LIE: We are not slaves, we are free

Lie: Christians are not slaves, we are free.

Truth: Christians are slaves and yet free.

You’re gonna have to serve somebody. — Bob Dillan

The word slavery conjures up images of men and women in chains, taskmasters lashing the backs of laborers, of obsequious uniformed house servants saying, ‘Yes massa; No massa.’ But the fact is, over the centuries the face of slavery has morphed into many forms, some brutal and degrading; others more humane and subtle. Regardless, slavery is inevitable for all. It is foundational to our present human condition.

For example, slavery in the ancient Roman world looked very different from the American experience. Slaves then were not necessarily of a different race and could be employed as laborers, but also as doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants or advisors. They could gain their freedom in different ways, including purchasing it or winning it in combat. Yet slavery then could still be brutal and dehumanizing.

The Pilgrims sold themselves as slaves to fund their voyage to the new world. Colonial-era apprenticeships were also considered a form of slavery where a boy was given to a tradesman to learn his trade, but was completely at the mercy of his master.

Other criminal forms of slavery have become widespread: blackmail, extortion, prostitution, total surveillance, imprisonment, mind control, child sex trafficking, forced migration, usury and many others.

Before we go too much further, let’s try to define slavery.

slave — the word derives from ‘slav’ because the Slavs were frequently enslaved by others in central Europe. Its common meaning: “a person held in servitude as the chattel, the tangible movable property, of another.”

So, although this word slavery really describes a much broader condition, the core concept remains: the state in which someone (or something) else essentially controls your life.

Current forms of slavery

And then there’s peonage.

peonage — debt slavery or bonded labor.

One form of peonage practiced in the American southern states, even after slavery officially ended, was called sharecropping.[1] This arrangement meant that the land owner leased a portion of his land to the former slave in exchange for a share in the crop that was harvested. Since the former slave usually could not read or write, the owner often deceptively wrote the contract to take advantage of him and made it such that he could never quite pay off the debt, ensuring his continued servitude.

Early in the 1900s, miners had similar arrangements and were required (or it was simply more convenient since mining towns were remotely rural) to buy their goods at the mining company store, where goods often had inflated prices and whose management used fraud on individuals’ accounts. The owner made sure that the wages he paid were never quite enough to pay for their needs, ensuring a perpetual debt dependency of the ‘employees.’

In most of the western world, the middle-classes have similar arrangements today. Most live their whole lives ‘paycheck to paycheck,’ trying to pay off a chain of debts that had started 10, 20 or 30 years ago. The form of peonage today is subtle, but nonetheless real. Even as property owners who have achieved the ‘American Dream’ – we live as both kings and slaves in our own homes, enjoying its conveniences as a king, but bound to its never-ending mountain of maintenance and repair and financial burden.

More today are living as ‘wage slaves,’ young college graduates, strapped with huge college loans who work in fast food restaurants or wait tables, and so must — demoralized — move back in with their parents. Notoriously predatory credit card companies persistently send college students credit card applications, trying to hook them on debt as early as possible.

Slaves are not their own; they belong to their masters. They do what their masters say. Their masters control their environments. They have very little control over their lives. These statements are becoming increasingly true for us. Let me break this down in three ways:

• time
• environment
• people

Time. Some would say that our leisure time has increased, but then why are we so often ‘too busy?’ Why can’t we get enough sleep? Why do we feel overwhelmed much of the time? We are barraged with so many demands: emails, endless text messages, Facebook and Twitter posts, TV commercials, pop-up ads, credit card bills, maintenance, maintaining standards of personal hygiene – teeth-whitening anyone? Martha Stewart homes, candy bars at the checkout, dollar DVDs at Redbox, the latest binge on Netflix, and on it goes. We turn around and another opportunity or activity or request beckons us.

Is it any wonder why we feel hassled, busy, confused, overwhelmed and want to escape it all? Imagine if someone tapped you on the head every 15 seconds — could you really relax, think, talk? What if you actually got used to the tapping? What if it became ‘background noise?’ What would that even mean? We can filter a lot – our minds have a fantastic ability to concentrate if given the chance, but there are limits.

Environment. The suburban and urban environment sets the mind’s stage.

In the urban environment, the natural world is completely obscured (maybe the natural landscapes are added as a ‘garnish’). Concrete, glass, asphalt, brick, aluminum, rubber, plastic as far as the eye can see, reshape our world into a phantasmagoric dream. It’s difficult to escape the construction noise, light, ubiquitous Wi-Fi, radio frequencies, traffic, microwaves, stray gun fire, and who knows what else is in the air.

Our world has changed so that we are constantly bombarded by images and messages. It’s a confusing cacophony without coherence. Endless suburban sprawl, a maze of roads and highways put us into a driving trance. A mix of shiny new buildings amid crumbling inner cities. We rely increasingly on our GPS devices and apps to find our way. We must travel far to find any remote area in which we can begin to recover from the chronic ennui.

People. We are the victims of such crushing time/environmental structures. We’re affected in ways we cannot imagine, and do not see: we have become distracted, zombified, unable to listen, notice or care. People wear their anger and frustration on their sleeve and care not how their actions/non-actions and words affect others. Divorce, broken families, malicious, insincere and humorless bullying have become the norm.

I could go on.

I’m painting this bleak picture for one reason: to prove that we are slaves, more so now than ever. But please read on because the hope is also true —

Christ Jesus has set us free!

So what’s the answer? Escape is impossible; a return to ‘the good ol’ days’ is also impossible. Neo-Amishness? No. We must come to grips with the truth that, no matter what: we are slaves.

But the good news is, as Paul said long ago: we are bond-slaves of Jesus Christ first and foremost. We are not our own. We were bought with a price. We do not have to live in fear of our earthly masters, be they human or non-human.

Daniel was a slave in the Babylonian Empire, but he knew who he was. He was a ‘good slave,’ that is, unless and until it conflicted with his devotion to his God; then, he did what his heavenly Master said and he understood and accepted the consequences of his actions. He knew that ‘the Most High rules in the Kingdom of men’ (Daniel 4:17).

This mentality/faith is key, if not the key to living in the world, but not being of it. Yes, we must accept our slavery, but we must also know that our earthly masters are also slaves of this Most High God.

Slavery is unavoidable

My point is this: slavery is unavoidable.

It’s like a chameleon – endlessly changing and adapting and impossible to overcome by the vast majority of people. The reasons for unavoidable slavery are outside the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that the ruling classes, aligned with dark powers, are essentially predatory and have always worked very hard to dominate the masses; yet that does not have to keep us from doing what God has called us to do.

Falsely imagining that we are free is doomed to disillusionment. We are not free. That is, we are not free from necessity, from the forces that determine how we use our time, how we communicate, how we work, what we eat, etc. Yet, of course, we do have agency. We can choose the good and the right, and reject the evil and the wrong, no matter how much it may be opposed. But increasingly so, to make those choices, we will also need to anticipate and accept the consequences of our choices.[2]

Paul made a curious statement and instruction to slaves.

Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called. — 1 Corinthians 7:20–24

He said this, not to say that slavery was acceptable. Rather, he said that, even if you were ‘called while a slave,’ that is, you became a Christian while you were a slave, you should not actively seek your freedom. That may sound shocking and even cruel, but Paul was convinced that slaves were better off, remaining as they were for many reasons, but chief among them were that slaves held a special status: they were the Lord’s freedmen.[3]

We are not free of government controls either. Romans chapter 13, although widely misunderstood, clearly states that Christians are to be in subjection to the ruling authorities.[4]

So the claim of absolute freedom is a myth and a false promise. The ‘sovereign citizen’ movement – the idea that we can throw off all government and corporate tyranny – is misguided. We cannot presume sovereign rights; only God has true sovereignty – all other ‘sovereigns’ are under the Lordship of Christ. Claiming sovereignty is the lie of the serpent and the original false claim that Adam and Eve made in the garden.

Paul, in his letters claimed the identity of ‘a bond servant of Jesus Christ . . .’ (see Romans 1:1). Yes, Paul also was a Roman citizen and used his status as a citizen to avoid mean treatment.[5] But he also ‘boasted in the Lord’ for the suffering and hardships that he endured. He understood that those sufferings went with the territory and ultimately served to advance the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself embraced his identity as a man and did not consider his equality with God as immunity from suffering and even from taking the form of a bondservant [slave]:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. — Philippians 2:5–8

The world’s way is to exalt and promote ourselves, to take up the rights of the class we were born into or that we desire to take up. It fights and kicks and bites its way to gain and hold a position. But that is not the way of the cross. As Christians, Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him, to willingly, sacrificially, lovingly serve our neighbors and brothers, knowing that we all must ultimately serve the living God.[6]

We are NOT slaves to sin

Let me say it again: we do NOT need to be a slave to sin; we can be free of sin’s mastery.[7]

Yes, although in some ways, it appears that we are slaves to sin, that is, unable to be free of its presence, the truth is we can and should be free of its MASTERY. Paul said it unequivocally:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? . . . knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. . . . Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. — Romans 6: 1–2, 6–7, 11–14

In other words, the habits and addictions of our sinful flesh do not need to rule over us. This is because we died with Christ and have risen with him to live a new life. Sin ruled the old life, but we are not stuck in that life anymore. Christ has now opened a new life — a humanity 2.0 — of direct access to God: ‘alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’[8]

I am not saying that sin is gone or ‘eradicated.’ We are obviously tempted to sin and do sin as Christians. But, we do not need to be ruled, characterized, or ENSLAVED by it.

How to be a slave and yet free

How can we be both slave and free?

First we have to ask: free for what? and free to do what?

Freedom does NOT mean that we can do whatever we want. That was the illusion — THE lie  — that led Adam and Eve astray in the first place. The serpent had convinced them that with the knowledge of good and evil, they could chart their own course, independently of God. Consequently, God ‘set them free’ out of the garden to do just that. And thus ensued all of the animus, suffering, misery and death on humanity and the entire world.

No, doing what we want is not freedom.

Yet we are free, but how?

In two basic ways:

• we are free from sin’s mastery and its debilitating effects: guilt, shame and fear.

and therefore . . .

• we are free to do all of God’s will and fulfill his purpose for our lives. Most of all, we are free to love like him.

We are free to do his will, even though it may be opposed, even though it may mean suffering and even death, because we are no longer beholden to fear.

We are free of sin’s mastery and its condemnation and consequent death. We know that, ‘if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One,’[9] ‘who loved us and gave himself for us.’[10] Therefore, although we feel remorse when we sin, it does not set off the chain reaction of guilt > shame > fear. Instead we maintain an equilibrium and a deep abiding peace that passes all of our natural understanding.[11]

That’s freedom.

And because Jesus rose from the dead, we need not fear the biggest enemy of all: death.

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself [Christ] likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. — Hebrews 2:14–15

And Paul, summing up his great declaration of the resurrection of the dead, said:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. — I Corinthians 15:51–58

Thank God we are free from the bondage of sin, fear and death!

So by necessity, we are under various human bondages — peonage, imprisonment, surveillance, technology, but these necessities do not keep us from our ultimate bond-servitude to Jesus Christ alone. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords and ultimately overrules the oppressions and hardships of all masters. Under his grace-filled mastery, we are free to be who he has created us to be. We now announce this gospel – this good news – wherever we go.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

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[1] Although there are legitimate forms of sharecropping, the practice in the south was rampantly corrupt.

[2] For more information on this concept, see the article: Lie: I’m in control of my life.

[3] The Greek word ‘freedman,’ apeleutheros, appears only here in the New Testament, and means ‘one who has been a slave but has been emancipated by his [I would say, new] master.’ Apparently ‘spiritually-emancipated’ slaves may have an awareness and gratitude for their new master — Christ — in ways freemen (non-slaves) normally cannot or do not.

[4] But see also my article: LIE: We overcome tyranny by fighting for our rights.

[5] A closer reading of the passages where Paul claimed his Roman citizenship reveals that his purpose was not purely self-interest. He claimed his citizenship to create the opportunity to speak of Christ. For example, see Acts 16:35–40. Paul claimed his citizenship AFTER being beaten and imprisoned. Apparently he claimed his citizenship to be able to speak directly to the Philippian Magistrates.

[6] See the articles: Lie: I am defeated, part 1 and part 2.

[7] See also the article: LIE: I’m doomed – I’ve sinned too much!

[8] For a more complete explanation of sin and its nature, see the article: LIE: Some sinful habits are unconquerable.

[9] I John 2:1

[10] Ephesians 5:2

[11] Philippians 4:7