Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

If, upon reading Scripture, you are not well acquainted with this imagery, it may be because the language has been obscured in its beauty, perhaps in part because wicked men abused their fellow men. The Master-slave imagery found throughout Scripture has often been rendered as Master-servant, but there is a distinction worth considering. A servant could have rights and did not necessarily belong to the Master in the same way a slave did. The original languages matter in distinguishing the places where these words are used. Where Scripture uses the language of “slave,” translating it merely as “servant” can obscure the beauty and meaning intended by the text.

The Master-slave distinction also rightly applies to the Gospel. The servant relationship obscures the glory of God in saving a people for His own possession. It obscures the glory of God in redemption. It obscures the beauty and glory of the Gospel in that we are not our own. We have been bought with a price. We belong to Him. We are given His name. We belong to Him.

Yet other imagery also reveals that we are His children, that we are heirs and co-heirs with Christ. But we must not throw off this beautiful imagery because of the cruelty of men who have distorted its beauty. This is not an offensive thing to be cast aside. It is a promise to every precious saint who belongs to Christ. We have been bought with a price. We belong to Him. We are His.

The language of slavery communicates something that the softer word “servant” can obscure: ownership. A servant could come and go and find another to serve. A slave was owned by his Master. A servant could choose whom he would serve. A slave was bound to his Master. You cannot have two Masters. A servant may be so foolish as to cast off what is for his good and go where it pleases him. A slave has no such rights.

There are many “servants” in the church today and few “slaves of God.”

There is a profound beauty in belonging wholly to God. The slave belongs to his Master. He has been bought. He is His. His Master owns him, cares for him, provides for him, commands him, protects him, and gives him his work. His entire life is now ordered under the good authority of the One to whom he belongs.

It is therefore better to understand ourselves as slaves of the Lord than merely as servants of the Lord. The language is not intended to diminish the believer but to magnify the grace of the Master. What greater comfort could there be than to belong entirely to a good and faithful Master?

If you desire a more faithful rendering of these passages, consider adding the Legacy Standard Bible to your Bibles. It preserves the language of “slave” in many places where other translations use “servant,” allowing the reader to see more clearly the imagery Scripture itself gives us.

Is not trusting the Master who bought you and entrusting your care to Him better than the pursuit of earthly riches and earthly comforts, earthly pleasures and earthly acquisitions? The slave to the good and faithful Master finds in Him all his needs met. He is well cared for, and so he may serve Him well. He may put his hands faithfully to work for his Master while entrusting all his cares to Him.

He is not so foolish as to occupy his hands with frivolous things, or even with otherwise good things, while failing to care for his own household. For the Master has instructed him to do so. He is worse than an infidel who cares not for his own household. And yet, while he is to provide for his own household, he fears not, for his Master cares for him. He is busy about his Master’s work, and yet he does not foolishly displease the Master by claiming that he cannot provide for his own because he must be about the Master’s business.

How many foolish men have abandoned their own families in pursuit of prominence in what they perceive to be the Master’s house, and yet they have shown themselves not to be of the Master’s house, but thieves and robbers in the Master’s house. They have pursued earthly recognition under the guise of heavenly service, while neglecting the very duties their Master has commanded them to fulfill. The faithful slave does not need to choose between serving his Master and caring for his household, for the Master who commands him to do both is also the Master who cares for him.

Many men want to be identified with the Master and want to be held in high regard in His house. They go by His name. They claim to belong to Him. And yet many will stand before Him and hear those dreadful words: “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). They are not His. They do not belong to Him. They wanted prestige, power, prominence, and position. They found His name powerful and a means of attaining all they desired. They were never invited into His house. They never bore His name. They never belonged to Him. They were never entrusted with what belonged to Him. They were liars and deceivers. They came in His name as man-stealers, to rob His house and use His name for their own wealth, power, and authority.

But God has spoken concerning them. He has warned His own. They will not follow them, and they cannot take what is His. They will incur greater condemnation, and they will not escape His wrath. For their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)

But what pleasure there is in every good work when the slave is known, loved, and cared for by his good and faithful Master! Everywhere he goes he is identified with his Master. It is known to whom he belongs. Every work is done to the pleasure of his Master. Every work is a delight to his soul. He is not as those held in bondage to their sins. He has been bought and set free from his former slavery to sin, and brought into the house of God, to the good and faithful Master. He has been bought with a price. He is redeemed. He is given a new name. He is clothed in the righteous robes of his Master. He is loved and cared for. He is made to sit at his Master’s table. He is sent out to work in the world and to proclaim his Master’s message so that all may hear. In all his works, he now labors joyfully and as unto the Master who bought him.

Once dead in sin and an enemy, he has now been redeemed, bought, and brought into the house of the Lord. He is clothed in His righteousness. His penalty has been paid, and he has been reconciled to his Master. Being sent out, he proclaims his Master’s message. He does not labor to earn a place in the Master’s house; he labors because he has been graciously brought into it. He does not work for the Master’s favor as though he were trying to purchase it; he works from the delight of having already found favor with Him. His Master is good. His Master is faithful. His Master has bought him, redeemed him, and made him His own. And therefore even the labor of the slave becomes a joy.

Dear saint, fellow slave, fellow pilgrim, your identity is in Christ. Of all the language that describes who we are in Christ, Scripture never shies away from this imagery of slave and Master, but describes our relationship with Him through this language again and again. The Apostles readily described themselves as slaves of God and of Christ. We belong to Him. Bought. Redeemed. His!

The Master of the house knows His own, and none shall snatch them from His hand. They belong to Him. They are secure in His hand. He knows them. They are His.