Do you not know not know that … you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price.
I Corinthians 6:19-20
The book, “The Gospel According to Jesus” by John MacArthur, has been around for some time. This past week, I had the opportunity to turn its pages as the sun glistened through my window.
Having been a warmer week, the pond struggled with whether to stay stiff or fluid. Nature has a way of tetter-tottering back and forth with its state of being in short periods of time. Rain or snow, hot or cold, and balmy or blustery can all happen in a day’s time. As I partook of the information in “The Gospel According to Jesus” I realize the Greek word “doulos” has something in common with Wisconsin weather.
You see, I needed to grapple with an idea so many people have had to decide for themselves as to it’s meaning in the Word of God. Doulos, if translated properly, actually means “slave” not servant. Because of the negative understanding of the word slave through centuries and of its misuse by man, most Bible transitions prefer to place the word servant into the spot slave actually should be used.
When I read this statement, “A servant gives service to someone, but a slave belongs to someone,” by Murray Harris, a light went on for me. And it shown almost as bright as the sunshine pouring into my window on that cold winter day. Perhaps, I decided, I needed to tussle with whether daily I am just in service to God (going about my duties to family or ministry) or am I dutifully bonded as a willing slave to serve God. Am I just giving of myself or do I truly belong to God who paid my price of sin, which had kept me from Him, by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ?
I realize there is a thin line between rain, sleet and snow depending on the temperature. At any one point, precipitation can control the weather and our daily lives. Is it so, with the words servant or slave? I think that it may an issue we each need to deal with as we follow a risen Savior.
Patti Wolf 