18. Was someone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. Was an uncircumcised person called? He should not be circumcised.
19. Circumcision means nothing, and uncircumcision means nothing; what matters is keeping God’s commandments.
20. Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called.
21. Were you a slave when you were called? Do not be concerned but, even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of it.
22. For the slave called in the Lord is a freed person in the Lord, just as the free person who has been called is a slave of Christ.
23. You have been purchased at a price. Do not become slaves to human beings.
24. Brothers, everyone should continue before God in the state in which he was called.
25. Now in regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
26. So this is what I think best because of the present distress: that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.
27. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.
28. If you marry, however, you do not sin, nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries; but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that.
29. I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
30. those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning,
31. those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.
32. I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
33. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,