Voluntary Slavery Series

along side of the most brilliant preachers of the centuries. Was there ever a slave who set so many

people free?

Yes there was, for all of the great preachers in that set of books from Paul to Billy Graham were

also slaves. They were not literal slaves like Jasper, but they were real slaves before they were set

free in Christ to be slaves of a new master. All of this might seem like a trivial play on words, but

when you study the history of the word doulos or slave you begin to realize just how serious a

biblical issue this is. The word doulos was a nasty word until the New Testament cleaned it up and

glorified it. The Greeks use the word often as a despised word. Plato and Aristotle used it in a

derogatory way. We still do today when we say who was your slave last year, or I'm not your slave.

Seneca said, "The foulest death is preferable to the fairest slavery."

In the Old Testament you have the concept of a noble slave developing, but the Hebrew mind

despised the slave just as much as did the Greek and Roman mind. A Jewish proverb said, "A dog is

more honorable than a slave." This kind of thinking entered into the Christian world and many came

to believe that slaves were less than dogs, and that they were sub-human. There was a time when

calling your neighbor a slave could lead to excommunication from the church. It has been

universally despised to be a slave. The only place where the term and idea become on of honor is in

the New Testament.

Paul describes his whole ministry as that of a slave. In I Cor. 9:19 we read, "Though I m free and belong

to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Notice how Paul

stresses it is a voluntary slavery. He does not have to do this. He is not forced against his will, but he

chooses to be the slave of everyone. He goes on to say he become all things to all men in order to

win them to Christ. He is a slave to what others want him to be in order to win them. He did not try

to be anyone's master and win them by authority, but he became their slaves to win them by service.

If you can catch the spirit of Paul as a slave, you will never judge him again as a proud or arrogant

man trying to impose his will on others. He was a humble servant of Christ and a slave to all men.

It was Paul's writing about literal slavery that led eventually to the abolishment of slavery in the

Western world. When Paul wrote to Philemon about his run away slave Onesimus he said in

Philemon 15 and 16, "Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you

might have him back for good-no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is

very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord." These words

were the nails that finally put slavery in the coffin where it belonged. But it took centuries for

Christians to grasp the implications of Paul's words. If it was not for servants of God fighting slavery

we could still have millions today being treated like animals rather than like persons made in the