THE HONOR OF BEING A SLAVE

ROMANS 1:1

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God …

(Romans 1:1).

The apostle begins with a simple identification of his name. As a Roman citizen, his name was Saul. But he became Paul, the one who was radically transformed on the Damascus road. Years later the theologian extraordinaire of the early church identifies himself humbly and simply as Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.

Property of the Master

The Greek word doulos, which is the word servant in the KJV, is more accurately translated by the word slave. In the ancient world a servant was a hired employee who could come and go and even resign if he wanted to. But a doulos was owned by a kurios, a master or lord. He was the purchased property of the slave owner.

This imagery is frequently used in the New Testament to reflect the relationship between Christ and His people. We belong to Christ—He is our kurios, our Lord and Master. He has the right of an owner to impose obligation on us. Because Paul so clearly understood that believers have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, he called himself a doulos, or slave, of Jesus Christ.

The irony of being a slave to Christ

By nature man is in bondage to sin. We are bondservants to our own evil impulses and our fallen nature. Yet we are told that where the Spirit of the Lord is, where the Spirit of the kurios is, there is liberty. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).

Jesus addressed those words to people who were not free, but were in abject bondage. But the irony is this: The only freedom that man ever has is when he becomes a slave to Jesus Christ. If one is free of Christ, he is a slave to himself. But when one is enslaved to Christ he knows the royal liberation that only Christ can bring. So Paul, in citing his own credentials, looks to his highest virtue—that he is a slave to Jesus Christ.

CORAM DEO

As the Holy Spirit brings to mind the obligations you have before God, don’t look at them as hardship or duty. If you have one you particularly dislike, ask God to change that situation, not necessarily by removing you from it, but by giving you a true servant spirit.

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