| Geneva Study Bible Art thou called being a servant? {p} care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. (p) As though this calling were too unworthy a calling for Christ. People's New Testament 7:21 Art thou called being a servant? Half the population of the Roman Empire at this time were slaves. Thousands of the early Christians were in this condition. Care not for it. If a servant was converted, let him not be troubled over his servile state;. But if thou mayest be free. But if he had the means of becoming free, let him rather choose freedom. Wesley's Notes 7:21 Care not for it - Do not anxiously seek liberty. But if thou canst be free, use it rather - Embrace the opportunity. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 21. care not for it-Let it not be a trouble to thee that thou art a servant or slave. use it rather-Continue rather in thy state as a servant (1Co 7:20; Ga 3:28; 1Ti 6:2). The Greek, "But if even thou mayest be made free, use it," and the context (1Co 7:20, 22) favors this view [Chrysostom, Bengel, and Alford]. This advice (if this translation be right) is not absolute, as the spirit of the Gospel is against slavery. What is advised here is, contentment under one's existing condition (1Co 7:24), though an undesirable one, since in our union with Christ all outward disparities of condition are compensated (1Co 7:22). Be not unduly impatient to cast off "even" thy condition as a servant by unlawful means (1Pe 2:13-18); as, for example, Onesimus did by fleeing (Phm 10-18). The precept (1Co 7:23), "Become not (so the Greek) the servants of men," implies plainly that slavery is abnormal (compare Le 25:42). "Men stealers," or slave dealers, are classed in 1Ti 1:10, with "murderers" and "perjurers." Neander, Grotius, &c., explain, "If called, being a slave, to Christianity, be content-but yet, if also thou canst be free (as a still additional good, which if thou canst not attain, be satisfied without it; but which, if offered to thee, is not to be despised), make use of the opportunity of becoming free, rather than by neglecting it to remain a slave." I prefer this latter view, as more according to the tenor of the Gospel, and fully justified by the Greek. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 7:17-24 The rules of Christianity reach every condition; and in every state a man may live so as to be a credit to it. It is the duty of every Christian to be content with his lot, and to conduct himself in his rank and place as becomes a Christian. Our comfort and happiness depend on what we are to Christ, not what we are in the world. No man should think to make his faith or religion, an argument to break through any natural or civil obligations. He should quietly and contentedly abide in the condition in which he is placed by Divine Providence. | 
