The Confusion of Slave and Servant

The Confusion of Slave and Servant

The above caption that describes, “Either you are a slave of Satan or a slave of God” by Dr. John McArther has prompted me to pen down some thoughts dictated by the Holy Spirit.

The word slave is defined as a person who is legally owned by someone else and has to work for that person (1).

So, the first part of the caption is true.

When a slave is freed, he is no longer a slave of his previous master. The person who made him free does not want him to be a slave anymore. He liked being liberated to work and live as a free individual. He has a choice to serve the person who freed him, and if the deliverer agrees, the person becomes a servant.

A servant is a person who is devoted to or guided by something (2). He does this out of devotion.

We must accept that the English language has many limitations. E.g., the word love is used for all types of relationships.

Apostle Paul, writing from the Greek culture, declares him as doulos. “Sadly, the English word “servant” doesn’t adequately express what Paul meant by the Greek word doulos. The word doulos, by the way, appears no fewer than 130 times in the NT. A servant still retains the freedom to do what he/she pleases. A servant can perform his/her duties and then return home to live however one pleases. But not a slave” (3). A typical example is a government servant. He serves the government and returns home to live a free life.

Paul would have been the first person to declare himself a slave of Jesus Christ. Instead he uses the term servant, written from the Greek context.

Contextualisation is important to communicate effectively. In Indian context, the relationship of God and man is depicted as spiritual love between Krishna and Radha or a husband and his wife. No wife will ever say that she is a slave of her husband. She does it out of her devotion to her husband and family. The same is true for husbands.

What God has done through Jesus Christ can be explained through the following story. There are many instances where this story was a real one in some ladies lives. After knowing that a young lady was sold to a brothel keeper, a young man pretends to be a customer and gathers information from the victim in the brothel. Then, he negotiates with the brothelkeeper and makes the lady free from the brothel with a price. The lady was set free, and she became a devotee of the person who set her free. When Christ delivers a person from sin and judgement, the person becomes a devotee of God through Jesus Christ.

In all cultures, raising a person from low estate to a higher ground is well appreciated, and the one who was raised becomes a true lover of the deliverer. E.g., the Pretty Woman movie, a hit movie of 1990 directed by Gary Mardhall (4), and the “Wild Roses!” lyrics written by Cindy Walker, sung by Jim Reeves (5), that captured the hearts of millions.

In summary, I just want to suggest that Dr. John McArher’s caption should be rewritten as “Either you are a slave of Satan (sin) or a devotee of God through Jesus Christ.”

We conclude here. God does not want anyone to be his slave. If it were, he would have created man accordingly and placed him in the Garden of Eden. God does not want man’s love and worship out of compulsion. He has loved us with matchless love through Jesus Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit guided Isaac Watts to pen down a total devotion to God.

“Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Let us bow down and serve him with total devotion.

Dr. John T. Eapen

Refetences

1).Cambridge English Dictionary.
2).Britannica Dictionary
3).Sam Storms: “You are not of your own.” visit www.convergencechurchnetwork.com on October 12, 2020.
4).https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Woman
5).https://youtu.be/CcasnB9wBuE?si=amIjdE6x7H92zDGh