The Saturday after the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 4, 2025 by under
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:20-24 (NKJV)
7:20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. 22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
Devotion
In these verses, St. Paul teaches us that we should be content to continue in the social order in which we find ourselves. The term “calling” that is used here translates to “vocation” from Latin, which we recognize as a more specific term for the work that we do here on earth, whether that be recognized as a secular occupation or not. Such roles include slave and free, but also father, mother, child, clergy, and ruler, among others. The important thing here is that we have these roles because God placed us in them. That is why they are callings, because, as it says in verse 17, God has called us to be in them.
God has arranged for us to fulfill these roles in our lives, and because of this we should respect and honor these roles. St. Paul’s lesson here is that we should not despise these roles simply because we would rather do something else. What all God-given vocations have in common is that Scripture tells us how to fulfill them in a God-pleasing way. To fulfill these roles is to “walk around in” the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in, as St. Paul testifies in his epistle to the Ephesians (2:10).
Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety without Thy succor, preserve it evermore by Thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
