Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.
Summary: This passage is a bit obscure in its meaning. This leaves us with a mystery on our hands. What did Paul mean?
Continue reading “Galatians 4:3 – Slaves to Ignorance”What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.
Summary: The age of majority is no longer a simple milestone that children look forward to in anticipation of becoming an adult.
Continue reading “Galatians 4:1 – Rule Changes”There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Summary: In this passage, Paul makes an astounding claim. God doesn’t see differences between people like we do. So what does God see?
Continue reading “Galatians 3:28 – What They Wanted to Hear”And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them,
Summary: Paul has been admonishing slaves to work, as if they were serving the Lord. Now, he turns his attention to those who have authority over others.
Continue reading “Ephesians 6:9a – The Test of Authority”
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
Summary: Nobody is free without Jesus.
Continue reading “2 Peter 2:19 — Trapped”
The past couple of days we have been talking about what it means to be a slave to sin. Jesus has made the case that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. It seems to me that the concept of being a slave to sin has a lot of ramifications. One of the most obvious ramifications of being a slave is that a person no longer has the freedom do what they think is right. A slave must do what he or she is told to do, there really is no choice.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
By the time this discussion between Jesus and the Jews happens, Jesus is well known as one who speaks his mind and backs up what he says with amazing miracles. The culture at that time included a large number of slaves, people who were servants of someone. How they came to be servants or slaves varied greatly. Some were born into slavery, some were conquered peoples. Some actually came into hard times and sold themselves into slavery as a means of staying alive. Regardless of how they came to be in the service of someone else, a slave was not part of the family.
Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
Prior to this Jesus says, “…everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Well, that would have to include everyone except Jesus. While Jesus is very careful about not confronting people directly in situations like this, he clearly means that everyone on the planet is a slave to sin, and technically has no place in God’s family. Unlike the slaves, the son cannot not be part of the family.
Continue reading “Slave or Son?”
Our last post was about the arrival of the Magi and the discussion question led us to ponder about the memories of the Pharisees. Many of them would have been between the ages of twenty to forty years old when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and when the Magi cause such a disturbance in Israel with their announcement that they were here to honor the newborn king. As we jump back into the Gospel of John we find Jesus arguing with those same Pharisees who were in Jerusalem thirty-some years earlier when the Magi caused such a stir.
Continue reading “Time Warp – Happy New Year!”