Kingdom Status
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Peter 1:1 NASB
Bond-servant – “Greeks have a strong sense of freedom. Personal dignity consists of freedom. There is thus a violent aversion to bondage. Service may be rendered to the state, but by free choice. Slavery is scorned and rejected. This explains the fierceness with which the Greeks fought for political independence. The only slavery Plato will allow is to the laws. The laws, however, represent the goal of humanity, so that slavery to law is in no way derogatory. Aristotle shows a similar scorn for slavery; for him slaves have no part in the state or true service to it. The Stoics have a broader view of service. Zeus himself summons us to it, so that, while free in relation to all people, we are unconditionally bound to all. Yet the Stoic would never call himself the doúlos theoú; he moves through the world as basileús and despótēs, the very opposite of the doúlos. This is the characteristic of the wise. Those who are not wise are slaves, no matter what the form of their bondage (cf. Epictetus, Plutarch, and Philo).”[1]
This background alone is reason enough to translate the word doulos not as “bond-servant” but as “slave,” what it really meant to anyone in the first century Roman Empire. Peter’s designation of himself as doulos would have been a striking offense to any pagan reader. In addition, the word doulos had an equally offensive taste to Jews. It is the word used to describe Israel’s bondage in Egypt, Jacob’s bondage to Laben and the illegitimate and abusive treatment of those oppressed as slaves. However, douleuein is the most common Greek term in the LXX for service to God. “For this reason doúloi is a title of honor when conferred on such outstanding figures as Moses (Josh. 14:7), Joshua (Judg. 2:8) Abraham (Ps. 105:42) David (Ps. 89:3), and Jacob (representing Israel, Is. 48:20). The opposite of douleúein is disobedience.”[2] So in Jewish thought, doulos has two critical but opposite nuances. First, it is a term of human oppression, but second, it is a term of divine-human commitment. The determining factor is choice. If I am doulos by compulsion, the term is derogatory and hateful. But if I am doulos by choice, then the term expresses deep emotionally positive commitment. It’s all up to the subject.
If we were to translate doulos in this verse as “slave,” we might have the same adverse reaction as any first century Roman. After all, we in the West are a product of those Greek-Roman ideas. We think being a “slave” means losing our most important characteristic of humanity—freedom! To suggest that God wants us to be slaves is antagonistic to everything we hold dear. But that’s because we don’t understand the two-sided nature of doulos. I am free to choose—always, but the result of my choice must mean total commitment if I am going to be a servant of the Most High.
Topical Index: doulos, slave, 2 Peter 1:1
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (183). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Ibid.
YESTERDAY CORRECTION: A reader pointed out that I left out a critical negative. The last paragraph of yesterday’s TW should be:
“If you want to believe that the history doesn’t matter, you can continue on that path and still attempt to worship . . .”
Please correct your copy as I have corrected mine.
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Yeshua warned “call no MAN your master”. We are to submit to no one but God, that is clear. If I OWE obesiance to any but Him, I am no longer free to love. The only One I can both be sold to AND love, is Him. All the rest I have to be FREE FROM to be able to love, and if you stop to think about it, it is obvious why.
I worshiped self and was a slave to the opinion of, and to the force of, the fear, guilt and shame that came through others, as well as myself. At that point, I was no longer free to love (free from) either myself or others, but neither was I free to love God. It is no longer love if I submit to the sin of others. I cannot love them if I am appeasing their sin. It is not love if you are doing what you are being forced to do, even if it is fear, guilt or shame that is forcing you to. This is slavery to sin. I can choose to obey mine or others’ sin, which means that I have surrendered the freedom I must have before I can love myself or others, but, conversely, If I am a slave to sin, I am no longer free to obey God, which I must do if I am to love Him. He is the only One Who is not forcing me (because He will never sin against, or, force, me), so He is the only One to Whom I am to render unconditional service. I must never submit to force!
I had it all so, so backwards. Even little children know better on this one! Of all the populations, children get forced most of all, as they are the most vulnerable, but they have the instinct to rebel against force. That is not wrong. Love does not ever compel, and so they are holding out for love. When we force the least among us, it is not love. If we find ourselves thinking we have to force our little ones, it means that we do not know how to love them in that place. At that point, we should be on our knees repenting, but how often do we force(!) them to do that instead, too! Grievous in the eyes of the Father are the offences against the little ones to whom we are supposed to be teaching what real love is.
So I repented for fear (worship) of man, including myself, and at that point, and not until that point, was I in a position (or, free) – which I had not been up to that point – to fear God. I cannot be slaves of both, but, as we are all already slaves of sin, repentance is the only way to get to true worship of Him. I cannot love in any dimension until I quit selling myself short(!) – to myself and to others, which are the wrong two dimensions – and return to my proper status, which is submitting to being bought with His price, which is the only dimension in which I am to submit. I can serve Him ONLY by submitting to Him, but I cannot serve myself or others properly until I QUIT submitting (fear) to the same. The trick is to learn HOW to quit serving sin! I cannot serve (love) myself or others until I quit serving mine or their sin! I ended up in a twelve-step group because I was unable to tell the difference.
What are the chains of slavery? How can I tell the places in which I am still not free to obey Him? I have been given an aversion to these chains, and for good reason. I am supposed to hate them! The chains are the curses. Curses lesson, or bind, the blessings I am supposed to be walking in. Fear, guilt and shame are likewise curses, and when I am either ignoring, agreeing with (or even attempting to use them in the name of righteousness!), I am still being forced (ruled over) by these forces(!). When I repent OF agreeing with (being in submission under) all the forces of sin, then I can be returned (delivered from) them, to the freedom of obedience (citizen of the kingdom of righteousness). I cannot use fear, guilt or shame (or allow them to use me, is more like it!), to achieve righteousness. I cannot force myself(!) to do good, for unholiness is what I will be using to do it with. I must be free from these forces before I can love. No one wants someone to do something for them out of guilt, and call it love. We know it is not!
So why do we still get up in the morning and attempt to use guilt to force(!) us to do what we know is right? How odious is that to God? When I repent for agreeing to submit to the guilt of sin (which submission I was never intended to do), I am back to facing that sin. In that place, and only in that place, am I free(!) of that guilt to repent for that sin. Guilt can drive me back to the walls of the holy Place, but I must be free of guilt (sin) to enter there. Guilt can never get me to the altar. Fear can never get me before that Throne, and shame can never humble me. These products of my slavery to sin are what I must be free from serving before I can serve Him. They are there to show me my sin; to put me, and keep me, in the place WHERE I am sinning, until I am tired of being shoved around by (appeasing) them. Tired enough to face the fracture that is generating them. Tired enough to want to be free FROM these tormentors, which are sent to torment me until I pay every penny of my debt. I cannot afford to owe (serve) sin. Obedience is easier! Grace is free (to me), as well as freeing! Grace returns me back to the place of repentance, and gives me the courage to repent. I think I will! Halleluah!
Thank you for this explanation, Laurita. It is precisely what I needed to “hear” this morning. I am grateful to see myself and my own situation in this. I will spend some time today reminding myself what a sacred gift “free will” is, and consider how to employ that gift in the realm that would be pleasing to the Father.
The Hebrew concept of the bond-servant begins with one who owes a debt he cannot pay except by entering into a contract of service to work off the debt. Of course, that person will be released from his service in the shmittah year, his debt then considered to be cleared, regardless of the length of time he serves, but there are conditions attached to his release. If he chooses to remain in service, he enters into a perpetual covenant with the master and becomes a “bond-slave” or “bond-servant”. The Torah of the bond-servant is given in Exodus 21:1-6.
~ For you know the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich ~ (2 Corinthians 8.9)
But drops of grief can ne’er repay
the debt of love I owe,
Here LORD I give myself away
“tis all that I can do.
Voluntary servitude. ~ use your freedom to serve one another in love ~ (Galatians 5.13)
~ Let “this mind” (this attitude, this mindset) be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus ~ (Philippians 2.5)
Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
—but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men..
The Messiah — “a bond-servant?” According to our Bible, the inspired Word of God, — yes.
And we also are to have this very same “mind” as Christ! “Serve one another in love!”
~ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many~ (Matthew 20:28)
~ But among you it will be different. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant..~
(Matthew 20.26)
http://www.gotquestions.org/bondservant.html
How may I serve you, today?