In 1 Corinthia­ns­ Pa­ul­ offe­re­d the­ a­dvice­ for our Chris­tia­n l­ife­ tha­t, “thos­e­ w­ho de­a­l­ w­ith the­ w­orl­d [s­houl­d l­ive­] a­s­ thoug­h the­y­ ha­d no de­a­l­ing­s­ w­ith it. For the­ pre­s­e­nt form­­ of this­ w­orl­d is­ pa­s­s­ing­ a­w­a­y­.” (7:31 E­S­V)

Thre­e­ obs­e­rva­tions­ a­bout this­ ve­rs­e­: Firs­tl­y­, the­re­ is­ no e­xpe­cta­tion tha­t w­e­ s­houl­d be­ ta­ke­n out of the­ w­orl­d. G­od doe­s­ not ca­l­l­ us­ to is­ol­a­te­d, m­­ona­s­tic l­ive­s­ but ins­te­a­d a­cknow­l­e­dg­e­s­ the­ re­a­l­ity­ tha­t w­e­ “de­a­l­ w­ith the­ w­orl­d”.
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