A web site I visit had mention of the new book by John MacArthur, Slave, based on his sermon series on the topic. Grace To You has a free offer, if you join their mailing list. Here is the trailer.
It always concerns me when someone thinks there is a ‘hidden’ word or some sort of conspiracy. I’m not sure why it took him so long to realize ‘doulos’ means ‘slave’ not servant. I agree that we need to reckon with this since it is Scripture. Paul, at times, called himself a slave, to emphasize the reality that he had no rights. Iain Duguid in his book on Abraham, calls a covenant a relationship marked by submission in which one party surrenders their rights. That would be us, not God.
We also need to remember that in Philippians Jesus became a slave, obedient unto death to deliver us from slavery to sin (see, you are a slave to something as Bob Dylan sorta sang).
But it obviously is not the only identity we have (as MacArthur mentions in the trailer). We don’t stop being ‘slaves’ though we are ‘sons’, as the trailer seems to imply. We are both (like we are both righteous and sinners at the same time, just not in the same sense).
Richard Pratt used to tell us you need to go the the biblical medicine cabinet and choose the right medicine for the personal problems people have. This requires discernment. Is it a justification issue? Don’t talk about sanctification issues, or they will end up legalists. Sanctification issue? Don’t address it as a justification issue or they will become antinomians. Paul does this in the Scriputres. If people are acting entitled (for instance making too much of their Roman citizenship, or suffering from an over-realized eschatology) he takes out the ‘slave’ pill so they know this is part of their identity. If they are wrestling with a sense of worthlessness and abandonment, he breaks out the ‘son’ pill so they know and experience the freedom and acceptance of God’s adopted children.
I fear that a popular book like this tends to polarize things. This should transform some people’s experience because they have a strong sense of entitlement. They don’t grasp that whole obedience thing. They think Christianity sets them free from all obligation to pursue all their desires. This is a huge problem here in the land of the televangelists and consumerism. But many of the people who would be drawn to a book by MacArthur would have the opposite problem. I suspect they would need to know of God’s love and acceptance because they are prone to a legalistic spirit.
All this to say, know to whom you recommend this book. It could be a helpful medicine to their sin-sick soul. Or it could be deadly, because it is the wrong biblical medicine
Cavman Considers 