Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Parallel translations
- WEB You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men.
- BSB You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
- NKJV You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
- NASB You were bought for a price; do not become slaves of people.
- NLT God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.
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
You were purchased at the costly price of Christ's blood, so do not become enslaved to the demands and opinions of men. Your ultimate allegiance belongs to your Redeemer.
Overview
The "price" is Christ's atoning death, which makes every believer God's own possession (cf. 1 Cor 6:20). Because of this redemption, believers must not surrender their consciences and souls to human masters or worldly pressures. Whatever one's earthly station, the deeper reality is being owned by Christ, and that ownership sets the limit on every other loyalty.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Cor 6:20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- 1 Pet 1:18–19Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
- Titus 2:14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
- Lev 25:42For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.
- Rev 5:9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
- 1 Pet 3:18For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
- Acts 20:28Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
- Gal 2:4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
- Matt 23:8–11But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:23 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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