A SLAVE OF CHRIST JESUS
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God (Romans 1:1, NIV).
Ancient letters began with a common form: ‘X (name of sender). To Y (name of recipient). Greetings.’ We can see this form in most of the New Testament letters, including Paul’s letter to the Romans, which begins: ‘Paul ... To all in Rome who are loved by God ... Grace and peace ...' However, while Paul uses this common form of introduction, he expands each part: the sender’s name, the recipient’s name and the greetings are each amplified in interesting and instructive ways. So, having given his name, he uses three different terms to describe himself: ‘a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.’ In this meditation we reflect upon the significance of the first phrase, ‘a servant of Christ Jesus.’
Paul’s expression, ‘a servant of Christ Jesus,’ has two backgrounds. First, there is the Greek background. The word translated ‘servant’ is the Greek word doulos. Although most English versions translate it as ‘servant’, it really means ‘slave’. A slave differs from a servant. A servant is free to come and go, a slave is not. A slave is a person (1) who is totally owned by another, usually called the ‘Master’ or ‘Lord’, (2) who is totally available for the service of the Master, and (3) who is totally dependent upon the Master for all things. The term doulos, then, expresses total belongingness, total availability and total dependence.
Paul’s favourite title for Jesus is kurios, which means ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’. For Paul, if Jesus was his Lord and Master, then he was Jesus’ slave. In describing himself as ‘a slave of Christ Jesus’, Paul is saying that he is not his own man but that he belongs, body and soul, to Jesus Christ, that his life is totally devoted to Jesus’ service, and that he is totally dependent upon Jesus for all things. We remember Paul as a great preacher, a great missionary, and a great theologian. Paul saw himself as none of these things. He saw himself simply as a slave of the Lord Jesus.
What is true of Paul is (or should be) true of all Christians. The basic Christian confession is ‘Jesus is Lord.’ If to be a Christian is to confess Jesus as Lord, then to be a Christian means to be a slave of the Lord Jesus. If I am a Christian, then I belong totally to Jesus, I am always available to him, and I am utterly dependent upon him. The title ‘slave of Christ Jesus’ belongs to all Christians. Thus, in writing to the Christians in Corinth, Paul says, ‘For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord, is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is the Lord’s slave’ (1 Corinthians 7:22).
In his book, Slave of Christ, Murray Harris tells of the visit of Dr Josef Tson, a Romanian pastor, in 1987 to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in the United States, where Dr Harris was a professor:
Dr Josef Tson ... had been arrested and imprisoned in 1974 and 1977, then exiled in 1981. He forcefully expressed his preference to be introduced simply as ‘a slave of Jesus Christ’. ‘There aren’t many people,’ he observed, ‘who are willing to introduce me as a slave. They substitute the word “servant” for “slave”. ... We have replaced the expression ‘total surrender’ with the word ‘commitment’, and ‘slave’ with ‘servant’. But there is an important difference. As servant gives service to someone, but a slave belongs to someone. We commit ourselves to do something, but we surrender ourselves to someone, we give ourselves up.’
This word doulos (‘slave’) has a second background. In the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) doulos (or its plural douloi) is used to describe the prophets whom God called to proclaim his word, for example:
From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again, I sent you my servants (douloi) the prophets (Jeremiah 7:25).
Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants (douloi) the prophets (Amos 3:7).
In calling himself, the ‘slave (doulos) of Christ Jesus,’ Paul is placing himself in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets who brought God’s word to his people. He is saying that he is not writing this letter as his own man, but as Christ’s man. The message is not primarily his, but Christ’s.
In calling himself 'a slave of Christ Jesus,' Paul is also telling us something about Jesus. The word ‘Christ’ (Greek, Christos) is not a name but a title. It means ‘Messiah’ or ‘Anointed One’, that is, the One anointed to be the King over God’s kingdom. It is significant to note here that, whereas the prophets were called the ‘servants of the Lord’ (that is, Yahweh), Paul calls himself the ‘servant of Christ Jesus.’ He puts Christ in the place of the Lord (that is, Yahweh). This is one of many places where Paul subtly affirms the deity of Christ.
I am not sure why English versions of the Bible usually translate doulos as ‘servant’ rather than ‘slave’. Perhaps it is because they see the term ‘slave’ as somewhat demeaning and degrading. However, to be a slave of God or of Christ is to hold a great and glorious office. It is to be a successor of the Old Testament prophets. It is to belong to the best Lord and Master a person can have. It is to serve a Master who is good and kind and loving and caring and faithful and trustworthy. He is, to quote the Book of Common Prayer, a Master ‘whose service is perfect freedom.’
Copyright © Ronald Nugent 2021
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