1 Corinthians 7:20

“Let every man remain faithful to the calling wherewith he was called.” Literally: “Let every man abide in the calling wherewith he was called.” The word κλῆσις, call, vocation, cannot denote the earthly state or profession; it is applied here, as elsewhere, to the call to salvation. The pronoun ᾗ with ἐκλήθη would suffice to prove this: “the call with which he was called.” Only the idea of the call must be taken to embrace all the external circumstances which furnish the occasion and determine the manner of it. What a difference between the manner of calling in the case of one circumcised and of one uncircumcised! Now this earthly situation, appointed by God, must not be left at one's own will. What was the means of thy call will not fail to exercise thy fidelity.

This maxim, which closes the treatment of the first example, serves as a transition to that of the second.