The Glorious Servitude

Peter calls himself the servant of Jesus Christ. The word is doulos ( Greek #1401 ) which really means slave. Strange as it may seem, here is a title, apparently one of humiliation, which the greatest of men took as a title of greatest honour. Moses the great leader and lawgiver was the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God ( Deuteronomy 34:5 ; Psalms 105:26 ; Malachi 4:4 ). Joshua the great commander was the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God ( Joshua 24:29 ). David the greatest of the kings was the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God ( 2 Samuel 3:18 ; Psalms 78:70 ). In the New Testament Paul is the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of Jesus Christ ( Romans 1:1 ; Philippians 1:1 ; Titus 1:1 ), a title which James ( James 1:1 ), and Jude (Jd 1 ) both proudly claim. In the Old Testament the prophets are the douloi ( Greek #1401 ) of God ( Amos 3:7 ; Isaiah 20:3 ). And in the New Testament the Christian man frequently is Christ's doulos ( Greek #1401 ) ( Acts 2:18 ; 1 Corinthians 7:22 ; Ephesians 6:6 ; Colossians 4:12 ; 2 Timothy 2:24 ). There is deep meaning here.

(i) To call the Christian the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God means that he is inalienably possessed by God. In the ancient world a master possessed his slaves in the same sense as he possessed his tools. A servant can change his master; but a slave cannot. The Christian inalienably belongs to God.

(ii) To call the Christian the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God means that he is unqualifiedly at the disposal of God. In the ancient world the master could do what he liked with his slave; he had even the power of life and death over him. The Christian has no rights of his own, for all his rights are surrendered to God.

(iii) To call the Christian the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God means that he owes an unquestioning obedience to God. A master's command was a slave's only law in ancient times. In any situation the Christian has but one question to ask: "Lord, what will you have me do?" The command of God is his only law.

(iv) To call the Christian the doulos ( Greek #1401 ) of God means that he must be constantly in the service of God. In the ancient world the slave had literally no time of his own, no holidays, no leisure. All his time belonged to his master. The Christian cannot, either deliberately or unconsciously, compartmentalize life into the time and activities which belong to God, and the time and activities in which he does what he likes. The Christian is necessarily the man every moment of whose time is spent in the service of God.

We note one further point. Peter speaks of the impartial justice of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The King James Version translates, "the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," as if this referred to two persons, God and Jesus; but, as Moffatt and the Revised Standard Version both show, in the Greek there is only one person involved and the phrase is correctly rendered our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Its great interest is that it does what the New Testament very, very seldom does. It calls Jesus God. The only real parallel to this is the adoring cry of Thomas: "My Lord and my God." ( John 20:28 ). This is not a matter to argue about; it is not even a matter of theology; for Peter and Thomas to call Jesus God was not a matter of theology but an outrush of adoration. It was simply that they felt human terms could not contain this person they knew as Lord.