Right On!

At an after-work happy-hour I sat with my good friend, an atheist, and his girlfriend, also an atheist.  In accordance with common wisdom we hadn't discussed religion before, but we did that evening, Coors Lite and Bud participating.

His girlfriend protested that Christianity was a religion that approved slavery.  My insight that it was Old Testament and not New Testament missed the mark.  They both remained unsatisifed and she changed the subject to our common interest in biking.

Her point was valid.  What changed from the Old to the New? 

The New Testament does not replace the Old Testament.  One cannot, rationally, be a "New Testament Christian" and ignore the Old Testament, anymore than a patriot can claim to be a "Bill of Rights American", while minimizing the original Constitution. 

Several days later, I listened to Fr. Corapi preach on TV about servitude.
He clarified that servant, "doulos" in New Testament Greek actually means "slave".  My curiosity stoked, I pursued further discovery.

In Romans 1:1 (NIV)  "Paul, a servant of Christ,..." Using Bible Gateway dot com, I then pulled up the Greek version and saw the word doulos. In Romans 6:20 doulos is accurately translated to give us: "When you were slaves to sin..."

The KJV consistently translates doulos as servant in both verses and never renders doulos as slave in the Pauline letters, however, scholars agree: doulos means slave.  Doulos in some contexts might mean "bonded-servant." , but I am unsure how commonly employers used bonded-servants during that era. 

There are other words in Greek that mean servant, one willing to serve, but retaining the right to leave.  Why didn't Paul use those words?  Certainly "slave" to an American has its own connotations that may not have existed in Roman society.  We are loathe to be slaves, preferring the kinder status of "servant" and all that is noble with serving.  However, servant implies one can quit, leave the employ of his master.  Contrary to the Arminian heresy, one cannot quit God. 

One can work without being appreciated and that defines slavery more than service. 

So the next time I am asked how I can adopt a religion that embraces slavery I can correctly tell them.  Christ freed us from the slavery of sin and called us to be his slaves.