1Cor 7:22, 12:13, Gal 3:28, Col 3:11 | JFB | STEP | 22. the Lord's freeman-- (Phm 16)--rather, "freedman." Though a slave externally, spiritually made free by the Lord: from sin, ; from the law, ; from "circumcision," ; . Christ's servant-- ( ). Love makes Christ's service perfect freedom ( , ; ; ).

‏ 1 Corinthians 7:22

22. the Lord's freeman--(Phm 16)--rather, "freedman." Though a slave externally, spiritually made free by the Lord: from sin, Joh 8:36; from the law, Ro 8:2; from "circumcision," 1Co 7:19; Ga 5:1.

Christ's servant--(1Co 9:21). Love makes Christ's service perfect freedom (Mt 11:29, 30; Ga 5:13; 1Pe 2:16).

‏ 1 Corinthians 12:13

12-13. Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God in the world of grace, as in that of nature. As the many members of the body compose an organic whole and none can be dispensed with as needless, so those variously gifted by the Spirit, compose a spiritual organic whole, the body of Christ, into which all are baptized by the one Spirit.

of that one body--Most of the oldest manuscripts omit "one."

so also is Christ--that is, the whole Christ, the head and body. So Psa 18:50, "His anointed (Messiah or Christ), David (the antitypical David) and His seed."

‏ Galatians 3:28

28. There is in this sonship by faith in Christ, no class privileged above another, as the Jews under the law had been above the Gentiles (Ro 10:12; 1Co 12:13; Col 3:11).

bond nor free--Christ alike belongs to both by faith; whence he puts "bond" before "free." Compare Note, see on 1Co 7:21, 22; Ep 6:8.

neither male nor female--rather, as Greek, "there is not male and female." There is no distinction into male and female. Difference of sex makes no difference in Christian privileges. But under the law the male sex had great privileges. Males alone had in their body circumcision, the sign of the covenant (contrast baptism applied to male and female alike); they alone were capable of being kings and priests, whereas all of either sex are now "kings and priests unto God" (Re 1:6); they had prior right to inheritances. In the resurrection the relation of the sexes shall cease (Lu 20:35).

one--Greek, "one man"; masculine, not neuter, namely "one new man" in Christ (Ep 2:15).

‏ Colossians 3:11

11. Where--Translate, "Wherein," namely, in the sphere of the renewed man.

neither ... nor ... nor ... nor--Translate as Greek, "There is no such thing as Greek and Jew (the difference of privilege between those born of the natural seed of Abraham and those not, is abolished), circumcision and uncircumcision (the difference of legal standing between the circumcised and uncircumcised is done away, Ga 6:15)--bondman, freeman." The present Church is one called out of the flesh, and the present world-course (Ep 2:2), wherein such distinctions exist, to life in the Spirit, and to the future first resurrection: and this because Satan has such power now over the flesh and the world. At Christ's coming when Satan shall no longer rule the flesh and the world, the nations in the flesh, and the word in millennial felicity, shall be the willing subjects of Christ and His glorified saints (Da 7:14, 22, 27; Lu 19:17, 19; Re 20:1-6; 3:21). Israel in Canaan was a type of that future state when the Jews, so miraculously preserved distinct now in their dispersion, shall be the central Church of the Christianized world. As expressly as Scripture abolishes the distinction of Jew and Greek now as to religious privileges, so does it expressly foretell that in the coming new order of things, Israel shall be first of the Christian nations, not for her own selfish aggrandizement, but for their good, as the medium of blessing to them. Finally, after the millennium, the life that is in Christ becomes the power which transfigures nature, in the time of the new heaven and the new earth; as, before, it first transfigured the spiritual, then the political and social world.

Scythian--heretofore regarded as more barbarian than the barbarians. Though the relation of bond and free actually existed, yet in relation to Christ, all alike were free in one aspect, and servants of Christ in another (1Co 7:22; Ga 3:28).

Christ is all--Christ absorbs in Himself all distinctions, being to all alike, everything that they need for justification, sanctification, and glorification (1Co 1:30; 3:21-23; Ga 2:20).

in all--who believe and are renewed, without distinction of person; the sole distinction now is, how much each draws from Christ. The unity of the divine life shared in by all believers, counterbalances all differences, even as great as that between the polished "Greek" and the rude "Scythian." Christianity imparts to the most uncivilized the only spring of sound, social and moral culture.