Am I a Slave to Christ?

If your master is good, is it so bad to be a slave?

But before we go into that, let’s look at the term ‘slave’ first. For as long as we can remember, the word ‘slave’ always had bad connotations. Even during biblical times, the word ‘slave’ was seen as something negative. Remember the slavery of the Hebrew people in Egypt? And in the more modern period, remember the slavery of the African people? It’s not a good picture. It’s an ugly word. Even dictionaries define it negatively. The Oxford English dictionary defines a slave as a "legal property of another and is forced to obey them.” Other dictionaries are similar, and the general idea is that a slave is someone with no freedom and no rights, forced to labor under the influence of someone more powerful than they are. Merriam-Webster’s definition is a bit milder, where a slave is “one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence” or “a person held in servitude as the chattel [property] of another.” And for the purpose of this article, this definition is what we are going to use.

In many of Paul’s letters to the early Christians, he introduced himself as a ‘servant’ of Christ. In one of the CCF sermons I listened to, it was mentioned how the original Greek word used in those texts does not actually mean ‘servant’, but meant ‘slave’. So if it were read in the most accurate manner, it reads ‘Paul, a slave of Christ’. Sounds bad, right? Again, it’s understandable that the term slave has negative connotations. It was true even then, that’s why the English bible translators opt for the word ‘servant’ instead of ‘slave’. Slave is just too ugly a word. But then again, using Merriam-Webster’s definition of a slave, was Paul really a slave of Christ? Was he completely subservient to a dominating influence (Christ)? Yes. Was he held in servitude as the property of Christ? Again, yes. So technically, Paul was a slave of Christ.

And so are Christians. We are, technically, slaves of Christ. Think about it. We say that we submit ourselves to Christ, who is the dominating influence in our lives. We also say that we don’t own our lives, our bodies, and everything we have. Everything is God’s. So yes, we are his ‘property’ if we have to put it that way.

But you might think, why not just use the term servant to be safe? They mean almost the same thing, don’t they? Well that’s true. Why go through all the trouble of using an ugly word when you can have a better substitute? Well, personally, I find it important to have this knowledge, that we are slaves of Christ. Because as Pastor Peter Tan Chi said, it paints a very stark contrast between us and Jesus Christ. It shows an aspect of our relationship with him that we must fully understand before we are able to fully submit. By this knowledge, God’s Lordship is magnified, and our submission emphasized.

I know it’s not a very popular thought. I mean, we’d rather think of ourselves as children instead of slaves, right? That’s understandable, it really is. But I go for balance. Children have the tendency to feel entitled because of their relationship with their parent. But we have to understand as Christians that our Father is also our Lord. He is our owner. He is our master.

That’s why I asked that question. If our master is good, is it so bad to be a slave? Well, there’s only one person who can ever become a perfect master. And if you have to be a slave to anyone (ie yourself, the world, success, etc), wouldn’t it better to be slave to Christ?