed by the threshold, and by the two door posts, and I said, the children of Israel are my servants, and not servants to servants, and I brought them out of bondage to liberty; and this goes and gets itself a master, let it be bored before them.''

p T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 22. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye are bought with a price - Though you are slaves to people, yet you have been purchased for God by the blood of His Son; see the note at 1 Corinthians 6:20. You are, therefore, in his sight of inestimable worth, and are bound to be His.

Be not ye the servants of men - That is, “Do not regard yourselves as the slaves of men. Even in your humble relation of life, even as servants under the laws of the land, regard yourselves as the servants of God, as obeying and serving him “even in this relation,” since all those who are bought with a price - all Christians, whether bond or free - are in fact the servant (slaves, δοῦλοι douloi) of God, 1 Corinthians 7:22. in this relation, therefore, esteem yourselves as the servants of God, as bound by his laws, as subject to him, and as really serving him, while you yield all proper obedience to your master.” Rosenmuller, Grotius, and some others, however, think that this refers to Christians in general; and that the apostle means to caution them against subjecting themselves to needless rites and customs which the false teachers would impose on them. Others have supposed (as Doddridge) that it means that they should not sell themselves into slavery; but assuredly a caution of this kind was not needful. The view given above I regard as the interpretation demanded by the connection. And in this view it would promote contentment, and would even prevent their taking any improper measures to disturb the relations of social life, by the high and solemn consideration that even in that relation they were in common with all Christians, the true and real servants of God. They belonged to God, and they should serve Him. In all things which their masters commanded, that were in accordance with the will of God, and that could be done with a quiet conscience, they were to regard themselves as serving God; if at any time they were commanded to do that which God had forbidden, they were to remember that they were the servants of God, and that he was to be obeyed rather than man.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 23. Ye are bought with a price — As truly as your bodies have become the property of your masters, in consequence of his paying down a price for you; so sure you are now the Lord's property, in consequence of your being purchased by the blood of Christ.

Some render this verse interrogatively: Are ye bought with a price from your slavery? Do not again become slaves of men. Never sell yourselves; prefer and retain your liberty now that ye have acquired it.

In these verses the apostle shows that the Christian religion does not abolish our civil connections; in reference to them, where it finds us, there it leaves us. In whatever relation we stood before our embracing Christianity, there we stand still; our secular condition being no farther changed than as it may be affected by the amelioration of our moral character. But slavery, and all buying and selling of the bodies and souls of men, no matter what colour or complexion, is a high offence against the holy and just God, and a gross and unprincipled attack on the liberty and rights of our fellow creatures.


 
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