Lessons #221 and 222
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Concern about social standing (1 Cor 7:20-23)
20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
The overall message of 1 Corinthians 7:17-28 is there are appropriate and inappropriate concerns of one’s status quo after salvation. An appropriate concern that a believer should have after salvation regardless of the person’s status quo in the society given in verse 17 is to ensure that the believer lives a life that is pleasing to the Lord regardless of the status quo of the believer at time of salvation as we examined in our previous study. A first inappropriate concern the believer in Christ should avoid is that associated with ethnicity. In effect, your ethnicity should never be of concern to you as a believer since in Christ ethnicity has no meaning in that it does not offer any advantage in the spiritual life of a believer. That aside, in our last study, we focused on the second inappropriate concern a believer should not have. This concern deals with social standing although the specific social standing the apostle addressed to Corinthians is concerned with slavery. The apostle instructed a believing slave not to be overly concerned about such status quo. However, he indicated that if such a believer has an opportunity to be free, he should use it. Of course, we considered the problem of the literal translation of the last clause of 1 Corinthians 7:21 as it reads in the Greek which is but if and you are able to become free, rather use. We argued that the literal clause is better translated to indicate that it is the use of an opportunity that a slave gets to gain his freedom that is intended by the apostle, leading to such translation as given in the NIV although if you can gain your freedom, do so. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that the apostle would have also had in mind that a slave who gains his freedom should make proper use of it because of what the Holy Spirit says to believers about their use of freedom. This recognition implies that we should consider the subject of freedom as it pertains to the believer in Christ.
Why consider the subject of freedom at this point in our study, you may ask? It is because of the mention of the concept of freedom implied in the clause in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 7:21 although if you can gain your freedom, do so we are considering. A second reason is that humans are prone to abuse the concept of freedom. Because of the tendency to abuse the concept of freedom, the Holy Spirit warns us against it. This warning He issued through Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Galatians, as we read in Galatians 5:13:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
Similar warning is given through Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:16:
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
These two passages imply that we humans have the tendency to use the concept of freedom to do that which is sinful. Many times, in a free society, such as, ours, people complain whenever there is a law that is passed by the government that seem to infringe on their freedom but often the law is not really intended to curtail freedom as it is to curtail sin or people’s inhumane treatment of others. Laws enacted by ruling authorities that do not conflict with God’s word are usually not a bad thing if we understand that laws are not for those who obey them as the Holy Spirit informs us through Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1:9:
We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
Anyway, the point is that we humans have the tendency to abuse the concept of freedom and so the Holy Spirit warns believers to be careful not to abuse their freedom. It is because of abuse of freedom that we in this country are witnessing such moral decay. A young person is free to go anywhere he or she chooses or to do whatever the individual desires; the consequence is that we have many young people who become sexually immoral because they have the freedom to do what they want. They live together without the benefit of marriage since they are free to do what they want and so disregard any societal norm or the truth of God’s word that prohibits sex outside marriage. I have chosen this area to illustrate my point, but you find the examples of abuse of freedom in how people treat each other because they feel they have the freedom to do whatever they want.
Freedom as a concept is often defined in terms of “quality or state of being free” so that one is at liberty to act in a way a person wants or to say something that the individual desires. In effect, freedom is associated with the concept of not being oppressed or coerced into an action. This understanding of freedom creates a problem in that most people have a distorted view of what this freedom means since they do not take into consideration the issue of sin. Thus, people may declare that they are free because they are not under bondage to anyone or because they can do whatever they want. However, people when they say this, do not recognize that for the most part, they are slaves in one way or another. If a person is controlled by a sinful habit or a habit that may not necessarily be sinful but harmful, for example, use of tobacco products that individual is a slave although the person may not admit it or may not be aware of the slavery the person is under. The Scripture helps us to understand that when we are controlled by a sinful or harmful habit, we are enslaved. This truth we can derive from what the Holy Spirit stated through Apostle Peter regarding false teachers, as we read in 2 Peter 2:19:
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
The sentence a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him is one that tells us that if there is a sinful or harmful habit that we continue to exhibit then we are slaves to that habit and so any claim of being free is not true. This, of course, leads to the point I want to stress regarding our understanding of freedom. It is this: There is no such thing as absolute freedom for humans. To have absolute freedom would put humans on the same footing as God who alone is free to do whatever He wills in accordance with His nature. Some may think that man’s lack of absolute freedom is related to the fall. This is not the case. For even before the fall, God instructed Adam in such a way that indicates that he was not free to do whatever he chooses as it involves the fruits of the garden of Eden, as we read in Genesis 2:16–17:
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
When the Lord said to Adam You are free to eat from any tree in the garden but followed with the restriction but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that is an indication that even before the fall Adam did not have absolute freedom. The truth is that we do not have absolute freedom no matter what we may think. The fact we do not have absolute freedom may be cast in another way, which is, that there is no time any human being is free on this planet. Many would not accept this truth because they think that political freedom means total freedom for a person. However, in terms of sin and righteousness, we are not free. A person may be free from righteousness but a slave to sin or vice-versa. There is never a time that we are every free. Our peace of mind or lack of it depends on who is the master. If God is the master as evident in righteousness, then we have peace but if Satan is the master as reflected in sin, then we become miserable. Consequently, we are slaves either to sin or to righteousness as the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in his epistle to Romans, that is, in Romans 6:22:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
This passage indicates that a person who is free from sin is then a slave to God. Again, we are either slaves to sin or to righteousness as the apostle also states in Romans 6:18:
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
It is a passage such as this that enables us to understand that there is no neutral state in the spiritual life. A person is either under the control of the Holy Spirit or under the control of the sinful nature. By the way, we should be careful to understand that a person under the control of sinful nature to an extent could do good things. This is because humans are still the image of God so they could do things that are good but still under the control of their sinful nature. We say this because a human being can only be a slave to one master at a time. An unbeliever can only be under the control of the sinful nature since the Holy Spirit does not reside in such a person. Despite this fact, an unbeliever may, under the influence of the word of God and so religious, do that which is good. A good illustration of this truth is Cornelius, as we read in Acts 10:2–3:
2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
Cornelius was described as God-fearing implying that he accepted some aspects of Judaism without full conversion to it. This means that his generosity was influenced by the word of God although he was not saved, and the Holy Spirit was not in him. For after all, it was after Peter preached the gospel to him that he was saved and received the Holy Spirit. Thus, that he could become generous without regeneration implies that an unbeliever under the control of the sinful nature could do good if the individual is influenced by God’s word and because the person although unsaved is still an image of God although fallen. This explains why there are many altruistic people in the world. Anyway, my point is that at any point of time, we humans are either slaves of righteousness or slaves of sin so there is no such thing as absolute freedom for any human being.
True freedom is not political but spiritual. A person may have political freedom and be enslaved to sin. Therefore, the true freedom is spiritual. It is the kind of freedom that God offers us. It is this freedom that the Lord Jesus states He gives in John 8:32:
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We will comment on this passage later in our consideration of freedom since we will come back to this passage of the gospel of John. It is because of the truth that true freedom is that which is spiritual that comes from God that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul informs us that it is only when the Holy Spirit is in control of a person can the individual be truly free. It is this that is implied in the statement of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul that indicates freedom is found where the Holy Spirit is in 2 Corinthians 3:17:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The clause where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom may, according to the UBS handbook, be understood as either “freedom comes from the Spirit of the Lord,” or “it is the Spirit of the Lord who always gives freedom” or even “the Lord’s Spirit sets us free” as reflected in the CEV. It is when the Holy Spirit controls a believer that such a believer would be totally free in that such a person is free of sin. It is because of this reality that James could say that the Law gives freedom in James 1:25:
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
James’ declaration becomes an oxymoron without understanding that true freedom is spiritual since by nature a law implies restriction and so curtailing of freedom as we humans often think of freedom. Nonetheless, God’s law defines freedom from sin. Therefore, when a believer is under the control of the Holy Spirit that believer fulfills God’s law and so is indeed free from sin. This being the case, we can say that such a person has true freedom that is spiritual. Again, we should emphasize that it is only in Christ that we have true freedom as the Holy Spirit implies through the pen of Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:4:
This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.
Anyway, true freedom is spiritual and not political, implying that a person may live in a repressive government and be free in the spiritual sense.
We have indicated that true freedom is spiritual, and it is given in Christ and by Christ, so we should ask ourselves of what this true freedom involves. True freedom involves living under the control of the Holy Spirit. The idea of control of the Holy Spirit seems to be an oxymoron in that a person cannot be free if the individual is under another person’s control. However, true spiritual freedom means freedom from sin. But the only way a person can be free from sin is to be under the control of the Holy Spirit or to be filled of the Holy Spirit. Thus, for a person to be free from enslavement of sin that individual must be under the control of the Holy Spirit. Bear in mind that we have already established that there is no such thing as absolute freedom for humans. A person is either controlled by sinful nature or controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is this reality, that for believers, is expressed in terms of the battle for the control of our souls, as the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:17:
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
To ensure the believer does not become enslaved by sin but by righteousness then the individual must submit to the control of the Holy Spirit. This truth is conveyed in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:16:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
The command to live by the Spirit means to live a life that is controlled or dominated by the Spirit in contrast to a life dominated or characterized by our sinful nature. In other words, the command to live by the Spirit means that believers should allow the Holy Spirit to dominate, regulate and direct their lives. When this happens, the believer would not be enslaved by sinful nature that manifests itself through sinful activities. As we have stated, a believer who is controlled by the Holy Spirit is one in true freedom. The believer who wants to live by the Spirit must of a necessity have the desire to be directed, rebuked, and controlled by the Holy Spirit. In short, to live by the Spirit requires faith in the power that the Holy Spirit supplies, which then leads to a conscious decision that we would be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We do so by choosing to obey the clear instruction of the word of God given to us by the Holy Spirit. There is also the fact that we do receive prompting of the Holy Spirit to do certain things; at which point, we must also decide to follow the particular prompting. Let me caution that we should be careful not to confuse the prompting of the Holy Spirit from our natural feelings. The prompting of the Holy Spirit involves the thoughts that the Holy Spirit impresses in our minds to cause us to do certain things in accordance to God’s will. To be sure that we are under the prompting of the Spirit, we should evaluate the specific thought we believe is a prompting of the Holy Spirit to ensure that it is not contradictory to clear teaching of the Bible. For the prompting that is from the Holy Spirit would never lead to any action that would not glorify God in the sense of not reflecting God’s character. This notwithstanding, the Holy Spirit leads us primarily by the written word, but He also prompts us to do certain things that are in conformity with the character of God and revealed word of God. Of course, there is a negative aspect to being controlled by the Spirit that involves confession of our sins if we succumb to temptation. In any event, true freedom involves living under the control of the Holy Spirit.
Another thing true freedom involves is the consideration of the conscience of others. A person in true freedom is sensitive to others and not threatened by anything on this planet. Therefore, the person being secure of his/her relationship with the Lord seeks to ensure others enjoy the same true freedom that individual enjoys. It is this involvement of true freedom that Apostle Paul implied in 1 Corinthians 8:9–13:
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
The apostle used the matter of what one eats to convey that true freedom involves being sensitive to others and their consciences. He indicates he was willing not to eat meat again if that is what it takes not to cause another believer to sin. Hence, a believer in true freedom will be careful not to do anything that will cause an immature believer or any other person for that matter to do something that is contrary to God’s word. Anyway, if you have true freedom, you will be conscious that you do not use your freedom in Christ to cause another to sin.
Still another thing that true freedom involves is forgoing personal rights for the benefit of others. It is this that the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19:
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
The apostle indicated that although he is free, he made himself slave to everyone to win people to Christ. He was willing not to use the rights that he had as an apostle of Jesus Christ in order to help others. That is an essence of true freedom. If you enjoy true freedom in Christ then you should reflect it by being confident in the Lord and being assured of your relationship with Him that you will be willing to forgo whatever right you have in order to help others spiritually.
We have considered three things involved in true freedom, but we should emphasize that the Holy Spirit wants believers to maintain their true freedom in Christ as He conveyed through Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:1:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
The command stand firm means that the Galatians, and so all believers, should continue to enjoy the freedom that Christ has given them. The command is in the present tense in the Greek, implying that the Galatians must constantly be vigilant to ensure that they continue in the freedom that they have because of faith in Christ. The way to stand firm is to think continually of the work of Christ on the cross that brought salvation to the believer and so true freedom. Of course, there is the other side which is to strive to live by truth. In fact, this living the life controlled by truth is what the psalmist implies in in the concept of “walking about in freedom” in Psalm 119:45:
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
Positively, to live one’s life in freedom means to conduct one’s life in accordance with the word of God. It is true that the psalmist did not explicitly state this, but we believe that this is what the Holy Spirit brought in his mind as he promised to walk about in freedom. We say this because we have further revelation of this truth in the NT. Jesus indicated that true freedom comes from knowing the truth, as we read in the passage we cited previously, that is, John 8:31-32:
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
At the time Jesus uttered these words, the Jews believed that truth was found in the Law and that as a man studied it then that made him free. Here, of course, Jesus means knowing Him as the truth since He is the One that brings transformation that sets a person free from the bondage of Satan so that the person is free to do God’s will. To know Jesus in this context involves faith in Him and living one’s life according to His teaching. Hence, we see that living according to the word of God provides freedom. Thus, you are not living in freedom if you do not live in accordance to God’s word.
Negatively, to live one’s life in freedom means to live free of sin by being obedient to God’s word. Sin enslaves, as we have already stated, so that a person who lives in sin cannot be free as determined by God. The psalmist knows this truth that later in Psalm 119 he prayed that God should enable him not to be enslaved by sin in Psalm 119:133:
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
Living in freedom, no doubt, means living free of sin for once a person sins that person is enslaved by sin as that is what the Holy Spirit communicated through Apostle Paul in Romans 6:16:
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
If you live in true freedom, you will not worry about anything since worrying is a sin. Furthermore, you cannot live in fear of death. We are saying to you that if you worry then you are not living a life of freedom. Your fear may be the fear of death; if you live in fear of death then you cannot be living in freedom. The Holy Spirit through the author of Hebrews tells us that such fear is Satan’s tool for enslavement of people in Hebrews 2:15:
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
A person who lives free of the fear of death because Jesus has defeated Satan and put to an end his control over death, is a person who lives in true freedom. This person also lives free of fear of death because he knows that Jesus promised him that if even, he dies, he will still live, according to the promise of the Lord Jesus recorded in John 11:25-26:
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
A person who believes this promise is one who feels secured in his life that it does not matter what the situation is; he is confident in the Lord’s ability to protect him until it is time for him to depart from this life. Under such situation a person can be said to live in security because he lives his life in accordance with the Scripture. Anyway, with this we end our consideration of the subject of freedom and so we continue with our exposition of the clause of 1 Corinthians 7:21 although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
The fact that Apostle Paul encouraged a believing slave to use any opportunity provided him to be free implies that the apostle was in no way supportive of slavery as some contend because he encouraged slaves to continue to be in the status quo they were in at the point of salvation. His approach was that there would be an appropriate way that a person would gain his freedom although he did not specify how that is to be done. He probably, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, realized that as the gospel message penetrates the society that people would come to recognize the evil of slavery. Meanwhile, he realized that it is important that a believer should not be preoccupied with his status quo as a slave to impact his life as a Christian. A slave must continue to display the character of Christ regardless of his status quo in the social standing of his society.
Be that as it may, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul provides believing slaves reasons not to be overly concerned with their status quo in the society. That the apostle provides them reasons not to be overly concerned with their status quo is indicated by the word for that begins verse 22 that is translated from a Greek conjunction (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of explanation of a preceding clause so that it may be translated “you see, for” or it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means.” But in our context, it is used as a marker of reason. In other words, it is used to supply reasons for the instruction to believing slaves not to be overly concerned regarding their status quo in the society at the point of their salvation and certainly thereafter. The apostle provided them two reasons not to be overly concerned with their status quo.
A first reason believing slaves should not be overly concerned about their status quo is that in Christ there is no difference between a slave and a freeman. This reason the apostle gave using two statements that purely from a human viewpoint does not seem to make much sense. The Apostle’s first statement that is the basis of this first reason we stated is given in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 7:22 he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman. The Lord here refers to Jesus Christ as the second clause of the verse verifies since Christ and not the Lord is used in it. That aside, the point the Holy Spirit wanted the apostle to convey to those believing Christians who were slaves and feeling that they were second class Christians is that there is no such thing as second-class Christians since in Christ all Christians have the same relationship with Him regardless of their worldly status. This point is conveyed in the phrase of the NIV the Lord’s freedman. This translation implies that the freedman belongs to the Lord which is true but there is more than meets the eyes that the Holy Spirit wants the apostle to convey to the believing slaves in Corinth. To see what the Holy Spirit intended to convey we should consider the literal phrase that reads a freedman of Lord. There are two possible interpretations of the phrase. It could be interpreted as a freedman that is in a personal relationship with the Lord of a different kind than that between the freedman and his former master. However, the freedman still belongs to the Lord. A second interpretation is to understand the literal phrase a freedman of Lord to mean a freedman by the Lord. In other words, that the slave has been freed by the Lord. Which interpretation did the Holy Spirit mean for us to understand? This is the case where both interpretations are intended. A slave has been freed from true spiritual slavery by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is supported in two ways. First, the word “freedman” is translated from a Greek word (apeleutheros) that appears only here in the Greek NT and means one who has been a slave but has been manumitted (set free) by his master although under Roman law such a person continued to live with his master and continues to render service to him. Jesus Christ is one that sets a sinner free from bondage of sin. He declared this during His earthly ministry as stated in John 8:36:
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
The same truth of Jesus Christ setting us free from bondage of sin is conveyed by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in the passage we cited previously, that is, Galatians 5:1:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Second, the word bought in 1 Corinthians 7:23 implies that the Holy Spirit intended the apostle to convey to the believing slaves that they have been freed by Jesus Christ who bought them. Of course, the word “bought’ also supports the other interpretation of believing slaves being in a unique relationship with Jesus Christ. This new unique relationship is that of slavery where Jesus Christ is the new master. Again, humans are never free in a spiritual sense. We are either slaves to sin or we are slaves to righteousness as we noted previously in Romans 6:18:
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Anyway, the truth is that once Christ set us free from sin, we became His slaves which is the point of the first interpretation of unique relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This truth is conveyed by the Holy Spirit through the apostle in the passage we cited previously, that is, Romans 6:22:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Thus, it is important that believing slaves understand that although spiritually they are not slaves to sin, but they are slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this understanding that helps make sense of the second sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:22 he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman that we say supports the first reason for stating that in Christ there is no difference between a slave and a free man.
Apostle Paul’s second statement that is the basis of this first reason we stated that there is no difference in Christ between a slave and a free man is given in the second clause of 1 Corinthians 7:22 similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. Without the interpretation we gave that the literal phrase freedman of Lord or in the words of the NIV the Lord’s freedman involves a unique relationship of slavery between the believing slave who has been freed by the Lord and the Lord Jesus, it is difficult to make sense of the second clause the apostle wrote. To begin with, the word “similarly” is translated from a Greek adverb (homoiōs) that pertains to being similar to something else in some respect. It is difficult to understand how a free man at salvation is similar to a slave at salvation unless it is meant to indicate that the similarity between them is that of being slaves of Jesus Christ. A free man, according to human society, is a slave to sin and in that respect is like the slave who also is a slave to sin. However, when a man who is free by human standard is saved then that person becomes a slave of Jesus Christ as indicated in the passage we cited previously, that is, Romans 6:22:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
So, a free man by human standard who is a sinner by birth like the slave becomes a slave of Jesus Christ at the time of salvation as implied in the phrase Christ’s slave that literally reads a slave of Christ. As in the literal phrase a freedman of Lord the literal phrase a slave of Christ is to be understood to mean that the freeman is in a unique relationship of slavery with Christ because Christ freed him from bondage of sin so that he became a slave of Jesus Christ in the sense that the person is now subject to Jesus Christ. Again, we are never free, but it is more beneficial to be a slave of Jesus Christ than to be a slave of sin. It is a great honor to be a slave of Jesus Christ. No wonder Apostle Paul described himself several times as a slave of Jesus Christ, as for example, in Philippians 1:1:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
The phrase servants of Christ Jesus is literally slaves of Christ Jesus. In any event, the fact that a free man at salvation becomes a slave of Jesus Christ and a slave that is saved is also a slave of Jesus Christ supports the first reason a believing slave should not be overly concerned about his status quo at salvation which is that in Christ there is no difference between a slave and a freeman.
A second reason a believing slave should not be overly concerned about his status quo at salvation is that Christ has redeemed him from bondage and eternal effect of sin. It is this reason that is given in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 7:23 You were bought at a price.
The word “bought” is translated from a Greek word (agorazō) that means “to buy, purchase” as in John 6:5:
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
The word may mean “to buy” or “to redeem” in the sense of to cause the freedom or release of someone by paying a price as the word is used in 1 Corinthians 6:20:
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 7:23, it means “to be bought,” that is, “to be or become the property of another by purchase or by means of a financial transaction.” The implication is that a believing slave, like the freeman, belongs now to Christ because of the heavy price that He paid to redeem him. This price of purchase is the death of Christ on the cross, as stated in 1 Peter 1:18–19:
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
The believing slave should recognize that he is of great worth before the Lord Jesus Christ because of such a sacrifice to redeem him. Therefore, he should not feel dejected or inferior to anyone regarding his status in Christ. He may be a no body according to world’s standard but not so with Christ. This encouragement applies to all believers who are marginalized in their countries or societies. They should recognize that while people degrade them that the Lord holds them in high honor because He redeemed them.
Be that as it may, a recognition of the truth that believing slave has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ leads to a very important responsibility that is given in our passage. This responsibility is never to be dependent on humans for recognition so that one does things that please humans instead of God. You see, there are some people who would do things that even their consciences disallow but because they want to be accepted, they go against their conscience. That aside, the Holy Spirit do not want slaves or even freemen who are believers in the Lord Jesus to be dependent on people’s recognition so that they do things to please human. It is this responsibility that is given in the command of 1 Corinthians 7:23 do not become slaves of men. The instruction given to the believing slaves is not that they should revolt immediately or that they should live in disobedience to their earthly masters. No! The instruction is not to allow themselves to depend on humans for approval of their status quo. A slave looks to his master for support, but the Lord tells the believing slave to look to Him for his support. A slave subjects himself to the master but a believing slave should subject himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. This means, as we have said, if there is a conflict between what the Lord requires and what an earthly master requires, the believing slave should submit to the Lord Jesus and be willing to suffer from an earthly master. The difficulty faced by a believing slave to please the Lord at the expense of displeasing his master is probably one of the reasons the apostle encouraged those who could gain their freedom to do so. In any case, the second concern the believer in Christ should avoid is that associated with social standing. Believers should never allow their social standing in the society to define who they are in Christ. They should be mindful that they belong to Him since He redeemed them by His death on the cross. Consequently, they should do all with the power the Lord supplied through the Holy Spirit to please Him and not humans who are but dust.
05/15/20