Ver. 22. The two sentences, balanced by ὁμοίως (cf. 3 f.), do not precisely match: 6 ἐν Kupiw κληθεὶς δοῦλος is “the slave that was called in the Lord” (ἐ.ε., under Christ’s authority), but 6 ἐλεύ- θερος κληθεὶς is rather ‘the freeman, in that he was called’’; his call has made the latter Christ’s slave, while the former, though a slave, is the Lord’s freedman. ---ἀπελεύθερος, libertus (the prp. imply- ing severance as in ἀπολύτρωσις, i. 30) —freedman of a Lord; “Christ buys us from our old master, sin, and then sets us free; but a service is still due from the libertus to the patronus”’ (Lt.); cf. Rom. vi. 17 f.; also ἔννομος Χριστοῦ, ix. 21, with the same gen. of possession. Ignatius makes a touching allusion to this passage, ad Rom., 4: “I am till the present time a slave; but if I suffer I shall be Jesus Christ’s freeman, and I shall rise up [in the resurrection] free !”’
Ver. 23. τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε (see note on vi. 20) explains the position both of the δοῦλος ἀπελεύθερος and the ἐλεύθ. δοῦλος by the same act of purchase: the slave has been liberated from sin, and the freeman bound to anew Lord. The point of the appended exhortation, py γίνεσθε δοῦλ. avOp., is not obvious: we can scarcely imagine free Christians selling
29-36. ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ Α 831 πων. 24. ἕκαστος ἐν ᾧ "" ἐκλήθη, ἀδελφοί, ἐν τούτω µενέτω * παρὰ 3 νι τῶ 1 Θεῶ. cf. Lk. i. t ς 30, ii. 52; 9 - , > : 25. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ' παρθένων " ἐπιταγὴν Κυρίου οὐκ έχω: * γνωμὴν : ια Ayo’ c.w2 , πε δν ῤ x x ep ὦ and 20ος. δν δίδωµι, ὡς "ἠλεημένος "ὑπὸ " Κυρίου π εἶναι. 26. ο Sea μι οὖν τοῦτο Ἰ καλὸν ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὴν " ἐνεστῶσαν "ἀνάγκην, ὅτι ἵ ν ii. 14), xxv. I ff.; Lk. i. 27; Acts xxi.9; Rev. xiv.4. uSeever.6. v Seei. pal Pa 6c6 , 2 Cor. viii. το. w 2 Cor. ἵν.τ; Ph. ii. 27; 1 Tim. i. 13, 16. The vb., Rom. ix. 15 Π., xi. 30 ff.; Mt.v.7. xSeeiv.2, y See
νεΓ.Ι. z See iii. 22.
a 2 Cor. vi. 4, xii. 10; 1 Th. iii. 7; Lk. xxi. 23; 1 Kings xxii. 2.
1 Om. τῳ all unce. but A, which is followed by a considerable minority of minn.
themselves into slavery ; and subservience to party leaders (so Mr., Hf., Lt., El.; cf. i. 12, ii. 4, etc.) appears foreign to this context. It is better to take the warning quite generally: as much as to say, ‘‘ Let no human influence divert you from service to God, or infringe on the devotion due to your Redeemer”; cf. Gal. v. 1, vi. 14. Public opinion and the social pressure of heathenism were too likely to enslave the Corinthians.
Ver. 24 reiterates with urgency, as addressed to “‘ brethren,” the fundamental rule laid down in νετ. 20. ἐν τῇ κλήσει qi now becomes, abstractly, ἐν ᾧ « . . ἐν πούτῳ---'' wherein each was called, in that let him abide in the sight of God’’; here as there the Christian vocation is in- tended, the status of faith and saintship, with which no human power may inter- fere and which, when duly realised, will of itself control outward relations and circumstances (Gal. ii. 20, Rom. xiv. 23). For παρὰ Θεῷ, cf. ili. το and parls.
§ 23. ADVANTAGES OF THE SINGLE STATE, Vii. 25-35. Paul’s opinion had been asked particularly, in this connex- ion, about the case of marriageable daughters (25): was it wise for fathers, as things were, to settle their daughters in marriage? He delivers his judgment on this delicate matter, turning aside in vv. 29-31 toa general reflexion upon the posture of Christians towards the perish- ing world around them; then returning to point out the freedom from care and material engrossment enjoyed by the unwedded (32 ff.), he restates in ver. 36 his advice περὶ τῶν παρθένων.