complete verse (1 Corinthians 7:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 7:20:

  • Uma: “Every person, whatever their life is, if God calls them to believe in the Lord Yesus, they should follow him in that life of theirs.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “We (incl.) should not aspire to changing our (incl.) status from our (incl.) status when we (incl.) first followed Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You continue in the situation you had when you first believed in our Lord.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore each one ought to remain in his status when he heard God’s calling him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore, it’s good if each one remains in the circumstances he was in when God put it in his mind to submit to him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Each person, according to how he was when God called him to believe in Jesus Christ should remain as he was.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:20

The function of this verse is to state more concisely and more generally the principle that Paul expressed in verse 17. In that verse Paul’s thought was only beginning to move away from the question of marriage and divorce.

In Greek the text of this verse is literally “each in the calling (in) which he was called, in this let him remain.” This kind of style is too heavy to translate word for word in most languages, so Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible restructure the verse. The Greek for “in the calling” here means, not the event in which God called the believer, but the condition or state in which the believer was living at the time when he or she was called. Verses 19 and 21 illustrate what is meant by the word state.

He was called: see the comment on verse 18 of this chapter.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .