As though they had no goods

Paul, in writing to the church in the city of Corinth, exhorted them:

"This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on . . . let those who buy [live] as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away" (1 Corinthians 7:29, 30-31)

He was not telling them to come out of the world (1 Cor 5:10), but to live in it in a way that recognizes and declares the new reality: that the goods we have are as nothing. Our very participation in the world is to be the witness to another more real, and more durable world.

In these phrases Paul is capturing all of his hearers, not merely the merchants, for they all buy goods of some sort, and they all deal with the world. All of us, in all our dealings, are to live in such a way that doesn't expect these things to satisfy, or to last. We cannot pretend to isolate ourselves from "the world". It is simply impossible. The issue is whether we treat this world and its goods as ultimate, or fleeting.

This, I believe, is the theological foundation of gospel entrepreneurship. Believing that these things are fleeting, we deal with the world in a way that points to the age to come, and to enduring reality. This is where our colleagues, customers and vendors will see the reality of the Kingdom: not that we retreat from the world, but that through us the Kingdom comes near to them. May God give us grace to truly believe that the appointed hour has grown short, and diligently engage in commerce that witnesses to the resurrection of the dead.