In the beginning of Mark, Jesus chooses His disciples. This was unusual. Usually in ancient Israel a student would choose one’s teacher. Jesus underscores this variance in John 16:15, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”
An extended discussion ensues over Jesus’ disciples calling Him “master” or “lord” (Greek: kyrios), The far deeper Greek meaning of “kyrios” is of one who is an absolute owner/master of someone or something. (“Kyrios” can also have a much simpler polite meaning as simply “mister”, or “sir”.)
In today’s American society, there are a growing number of people who reject any use of the word “master” because of its close tie to American slavery. However, in the New Testament, calling Jesus one’s “Master/Lord” (and being a “slave” to Him) mean something very different. The popular objection to these words is given in ignorance of New Testament concepts. In no way is the biblical idea of Jesus being our Master (and we His slaves) forced servitude. We are voluntary slaves to Love . . . He is the God of Love. When we make ourselves slaves of Jesus, it is based on love for Him, and is completely voluntary on our part. We have freewill to leave the Master/slave relationship with Jesus at any time.
Part of the problem grows out of our tendency to apply contemporary understandings of English to the King James Version (KJV) English of 400 years ago. In the KJV, the Greek word “servos” was translated correctly as “servant,” and had the very clear meaning of “slave” (and is closely related to “serf”, “servile”, “servitude” and (forced) military service.) However today, the word “servant” has a clearly voluntary understanding.
Another extended discussion occurs on the true meaning of a word: Such meaning can be found not in the word itself, but only in the meaning behind the word. Thus, one must read the Holy Scriptures in the Spirit in which they were written. An excerpt from Isaac Pennington’s “Letter XVI is read in this context.
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