Is "Union with Christ" Slavery?

While Romans 5:12-21 lays the ground work for the wonderful truth of the believer’s identification with Christ, Romans 6:1-14 introduces the life-exchanging truths of the believers co-crucifixion, co-burial, and co-resurrection…the life through death union with Christ. Romans 6:6 sets forth the doctrinally and positionally--what has happened to the born-again believer as identified with the Lord Jesus in His death unto sin on the Cross. Paul wrote, "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be rendered inoperative (katargeō), that henceforth we should not be slaves (douleuō) to sin."

Bondage?

The Greek verb douleuō, like douleia the noun, is generally used to convey a nuance of involuntary bondage or slavery. See its use in: Romans 6:6; 7:6, 25; 8:15, 21; Gal. 4:24, and elsewhere. While the Greek word doulos (servant) can be used to convey a similar concept, it most often carries the sense of voluntary or willing servitude.

Some bible translations and bible teachers are fond of using the English term slave or slavery to translate the Greek word doulos, despite the common social arrangement of voluntary servitude in the ancient world and the need to recognize the distinction. Their motive, while earnest, is to press “Lordship” on the otherwise immature and worldly (Enlightenment-minded) believer. The theory is that the Master/slave analogy will address the problem of hypocrisy and produce a more consistent lifestyle in line with the NT biblical ideal. However, any short-term benefits simply don’t stand the test of genuineness for the long-term.

Only identification-based spiritual growth is capable of bringing about lasting Christ-like behavior. While useful in describing our condition in the First Adam, the Master/slave motif is an inaccurate characterization of our life in the Last Adam, which is one of "sonship." In Romans 6:19, the Apostle Paul felt it necessary to qualify his use of the analogy for describing the believers relationship to and union with the Risen Christ. Other translations and teachers use servant, bondman, bondmaid, bondservant to translate doulos. Doulos, not douleia, is used throughout Romans 6:15-22.

Voluntary Servitude?

Due to our failure to rightly understand or appreciate the context, nature and status of the bondservant of ancient times, all translations seem inadequate in conveying truth for those living in the secularized 21st century. Without clarification, all translations of doulos fall short in informing modern day readers of the fact that the bondservant was not stripped of either volition (freedom) or human dignity.

On a related note, the biblical Creator/creature, Father/son, even husband/wife motif is inherently offensive to the unregenerate modern mind. For most Europeans and Americans, any and all forms of subjection or servitude are viewed in the most negative terms, since these social arrangements are at radical odds with Enlightenment concepts of absolute freedom and autonomy (free will).

David F. Wells writes: "The Enlightenment centerpiece was freedom. Indeed, its demand was freedom: freedom from the past, freedom from God, and freedom from authority. It demanded freedom from every system of thought that would be resistant to its intellectual innovations. It resolutely opposed all ideas rooted in what was eternal, fixed, and unchanging. Immanuel Kant claimed in 1784 that the Enlightenment was really the next stage in human maturity. Immaturity, he side, 'is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another'. That, he said, was 'the ball and chain' from which humanity needed to be freed."

Under the Enlightenment paradigm “Man is God.” Mention subjection or servitude and modern Western minds immediately envision captive slaves in iron shackles held in the most gruesome and abusive conditions. This is why the complimentary role of women in the Bible is so offensive to feminists. Any situation in which an individual willingly embraces a place of subjection is treated with suspicion, if not outright contempt by Western egalitarian culture.

Also see: Excerpt Quotations by Miles J. Stanford on the subject of "LORDSHIP" SALVATION

Is "Union with Christ" Slavery?

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