Bondservant
Exodus 21
Sometimes there are challenging portions of Scripture. This chapter is one of them. Slavery is outlawed in our land, as it should be. But at first glance, it seems that God doesn’t condemn slavery. It appears here that He condones it. Is that what’s going on in this passage?
In a chapter focusing on justice, the Law’s teaching on slavery seems very unjust for us as twenty-first century Christians. Our modern world views personal freedom as the ultimate good and anything or anyone that circumvents that freedom is evil. The ancient world did not hold to those same values. We must take that into consideration when reading Scripture.
There is a lot that could be said about the Bible and it’s apparent lack of condemnation for slavery. The one thing I want to emphasize is that God may not have chosen to condemn slavery in Scripture, but He does take what was a common practice throughout the world, and put laws in place to make sure the treatment of slaves was humane.
Look at vs. 5-6. “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
This practice would become known as a slave becoming a bondservant. It was a personal choice to remain a servant of the master. The New Testament writers would go on to use this practice as a metaphor to describe individuals who were completely devoted to serving Jesus. Among them were Paul, Peter, Timothy, James and Jude.
In Matthew 16:24 it says, “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” True disciples of Jesus see themselves as bondservants. Our modern world could use this reminder. Do we see Jesus existing to serve us or for our lives existing to serve Jesus?
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul addresses slaves who have come to know Christ. In vs. 22-23 he writes, “For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.”
Paul is saying that if you are a slave who finds Christ, then you are truly free. And if you are free, you are a bondservant of Christ. In other words, all of us are free from the power and penalty of sin because Jesus paid our price on the cross. And in light of that, we are to live as bondservants to Christ.
Does that describe our lives? Or do we live as “bondservants of men” as Paul put it? Do we live to serve ourselves? Christ came to give His life for us. He bore the cross and He endured the shame. The proper response to that is to choose to be a bondservant of the Savior.
Exodus 21
Sometimes there are challenging portions of Scripture. This chapter is one of them. Slavery is outlawed in our land, as it should be. But at first glance, it seems that God doesn’t condemn slavery. It appears here that He condones it. Is that what’s going on in this passage?
In a chapter focusing on justice, the Law’s teaching on slavery seems very unjust for us as twenty-first century Christians. Our modern world views personal freedom as the ultimate good and anything or anyone that circumvents that freedom is evil. The ancient world did not hold to those same values. We must take that into consideration when reading Scripture.
There is a lot that could be said about the Bible and it’s apparent lack of condemnation for slavery. The one thing I want to emphasize is that God may not have chosen to condemn slavery in Scripture, but He does take what was a common practice throughout the world, and put laws in place to make sure the treatment of slaves was humane.
Look at vs. 5-6. “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
This practice would become known as a slave becoming a bondservant. It was a personal choice to remain a servant of the master. The New Testament writers would go on to use this practice as a metaphor to describe individuals who were completely devoted to serving Jesus. Among them were Paul, Peter, Timothy, James and Jude.
In Matthew 16:24 it says, “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” True disciples of Jesus see themselves as bondservants. Our modern world could use this reminder. Do we see Jesus existing to serve us or for our lives existing to serve Jesus?
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul addresses slaves who have come to know Christ. In vs. 22-23 he writes, “For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.”
Paul is saying that if you are a slave who finds Christ, then you are truly free. And if you are free, you are a bondservant of Christ. In other words, all of us are free from the power and penalty of sin because Jesus paid our price on the cross. And in light of that, we are to live as bondservants to Christ.
Does that describe our lives? Or do we live as “bondservants of men” as Paul put it? Do we live to serve ourselves? Christ came to give His life for us. He bore the cross and He endured the shame. The proper response to that is to choose to be a bondservant of the Savior.
Posted in Journey of Hope