Well, I have not kept up with this very well over the year. I have been reading-not as much as I had planned, still some good books have kept me company so far.
This week I started on John MacArthur's The Gospel According to Jesus. In the first chapter he has sure challenged my thinking! MacArthur writes that the word we have translated as servant in our Bible is actually the word slave. I did a little research with my concordance and it is true. Here is the note from Strong's 1401 doúlos (a masculine noun of uncertain derivation) – properly, someone who belongs to another; a bond-slave, without any ownership rights of their own. Ironically, 1401 /doúlos ("bond-slave") is used with the highest dignity in the NT – namely, of believers who willingly live under Christ's authority as His devoted followers.
Did you catch that? Someone who belongs to another without any ownership rights of their own. Jesus is not just my Savior, He is also my Lord and Master-He owns me-He purchased me for a very high price-His own life. This chapter has me looking at the words I use, servant as opposed to slave, and thinking about the connotations of each.
This week I started on John MacArthur's The Gospel According to Jesus. In the first chapter he has sure challenged my thinking! MacArthur writes that the word we have translated as servant in our Bible is actually the word slave. I did a little research with my concordance and it is true. Here is the note from Strong's 1401 doúlos (a masculine noun of uncertain derivation) – properly, someone who belongs to another; a bond-slave, without any ownership rights of their own. Ironically, 1401 /doúlos ("bond-slave") is used with the highest dignity in the NT – namely, of believers who willingly live under Christ's authority as His devoted followers.
Did you catch that? Someone who belongs to another without any ownership rights of their own. Jesus is not just my Savior, He is also my Lord and Master-He owns me-He purchased me for a very high price-His own life. This chapter has me looking at the words I use, servant as opposed to slave, and thinking about the connotations of each.