Saints & Slaves

: When Paul writes to the Church at Philippi it is believed that he was a prisoner of Rome.

Paul had fond memories of Philippi. You will remember that Paul went to Philippi because of a vision that he had of a man from Macedonia calling him to mission. We see this in Acts 16.

When Paul responded to the call it is believed that this was the first time the Gospel was taken to Europe.
Paul's call to mission in Macedonia was a call that brought him both joy and pain as well.

Our call to mission is the same. There is great joy in serving the Lord but there also can be great trials, but we are not alone. Christ is with us.

In the introduction to his letter Paul states that both he and Timothy are bondservants of Jesus Christ.

Bond Servants comes from the Greek Word (Doulos) A Doulos was a slave and Doulos could mean a person who was a slave either in a voluntary sense or in an involuntary sense. A doulos was a person in subjection to another.

In the Old Testament there were slaves amongst the Hebrew people and some of the slaves, either male or female, would actually choose to serve their Masters forever.

If a slave chose to stay with the Master, then the master would pierce the slaves earlobe by bringing them to the door of the house and their ear would be pierced with the sharp object called an awl against the door.

This action showed that the slave was permanently attached to his or her master's household. It became traditional to put a gold ring in the ear that was pierced. That slave who chose to be a bondservant to the Master could never go free again nor be sold again by their master.

Jesus Christ was a model servant when He came to this earth.