In my studies I came across an important way to highlight the distinction between two greek words. One word is properly translated “servant” and the other “slave.” In sensitivity to the ugly cultural overtones associated with the word “slave”, some English translations have stuck to almost exclusively translating them both with the word “servant.” But that’s unfortunate because here’s the distinction: a servant only works for someone, a slave belongs to someone. As you can imagine, that’s a big difference.
So in Romans 1:1 when the apostle wrote of himself “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus” he was making it clear that he doesn’t just work for Jesus, he belongs to Jesus. And then a few verses down he writes that we, as believers, are “called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
Add to that the fact that the wellbeing of a slave in those days was completely dependent upon the temperament of his master. A kindhearted master meant a slave had it made but a mean-spirited one and the slave’s life could be a living hell.
What about Jesus? What does belonging to him mean for us if not heaven on earth? If we will just keep yielding to his ownership, give him all that we are — belong to him — then, come what may, we have it made.
