Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 7:22

The two sentences, balanced by ὁμοίως (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:3 f.), do not precisely match: ὁ ἐν Κυρίῳ κληθεὶς δοῦλος is “the slave that was called in the Lord” (i.e., under Christ's authority), but ὁ ἐλεύθερος 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 [1102] implying severance as in ἀπολύτρωσις, 1 Corinthians 1:30) 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 [1103]); cf. Romans 6:17 f.; also ἔννομος Χριστοῦ, 1 Corinthians 9:21, with the same gen [1104] of possession. Ignatius makes a touching allusion to this passage, ad Romans, 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!”

[1102] preposition.

[1103] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1104] genitive case.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 7:22

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