Review of "Slave"

This doesn't relate to Signet - it's a book I've read on my own by John MacArthur.  The subtitle is "The hidden truth about your identity in Christ".  You can probably see why I was drawn to it.  Interesting title.

The ideas presented in this book are definitely different from what I've heard throughout my life.  Slavery has a very negative connotation in our nation - and it should.  Our past was shameful.  Praise God that people stood up for righteousness and abolished the human slave trade.  But what is interesting in what I learned through this book is that slavery in the Biblical culture was very different from that.  It was more along the lines of people having servants.  There were paid servants and there were slaves that were owned.  People were either born into slavery or they became a slave to repay debt.  Slaves had the opportunity to work their way out of that position!  Slave owners were supposed to be just and treat them well.  There were of course people who didn't. But that word meant something very different in that day.

The disciples referred to themselves regularly as "slaves of Christ", and that Jesus was their "master". But if you read the English versions of the Bible, you rarely see that reference in the New Testament.  The Greek word for slave has been covered up by being mistranslated in almost every English version.  It appears 124 times in the original text, but was only correctly translated once in the King James!  "Most of our modern translations do only slightly better." (pg. 16)  They usually use the word "servant" instead.  But think about the differences between slave and servant.  They are very different positions.

The facts were intriguing, but what it means for us as followers of Christ now is far more powerful to me.  The disciples understood the magnitude of grace they received as a result of serving Jesus.  We are often casual in our thinking about Him.  We would rather hear about being a friend of God than being a slave to the Master.  He also addresses the imagery that we can glean from in the picture of slavery.  We are already slaves to sin and selfish desire.  And then he walks us through the redemption of going from slaves to son...what an incredible picture.

This book really challenged me to examine my approach to a Holy God.  I definitely recommend it as a read to make you think.