The Glory Of The Slave
THE GLORY OF THE SLAVE
1 PETER 2:18-25
Our example is Christ: in his integrity he never reacted violently but placed himself completely in God’s hands.
Slavery was legal, and God had given his qualified recognition of it by legislating about it. So slaves—not “servants” (2:18)—provided perhaps the most extreme and most painful example of being subject to human institutions (2:13). Though only some slavery remains in the world today there is much subordination: economic, social and traditional. Sometimes it is good and right, sometimes abhorrent. Whenever the attempt to throw it off is made, we discover that where there is no inner freedom, outward freedom leads only to new slavery. In addition, people are discovering that where they are not willing to serve, they will not be served in the hour of need.
It was Christ who came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45), so he is the pattern for those who serve. If slaves are willing to serve for Christ’s sake, as their God-given calling, then the sting of slavery has gone. They are also the example for those who suffer injustice and abuse from those who abuse their positions (2:21-23). Few Christians grasp what a privilege it is (painful, of course) to be allowed to share the injustice Christ suffered.
In 2:24, Peter here assumes, but does not stress, the death of Christ; it is what went before and prepared for the death that occupies him. Jesus was not suddenly identified with our sins when the nails were driven into his hands and feet. All that had gone before was part of his self-identification with our sins. He carried them “to the tree,” (NRSV margin), the burden becoming heavier as he went. Rendering John the Baptist’s words, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and drawing out their full meaning is literally, “… who carries the sin of the world.”
Concepts like these throw light on Paul’s remarkable statement in Colossians 1:24. We cannot share in Christ’s atoning work, except to benefit from it, but we can share in his sufferings. When we think of his life, we are apt to think of him living under Jewish law, the law of God, even if distorted by Pharisaic reasoning. We forget that Palestine was under Roman colonial law as well, with all its brutality and frequent arbitrariness.
Thought Christ specially sustains and supports those who serve.