You Are of Value!
Keep on Remaining at God's Side!
(Thoughts on 1 Cor. 7:23-24)
By Jonathan Mitchell

23. You folks were bought, as at a marketplace: [there was] value and honor involved in the price (or: [you are] of value). Do not continue becoming slaves of humanity (or: Do not repeatedly come to be slaves of people).

They had been purchased when they were slaves (to sin, to addictions, to self-interests, etc. - and to the Law, if they were a part of Second Temple Judaism), but now they were "the Lord's freed-person" (vs. 22). Paul said it this way, in Rom. 8:2,

"For you see, the Law of Life's spirit, joined with [the] Anointing of Jesus emancipated you from this law from the Mistake, and which is the Death."

Now the common rendering of the first statement of vs. 23 is represented by the ESV:

"You were bought with a price."

The word "price" is timè, and one of the lexical meanings is "price." But the "price" indicates "an estimate of worth, or value." As recognition of another's "worth," this word means that we "honor" the person, and have "respect" for him or her. The verb timaò means to "honor, revere, respect," when dealing with people. When dealing with things it means "set a price, assess the value, etc."

Now there are only two words in this sentence, in the Greek text: the verb ("you were purchased"), and the noun timè (in the genitive or ablative case). Since "purchasing" involves "paying a price" for something, it seemed redundant to add the word in the sense of "price." All that Paul needed to say was, "You folks were bought, as at a marketplace" (this last phrase is inherent in the verb). That means "a price was paid." This reading of Paul puts the emphasis on the "money" of the transaction. Now this interpretation has its place, and its "value," but we think that it leaves important nuances on the table.

By inserting a copulative "[there was]," we read Paul as saying that there was something of "value and honor involved in the price," which could allude to the death of Christ, and the value/honor in the price that He paid for submitting to the death of the cross (which, of course, is true), or it could also mean that He saw "value, worth and honor" in that which He bought (like "the pearl of great price" in Mat. 13:46). Art White points us to Mat. 13:44, as well:

"The reign (or: kingdom; sovereignty; dominion) of the heavens and atmospheres exists being (or: is) like a treasure - having been hidden (or: being concealed) within the midst of a field - which, upon finding, a person hid (concealed) [again] and then, from the joy he has, he proceeds leaving [it] and one after another sells as many things as he is then possessing and is proceeding in PURCHASING THAT FIELD."

Art pointed out that in Mat. 13:38 Jesus had defined His metaphor of "the field" as being "the world" - i.e., the aggregate of humanity. Dan Kaplan sees the same indication in regard to the "pearl of great price/value" in vs. 46, noting that pearls are "grown" in the sea, which is another symbol for humanity.

The parenthetical rendering of 23a, above, offers us this: "[you are] of value." And because of both the price paid, and of the value of what was purchased, "Do not keep on becoming slaves of humanity!"

So in the realm of the kingdom/reign/sovereign-influence of God, they should no longer live as enslaved people, becoming enslaved to human systems (religious, political or social) or "the will of people" (in the sphere of God's reign), but rather, they should be "led by the Spirit" and do what they "see [their] Father doing" (cf Jn. 5:19).

24. Let each person, brothers (folks from the same womb; = fellow believers; family members) - within that in which he was (or: she is) called (summoned) - keep on remaining (dwelling; abiding) at God's side and presence within the midst of this.

He is speaking their "calling/summoning" here on the level of their outward social position, in the stratified society of the Roman Empire - in the condition within which he or she existed when the summons came. This admonition is parallel to 16b, above, but with a change of verb - and so a change of emphasis. In vs. 16 the emphasis was on the daily way of living a life; here it is on where and in what realm one is dwelling, remaining, abiding. The clause

"remaining (dwelling; abiding) at God's side and presence"

speaks of the realm of God's reign (or: "abiding in the Vine" - Jn. 15:1ff), and His Presence -

"within the midst of" which, their life is hidden with Christ, in the midst of God (Col. 3:3).

The object of the preposition is the term "this," which refers back to "within that in which he was (or: she is) called (summoned)," i.e., whether being "a slave or a freed-person" (vs. 22). That existential situation, in this life, had no bearing on dwelling at God's side and presence. God has come to dwell with US! Cf Rev. 21:3.

This verse presents two "within" phrases. Paul's point, and emphasis, is the second one - the one within which they are to "keep on remaining (dwelling; abiding)" -

"at God's side and presence."

He referred to this in Eph. 2:6. We are to continue living/dwelling in this realm - He is our abiding place!

"O Yahweh, You Yourself have become our Habitation (dwelling place) in generation after generation" (Ps. 90:1; CVOT; additions mine).
"He who is dwelling in the concealment of the Supreme shall lodge in the shadow of Him Who-Suffices" (Ps. 91:1; CVOT).

Jonathan

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