For those in healthy marriages or with material “creature” comforts, this passage can seem harsh or unwieldy. Why would Paul disregard the importance of a healthy relationship or the opportunity to rejoice over God’s provision?
Paul believes that Christ’s return is imminent. The “old age” of strict adherence to the law has passed; believers now live at the beginning of the “new age” of Jesus. Paul advises those followers who live in the in-between time.
Paul encourages individuals to remain in the same social system as they were when they first accepted Christ—even, and including, those with a lower social standing. American history has shown the dangers of this passage when taken to its extreme: an affirmation of oppressing minority groups and keeping those deemed socially unworthy beneath those with authority. But as New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays explains in Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Paul’s “immediate pastoral concern is to set his readers free for wholehearted service of God wherever they find themselves located in the present time” (123).
In light of Christ’s return, “the present form of the world is passing away.” Social systems and roles hold no value in God’s new order. Paul emphasizes the priority of commitment to God in light of God’s reign. We acknowledge our ties to roles, relationships, and possessions but avoid overattachment to any of these. We pledge our allegiance to God and God alone.