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Dear Slaves: The Confession of Christ
Posted by Chris Johnson in Baptist Life, Bible & Theology, Church & Missions
There is nothing!,…nothing at all more foundational to the church than the confession of Christ on behalf of His slaves. One of the most abused terms translated into our various representations of the Greek New Testament is the translated term “doulos”. How one applies and teaches the meaning of the term “doulos” is indicative of their view of the church and their view of the King. Jesus uttered the only true confession worthy of hearing as he answered an important question before Pilate…..
John 18:37
“Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
The truth that surrounds the confession of Jesus Christ is seen in opposing contrast to man’s attempt to corral the church in a pursuit to help God. In other words, the slaves of Christ are made subject to Christ alone and respond to the King, simply because they hear His voice, not because they accept His terms. Confessors are slaves that have been purchased and bought with His blood, indicative of those that have been captured for Christ from before the foundation of the world. Slaves are captured, bought, purchased with a price, and brought to the Master. Slaves of God were clearly seen before the cross of Christ and now exist beyond the cross as well. Slaves (doulos) do not agree to be captured, think about the price that was waged, decide if the price was good enough, and then by some benevolent action of their own choose to allow their self-acclaimed Master a bend of the knee. But in stark contrast,…slaves that are now called friends realize a greater spiritual blessing.
Ephesians 1:3-8
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love (5) He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace (8) which He lavished on us.”
The confession of Christ is relationally indicative of the power unto salvation for all who by grace through faith believe and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. So, just how important is the confession of Christ as it relates to our good confession…. where all believers submit their voices as one voice with unity in the body of Christ?
The good confession is a singular and essential confession,… a confession that has been heard since the beginning with Adam and now has come in the second Adam, the Son of God, a finished confession. The confession has forwarded true through prophetic echoes asserting the promises of God since the beginning of time. Our God and Father pronounced the imminent arrival of the God-man disposed to pursue death and triumph in resurrection as an intercessor known before time and into eternity. Christ Himself announcing the person of the Holy Spirit as the one for all time applying and delivering the reality of all true confessions in the history of mankind and all to the Glory of God!
The good confession echoes yet again the reign of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit. It is singular in its purpose, yet gloriously dynamic in its revealing. The Apostle Paul was no stranger to this singular confession even in the testimony of Timothy.
1 Timothy 6:12-16
“Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (13) I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, (14) that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) which He will bring about at the proper time–He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, (16) who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
It is abundantly clear, by prophetic introduction and now by apostolic authority that the reign of the King is now within those that are called according to the King’s purpose. The King has graciously allowed His slaves to be known as friends and be revealed the treasures of heaven. Slaves by calling, yet friends by the choice of the King!
John 15:15-17
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (16) “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (17) “This I command you, that you love one another.”
How does the truth of God level with the words of the BFM2000? You make the comparison? Is the BFM2000 well balanced in its approach to reveal the saved of God as slaves in the introductory paragraphs under the following headings?
Salvation – “Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.”
God’s Purpose of Grace – “Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end.”
With greater clarity, it is very encouraging to know that the “Holman Christian Standard Bible” does translate “doulos” as slave. A sign of good things to come when considering the true nature of God’s elect!
David’s perspective also gives us good clues to the freedom we pursue previous to Christ’s capture of us as slaves and friends.
Psalm 144:3-10
“O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? (4) Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow. (5) Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke. (6) Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Send out Your arrows and confuse them. (7) Stretch forth Your hand from on high; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens (8) Whose mouths speak deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. (9) I will sing a new song to You, O God; Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You, (10) Who gives salvation to kings, Who rescues David His servant from the evil sword.”
Blessings,
Chris
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Wow!
Chris,
Not sure what you’re getting at here when you say this:
In other words, the slaves of Christ are made subject to Christ alone and respond to the King, simply because they hear His voice, not because they accept His terms. Confessors are slaves that have been purchased and bought with His blood, indicative of those that have been captured for Christ from before the foundation of the world. Slaves are captured, bought, purchased with a price, and brought to the Master. Slaves of God were clearly seen before the cross of Christ and now exist beyond the cross as well. Slaves (doulos) do not agree to be captured, think about the price that was waged, decide if the price was good enough, and then by some benevolent action of their own choose to allow their self-acclaimed Master a bend of the knee. But in stark contrast,…slaves that are now called friends realize a greater spiritual blessing.
Are you suggesting that “Irresistible Grace” refers to the regenerate being saved against their will (i.e. “captured” is the word you used and “enslaved” is the outcome) here?
If we are slaves who have not agreed to be captured, had no say about our purchase price, and remain slaves against our will and inclination, isn’t this contrary to Romans 6 where Paul describes a willing and consenting slavery? Doulos may be “slave” but it also means “bond slave” or one who willingly binds himself to a master.
Man is not free. He lost his free will when he fell and became the slave of Satan. Christ by His death on the cross redeemed [bought back] those whom the Father had given Him in the covenant of grace.
We are now free in the sense we can now serve God. Before we were converted, we could not. That is why Salvation is by blood and by power.
Chris
WOW WOW WOW
You sure do know how to interpret the word that GOD gave us. Praise the LORD for filling you with HOLY GHOST. Those BI fellows that hang out over on SBCTODAY need to hear this, after removing the wax from their ears.
Wally
Brother Rick,
What is clear from Romans 6 is that Paul is discussion justification (the imputation of righteousness) in the indicative. In other words, when Paul says…..
Romans 6:3-7 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, (6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; (7) for he who has died is freed from sin.
…he is indicating that the baptism (non-water) into Christ for the called out slaves is a completed purchase allowing the slave to walk in newness of life. And further on he is thanking God for obedience from the heart….the heart that was changed when God called our name resulting in freedom from slavery to sin. The purchase was just that,…a real purchase. We as slaves have no negotiating power. We hear our master and respond because we were made willing. We actually do believe.
Romans 6:17-20 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, (18) and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (19) I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. (20) For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
I’ll be the first to admit as humans we don’t like or understand the the term slave very well, yet God demands perfect obedience (Christ’s death and resurrection),…. so without being a slave (some like servant better) we become less than perfect,…because we were never purchased. That’s what makes Christ’s confession good. Because there is no one good but….
Matthew 19:16-17 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (17) And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Blessings,
Chris
Sister Debbie,
Your comment is the same one I had when I realized what slavery really meant. A slave that is now called a friend….who could ask for more?
Brother Wally,
Thank you for your encouragement. I must so though, those guys at SBCToday are trying to answer these same type of questions, and they have been gracious to allow me to write at their site as well during the past year. I think we all let wax build up in the ears at times, if we choose not to love when love has been so graciously given us. I truly believe if we understand our slavery better, we will see Christ clearer and be nourished by His Word.
Dr. Foltz is correct…. “We are now free in the sense we can now serve God.” And serve him we shall!
Blessings,
Chris
Brother Rick,
As a follow-up to my previous post to you…..as I was in a hurry to get to dinner with the family and finished my though midway, allow me to try and clarify slavery a bit more.
The Apostle Paul carries this same thought concerning testimony or confession to Timothy in his first letter….even before his statement of Christ and the good confession…..
2 Timothy 1:8-11 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, (9) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, (10) but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (11) for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.
Timothy was already in Christ, but Paul was describing to him what needed to be understood and taught. So when Paul says God’s power (gospel) “has saved us and called us with a holy calling”….”according to His purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ from all eternity”, ….Paul was not giving the allusion that we somehow agree and negotiate our serving …..but in stark contrast uses strong language. The power of God has saved, called, set apart (holy calling), without our works, All His purpose, His grace, granted to us, from all eternity…being appointed to the task. That is slavery with a purpose and all to the glory of God!
Doulos has always actually meant “slave” in the strictest sense…and should be translated “slave”,…we tend to color in the lines and make it “bond servant” or “servant”….which takes us further away from the truth as outlined by the Apostle in both Romans and 1 Timothy.
Thank you for your patience….I hope this helps to explain my thoughts a little better.
Blessings,
Chris
Chris
I am not sure I grasp what you are saying but I like the fact that this blog does stretch my thinking by keeping the focus on Christ and making Him known.
Thank you for that.
Charles
Brother Charles,
To put it in more concise terms….. All those that God has given Christ are “slaves”, not “bond-servants” or “servants” as many translations render the Greek word doulos. As we begin to understand our position as slaves and friends, we begin to gain a deeper affection for Christ and all that He has done for us!
It is human sinning nature that wants so terribly to see ourselves as “servants”, because that view will give us a little skin in the game, when all along we are blessed to be “slaves” where the only actual skin in the game is Christ alone.
1 Corinthians 7:22-23 For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. (23) You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
It is amazing to me that the new Holman Christian Bible got it right. It is only one of several translations during the last 1400 years that has accurately depicted a word that is etymologically known as slave,…not servant.
All believers should cherish the designation of slaves of Christ!
Thanks for the comment,
Blessings,
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for the explanation. I understand doulos as slave and you have reset the job description accurately.
We (I) like promotions to a better sounding job description. Thanks for the reality check.
Charles
Brother Chris,
I love the concept of being His slave. And I love the concept of being His friend. The two together are amazing! Thanks for the refocus.
I looked up 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 in my three favorite translations to see what word they use. The NAS, NIV & ESV all use the “slave” terminology. And now, I’ll be meditating on that passage all day. Thanks again!
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
Brother FTME,
Those are all solid translations….sometimes you gotta watch the NIV, but for the most part…good stuff.
Brother Charles,
Like you have said, it is good to get a reality check…probably for me on a daily basis. Thanks for the comment.
I am in flight to Greece,….so I’ll check back with soon.
Blessings,
Chris
Brother FTME,
Those are all solid translations….sometimes you gotta watch the NIV, but for the most part…good stuff.
Brother Charles,
Like you have said, it is good to get a reality check…probably for me on a daily basis. Thanks for the comment.
I am in flight to Greece,….so I’ll check back with you soon.
Blessings,
Chris