1 Corinthians 7:23

τιμῆς ἠγοράσθητε (see note on 1 Corinthians 6:20) explains the position both of the δοῦλος ἀπελεύθερος and the ἐλεύθ. δοῦλος by the same act of purchase: the slave has been liberated from sin, and the freeman bound to a new Lord. The point of the appended exhortation, μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλ. ἀνθρ., is not obvious: we can scarcely imagine free Christians selling themselves into slavery; and subservience to party leaders (so Mr [1105], Hf [1106], Lt [1107], El [1108]; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 2:4, etc.) appears foreign to this context. It is better to take the warning quite generally: as much as to say, “Let no human influence divert you from service to God, or infringe on the devotion due to your Redeemer”; cf. Galatians 5:1; Galatians 6:14. Public opinion and the social pressure of heathenism were too likely to enslave the Corinthians.

[1105] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[1106] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1107] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1108] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.