Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ

As the book's title suggests, it is a book about the Christian's relationship to God as His slave. Macarthur explains that the Greek word 'doulos' has not been accurately translated in many(or rather,most) Bible versions. 'Doulos' is usually translated as 'servant'. But Macarthur points out that 'doulos' actually means 'slave'. Passages like "well done, good and faithful servant"(Mat 25:23)and, "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ..."(Tit 1:1)should actually translated, "well done thou good and faithful slave." and "Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ..."Macarthur shows that the difference between a slave and a servant is significant. A servant does a job, has a choice as for whom he works for, what work he will do and ultimately works to support himself. A slave is owned by someone else, does not have a choice for whom he works, but is chosen/bought by someone else. A slave does not have a choice as to his occupation, does not ultimately provide for himself, the master gives him what he needs. A slave's focus is on pleasing his master.This applies to the Christian as well. A Christian does not have a choice as to whom he serves, he started out as a slave to sin. But he was was chosen and 'bought' out of the slave market of sin by Christ's blood. He is now owned by God, and lives to please Him, following Christ's example, Who, "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross."(Php 2:7-8) And, quoting from the book, "Unlike free persons, slaves did not have to worry about finding something to eat or somewhere to sleep. Because their needs were met, they could focus entirely on serving the master...As believers, we can focus on the things God has called us to do, trusting Him to meet our needs. "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink'? or 'What will we wear for clothing?' Jesus told His followers, "Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you"(Matt. 6:31-33). Those who make pleasing God their highest priority can be confident that He will take care of them."And, amazingly, God also adopts His slaves, making them His sons, His 'heirs'. "To think that we, who were once the slaves of sin, the subjects of Satan, and the sons of disobedience, are now and forever the slaves of Christ, the citizens of heaven and the children of God...As His enemies, we did not even deserve to be His slaves. Yet, He has made us both His slaves and His children. The incomparable reality of adoption is this: If God is our Master, then He is also our Father. As Alexander Maclaren, the great Scottish preacher explained, 'If we are slaves, then we are sons and heirs of God through Jesus Christ.'" And here's a quote that Macarthur put in his book by Charles Spurgeon that I really like:"Where our Authorized [King James] Version softly puts it 'servant' it really is 'bond-slave.' The early saints delighted to count themselves Christ's absolute property, bought by him, owned by him and wholly at his disposal. Paul even went so far as to rejoice that he had the marks of his Master's brand on him, and he cries, 'Let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' There was the end of all debate: he was the Lord's, and the marks of the scourges, the rods, and the stones were the broad-arrow of the King which marked Paul's body as the property of Jesus the Lord. Now if the saints of old time gloried in obeying Christ, I pray that you and I...may feel that our first object in life is to obey our Lord."This is a very good book, and very interesting in discovering more about the Christians true relationship to Christ. This is in my list of favorites.

MacArthur's main thesis is that in many places where the New Testament has the word "servant," it would better be translated as "slave" (MacArthur 2010, 15). The Greek word '''''' appears more than 120 times in the New Testament, and only the Holman Christian Standard Bible gets it right according to MacArthur (MacArthur 2010, 16). He insists that this is a cover-up (though he never really explains why), but that slavery to Christ was a central truth for the apostles and early Christians (MacArthur 2010, 18-19). He cites Ignatius, Augustine, Chrysostom, and Spurgeon as examples (MacArthur 2010, 19-20). He concludes chapter one by declaring that to be a Christian is to be Christ's slave (MacArthur 2010, 22).Chapter two contains a discussion of slavery in the Roman world. One out of five people in the Roman world was a slave. Some lived hard lives working in the mines or on farms; others were teachers, cooks, or housekeepers (MacArthur 2010, 25-26). Some slaves had good relationships with their masters, but all slaves were completely subjugated to their masters and had to do whatever they were told (MacArthur 2010, 26-29). This is the cultural backdrop that was used as an illustration of the Christian life, though they also drew on images of Israelite slavery (MacArthur 2010, 29-35).The apostles referred to themselves as slaves of Christ (Rom 1:1; Gal 1:10; Phil 1:1; Jas 1:1), and all believers are referred to as His slaves in Rev 1:1 (MacArthur 2010, 38).MacArthur goes on in chapter three to say that a good and faithful slave of Christ is submitted to Christ, singularly devoted to Christ, totally dependent on Christ, and personally accountable to Christ (MacArthur 2010, 44-51). John Huss is lifted up in chapter four as an example of someone who understood that he was the slave and Jesus is the Master (MacArthur 2010, 57-64).The fifth chapter teaches that the Hebrew word for "Lord" literally means "master," and that Jesus is to be obeyed as Master (MacArthur 2010, 86-93). A week after reading this, the researcher made this point in a Palm Sunday sermon when commenting on the phrase in Matthew 21: "The Lord needs them" (Matt 21:3).The rest of the book continues to develop the slave concept so that there is no doubt that the Christian is in a master/slave relationship with the Lord. The book has already been useful in the researcher's preaching, and the inspirational stories of John Huss and Ignatius can be used in the future as well.

This is a must read! It will really help you to better understand who you are in Christ.

This is a book for every Christian to be reading to realise Christ calls his elect people to slavery, to live for Christ is to live as a slave to the Lord of glory.

I loved this book. John MacArthur is one of the great Bible teachers of our generation, in my opinion. The man does his homework and I now have a much clearer understanding of who I am in Christ. So often we call ourselves 'servants' - but we aren't ... we are His slaves - slaves who are dearly loved and also considered friends. We are slaves because we were bought for a price - not of gold or silver as in days of old, but with blood - Jesus' blood. Being bought makes one keenly aware of what our allegiance should be to Him - the lover of our souls."Servants are hired; slaves are bought."

excellent research on the subject, bold and true to the Word of God

Dies ist eine Sache, die für jeder Christen wichtig ist, weil es geht um unsere Verhältniss zum Herr Jesus Christus

Brilliant & challenging read, has a study in it as well.