7/22/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
The Bible pictures all of humanity as being in some sort of servitude. Speaking to the Romans, a culture where slaveholding was very common, the apostle Paul uses the very familiar terms of slavery. When the Romans were in sin, they were slaves to sin. They have been purchased out of that condition and are now slaves of God. He doesn’t picture the Christians as entirely free agents. That would be to say they serve themselves and thus are still slaves to sin, as the world became a slave to sin in the Fall.
When we are purchased by God, we no longer serve sin. We serve God. Rather than working for evil we work for good. Rather than working for unrighteousness we work for righteousness. Rather than receiving wages of sin, which lead to death, we receive wages of righteousness, leading to sanctification - being holy before God.
By the way, from an historical perspective, it was perfectly normal for slaves in the Roman world to receive some wages. They weren’t that much, but a person who was careful could usually purchase his own freedom after several years’ servitude. Slavery was not race-based but was culturally and politically based. Nations threatened or overcome by Rome would send slaves to Rome.
The beauty of being a slave of God is the value God has placed upon us. He gave his life, in the death of Jesus, God the Son, to purchase you and me. He gives us freedom from the tyranny of sin. He gives us eternal life as opposed to eternal death. And there is no reason why anyone in his right mind would want to buy his way out of such a situation. We have the riches of God in Christ. We are presented before him in holiness.
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