From Slavery To Slavery
Those of us who have been born again are no longer slaves to sin, nor do we identify with our sins. We go from being slaves to sin to being slaves to Christ.
1 Corinthians 7:22
For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave, is the Lord’s freed person; likewise the one who was called as free, is Christ’s slave.
All Christians go from slavery to slavery. As the apostle Paul said in Romans 6:18, those who have “been freed from sin, [have become] slaves of righteousness.”
OUR IDENTITY AS CHRIST’S SLAVES
Christians are no longer the people they once were (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). We are no longer slaves to sin; instead, we are now “Christ’s slaves,” as the apostle Paul said. We have no righteousness of our own (Isaiah 64:6); therefore, this enslavement to righteousness here is not our own righteousness but Christ’s!
All Christians are slaves. According to leading Greco-Roman historian E.J. Bickerman, the word Christian, or Χριστιανός, is the combination of two words: the Greek word Χριστός (Messiah/anointed/Christ) for Christ, with the addition of the suffix -ανός, which is the Greek transliteration of the Latin word meaning belong to/slave1; hence, a Christian is a “slave of Christ” or someone who “belongs to Christ.” If you’re not a slave of Christ, by the very definition of the word, you’re not a Christian.
Side note: According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the word “Christian” wasn’t accepted as a title of honor until the second century2.
SLAVERY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
Slavery is a loaded word these days, but we are all slaves to something. Who isn’t a slave to technology in this day and age? We are slaves to the nutrients we need to consume in order to survive. And just like we were slaves to sin, we must now be slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:15-23).
The apostle Paul is clear: we go from “slaves to sin” to “slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” One type of slavery leads to eternal torment, while the other leads to eternal joy.
THE YOKE OF CHRIST
People often overlook the fact that Jesus Himself tells us in His Word that “His yoke is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). He calls all “who are weary and burdened, and [Jesus] will give you rest,” but He tells us about the yoke that is now upon us. Yes, His yoke is light, but there is a yoke!
We are not to roam around, lost, like the ones without any types of yokes. To be “free” in such a manner as described in Romans 1:24 is to be abandoned by God—or to be “given up,” as the Bible says.
THE CALL TO HOLINESS
Though we will sin in this life, and to say you are without sin makes you a liar (1 John 1:8), we will never willingly sin because we know that willful sins must not be committed (Hebrews 10:26).
To have a renewed mind means we have let go of willful sins. The apostle Paul couldn’t be clearer: “such were some of you.” Although their sins would have otherwise sentenced them to eternal damnation, they have changed their ways and repented of their sins.
Another point to consider is that although we are all drawn toward sin, we are not all drawn toward the same type of sin. The sin that entices you might not be appealing to someone else. We have all been “born this way”—that is, with a proclivity towards sin. We must never identify with our sin. Mortify your sin every single day. Aim for holiness—for we are called to be holy as He is holy; don’t settle for unrighteousness.
THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION
It’s worth keeping in mind the original beginning of verse 11 in 1 Corinthians 6. Matthew Henry wrote,
The Greek word [in 1 Cor. 6:11] is tauta—such things were some of you, very monsters rather than men. Note, some that are eminently good after their conversion have been as remarkably wicked before... How glorious a change does grace make! It changes the vilest of men into saints and the children of God. Such were some of you, but you are not what you were. Note, the wickedness of men before conversion is no bar to their regeneration and reconciliation to God. The blood of Christ, and the washing of regeneration, can purge away all guilt and defilement… All who are made righteous in the sight of God are made holy by the grace of God.3
Letting go of sins may not always be easy, but it is essential that we do so. There is a prayer in one of A.W. Tozer’s books that should be a prayer of every true Christian struggling with letting go of their favorite pet sins:
Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival… Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.4
CONCLUSION
Don’t lose hope after you’ve just become a Christian and you’re not walking in Christ as properly as those who have been walking in Him for many years. There is an immediate change, that much is undeniable, but just because you might not be as holy as someone else doesn’t mean you’re lost either.
I think J.C. Ryle said it best: “Gradual growth in grace, growth in knowledge, growth in faith, growth in love, growth in holiness... all this I see clearly taught and urged in Scripture... but I fail to see in the Bible sudden, instantaneous leaps from conversion to consecration.5”
Be a slave to Christ, not a slave of your sins.
Elias J. Bickerman, Studies in Jewish and Christian History, Part 3, (E. J. Brill, 1986), p. 147
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5546/esv/mgnt/60-1
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Volume VI-II: First Corinthians - Second Timothy, (Devoted Publishing, 2018), p. 32
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, (Christian Publications, 1948), p. 31
J.C. Ryle, Holiness, (Reformed Church Publications, 2009), p. 13