Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were when God first called you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.
- KJV Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
- BSB Brothers, each one should remain in the situation he was in when God called him.
- NKJV Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
- NASB Brothers and sisters, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.
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
Paul closes the section by repeating the rule once more: remain in whatever condition you were called, now lived out "with God." Faithful presence with God transforms any station.
Overview
The threefold repetition (vv. 17, 20, 24) drives home contentment in one's calling. The added phrase "with God" is key: it is not bare circumstance but communion with God within that circumstance that gives life meaning and dignity. The gospel does not so much change a believer's address as it changes the One who now walks with them there.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Cor 7:20Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called.
- Col 3:23–24And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,
- 1 Cor 7:17Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.
- 1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.
- Gen 5:22–24After Methuselah’s birth, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
- 1 Sam 14:45The people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God today!” So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn’t die.
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 7:24 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.