Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.
Parallel translations
- KJV But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.
- BSB Regardless, each one should lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is what I prescribe in all the churches.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this way let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.
- 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. This is my rule for all the churches.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Each believer should keep living faithfully in the life-situation God assigned and called them in, rather than scrambling to change their circumstances. This guiding rule applies to all the churches.
Overview
Paul lays down a general principle for the chapter: conversion does not require an upheaval of one's external circumstances. The Lord sovereignly "distributes" and "calls" each person to a particular station, and faithful walking there is what matters. This frees believers to serve Christ wherever they are, and Paul notes he teaches the same rule everywhere, underscoring its consistency across the body of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Cor 4:17Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly.
- Rom 12:3–8For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.
- 1 Cor 7:24Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.
- 1 Cor 7:20–21Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called.
- 2 Cor 8:18We have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the Good News is known through all the assemblies.
- 1 Cor 7:18Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.
- 2 Cor 11:28Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies.
- 1 Cor 7:7Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind.
- Matt 19:12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”
- 1 Cor 14:33for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints.
- 1 Pet 4:10–11As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
- 1 Cor 16:1Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise.
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 7:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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