Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [1 Corinthians: Chapter 7].
7:21 {Wast thou called being a bondservant?} (\doulos
ekl•th•s;\). First aorist passive indicative. Wast thou, a slave,
called? {Care not for it} (\m• soi melet•\). "Let it not be a
care to thee." Third person singular (impersonal) of \melei\, old
verb with dative \soi\. It was usually a fixed condition and a
slave could be a good servant of Christ (Col 3:22; Eph 6:5; Tit
2:9), even with heathen masters. {Use it rather} (\mallon
chr•sai\). Make use of what? There is no "it" in the Greek. Shall
we supply \eleutheri•i\ (instrumental case after \chr•sai\ or
\doulei•i\)? Most naturally \eleutheri•i\, freedom, from
\eleutheros\, just before. In that case \ei kai\ is not taken as
although, but \kai\ goes with \dunasai\, "But if thou canst also
become free, the rather use your opportunity for freedom." On the
whole this is probably Paul's idea and is in full harmony with
the general principle above about mixed marriages with the
heathen. \Chr•sai\ is second person singular aorist middle
imperative of \chraomai\, to use, old and common verb.
7:22 {The Lord's freedman} (\apeleutheros Kuriou\).
\Apeleutheros\ is an old word for a manumitted slave,
\eleutheros\ from \erchomai\, to go and so go free, \ap-\ from
bondage. Christ is now the owner of the Christian and Paul
rejoices to call himself Christ's slave (\doulos\). But Christ
set us free from sin by paying the ransom (\lutron\) of his life
on the Cross (Mt 20:28; Ro 8:2; Ga 5:1). Christ is thus the
_patronus_ of the _libertus_ who owes everything to his
_patronus_. He is no longer the slave of sin (Ro 6:6,18), but a
slave to God (Ro 6:22). {Likewise the freeman when called is
Christ's slave} (\homoi•s ho eleutheros kl•theis doulos estin
Christou\). Those who were not slaves, but freemen, when
converted, are as much slaves of Christ as those who were and
still were slaves of men. All were slaves of sin and have been
set free from sin by Christ who now owns them all.
7:23 {Ye were bought with a price} (\tim•s •gorasth•te\). See on
¯6:20 for this very phrase, here repeated. Both classes (slaves
and freemen) were purchased by the blood of Christ. {Become not
bondservants of men} (\m• ginesthe douloi anthr•p•n\). Present
middle imperative of \ginomai\ with negative \m•\. Literally,
stop becoming slaves of men. Paul here clearly defines his
opposition to human slavery as an institution which comes out so
powerfully in the Epistle to Philemon. Those already free from
human slavery should not become enslaved.
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