He who is free, is Christ’s slave; and he who is a slave is Christ’s freed man

  Good morning. And now a verse that most likely was wrongly used hundreds of years ago: slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Sadly, this verse was probably used to say that it was OK to own slaves. People may have even heard it coming from the pulpit. People will use the Bible to “prove“ just about anything they want to prove. It is true that the Bible does not come out and directly condemn slavery. There are several explanations of why it does not; but unless we have a revelation from God, we should be careful about saying why it does not. My Bible says that Paul neither condones slavery nor sanctions revolt against masters. Rather, he calls on both slaves and masters to show Christian principles in their relationship and thus to attempt to change the institution from within. He says elsewhere that he who is free, is Christ’s slave; and he who is a slave is Christ’s freed man. The admonitions in this verse can be applied in the workplace between employees and employers, though not to the same degree as this. Father help us to read the Bible to see what You say about something, not to justify things that we want to do.

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