Free, Like a Bond Slave???

The entire life of a Christian is about submitting. And about freedom. Once again, the irony is profound!

Last night at Bible study, our wonderful teacher/friend expounded on this concept. In 1 Peter 2:16 says:

“As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.”

The word “servants” translated here means “bond-slave”. He is saying “Be free, like bond slaves”. What? How are bond slaves free?

A bond slave was one who owed a debt he could not pay. And so, he would voluntarily offer himself to the services of the one he owed in exchange for the money he could not pay.

When we become followers of Christ, we voluntarily submit to his lordship, because He paid for us the debt we could not pay. So we spend the rest of our lives gladly volunteering ourselves, or submitting, to the will of the Lord.

Jesus said for us what we must say daily: “Not my will, but Thine.”

And it kicks hard against my flesh, doesn’t it yours?

Going right into that “awful” thought of wives submitting to their husbands…it’s NEVER about wives submitting only to their husbands; it’s about husbands being a vehicle of God’s authority. Wives submit to the Lord, and they show that through their voluntary, GLAD submission to their husbands.

Interestingly, I often hear Christian women say, “Well, when he makes a bad decision or acts like a blockhead, I don’t have to submit to him then.”

Listen to the next verse in 1 Peter:

“Servants, be subject to your masters…not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.”

In the next chapter Peter says, “LIKEWISE (just the same), you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;”

We submit to Christ, we submit to masters, we submit to our husbands, we submit to legal authorities, we are constantly called to submit, EVEN when our masters are not right on target. ‘Cause guess what? Our husbands are prone to mistakes. They are not always acting in perfect love; nevertheless, we submit to the Lord through them.

He takes up our cause if we suffer wrongfully. “For what glory is it, if, when you are buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if, when you do well, and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”

Are any of you “suffering” through submission? Maybe it’s submission to a particular thing God has called you to. Cast off the world’s litmus test. Suffering doesn’t always mean you’re doing something wrong. If you are submitting to Christ, you can be sure, suffering is considered a blessing.

“But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.”