As a matter of fact, the fundamental aspects of slavery
are the very features of our redemption that Scripture puts the most stress on.
We are chosen (Eph. 1:4 – 5; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:9); bought (1 Cor.
6:20; 7:23); owned by our Master (Rom. 14:7 – 9; 1 Cor. 6:19; Titus
2:14); subject to the Master’s will and control over us (Acts 5:29; Rom.
6:16 – 19; Phil. 2:5 – 8); and totally dependent on the Master for
everything in our lives (2 Cor. 9:8 – 11; Phil. 4:19). We will ultimately be
called to account (Rom. 14:12); evaluated (2 Cor. 5:10); and either
chastened or rewarded by Him (Heb. 12:5 – 11; 1 Cor. 3:14). Those are
all essential components of slavery……
There are at least six Greek words for “servant,” and doulos
is not one of them. For example, diakonos (from which our word
deacon is derived) means “servant.” Oiketes speaks of a domestic
servant. Pais denotes a young boy who runs errands. Huperetes
(usually translated “minister”) literally signifies a low-level servant who
pulls an oar on the lower deck of a large ship. Leitourgos, also
meaning “minister,” designates someone who performs some kind of religious
service. Therapon, used of Moses in Hebrews 3:5 (“faithful in all
His house as a servant”), refers to a dignified kind of high-level service. And
there are several more specific Greek words that describe service in terms far
loftier and more respectable than doulos.
Doulos speaks of slavery, pure and simple. It is
not at all a hazy or uncertain term. It describes someone lacking personal
freedom and personal rights whose very existence is defined by his service to
another. It is the sort of slavery in which “human autonomy is set aside and an
alien will takes precedence of one’s own.” This is total, unqualified
submission to the control and the directives of a higher authority — slavery,
not merely service at one’s own discretion.
As Harris points out, “there is an important difference. A
servant gives service to someone, but a slave belongs to someone.” It is
not merely a nuance. Scripture repeatedly and emphatically places Christians in
the latter category: “Do you not know that . . . you are not your own? For you
have been bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19 – 20). We have a Master who
purchased us (2 Peter 2:1). To be specific, we were purchased for God with the
precious blood of Christ (Rev. 5:9). This is the very essence of what it means
to be a Christian: “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for
himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the
Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end
Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the
living” (Rom. 14:7 – 9).
--- John F. MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus:
What Is Authentic Faith?. 2009
