All right, we got a stack of new knowledge to apply to Bible stuff that we're trying to figure out in Colossians and in particular in Philemon. If you didn't catch the last uh what did we just do here, guys? Four, five, six episodes on slavery in the ancient world, you should probably go catch those because it's gonna make what we do next make a lot more sense. But also, hey, to those of you who did go through that whatever five or six episode arc with me, where we dived deep into what slavery in the ancient world was like, I have a high five for you that I forgot to give you. Listen closely. Behold, that was a high five sound. And I'm giving you that because you have leveled up once again. Your willingness to just dive into weird subject matter that most people don't think about very much has caused you to have something new in your hip pocket. And it's caused me to have the same thing. And I always think that it's worth celebrating when we level up a little bit. So congrats. You if you were with me for the last five or six episodes, you now know more than surely 999 out of a thousand people you would meet on the street about slavery in the ancient world. Well, we need to take that knowledge and we need to turn it to the text. So let's not mess around. Let's just go do it here. We've looked a lot already at Colossians 3:22, but let's look at the whole passage here where Paul talks about slavery in the larger context of household relationships, in the larger context of doing household relationships well in light of the gospel of Christ. He says in verse 22, slaves obey your earthly masters in everything, and do it not only when their eyes on you to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. I think we talked a while back about how that last line would be very humanizing because remember, slaves are incapable of moral reasoning, and slaves just do things because of the carrot or the stick. Well, this seems to indicate that there's a motive that goes even beyond that, which is reverence for the Lord, reverence for God. And in that, slaves, masters, and everybody in between, I mean, everyone is subject to this God. So that's pretty fascinating. But moving on, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men. I think this is interesting right here, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Now that fascinates me because before you and I did what we just did, anytime I came across something in the New Testament where it uses that kind of language, like, you know, rewards in heaven, or uh God who sees what you do is done in secret will reward you in secret, stuff like that. Well, of course, I've always just thought of that from the perspective of a free person who I guess would be having his status as a free person improved with rewards. But how must that have sounded to a slave? And so it was really interesting. I I just read this before I turned on the mic. I'm like, oh dang. Consider that in light of the promise of manumission. Remember that excerpt that we read from Aristotle's, what was it called, the householder? Yeah, where he advised setting a time period for slavery and for there to be this big giant reward or inheritance that happens at the end with clearly defined parameters. And I've got it right here. He said, it's essential that each slave should have a clearly defined goal. It is both just and advantageous to offer freedom as a prize when the prize and the period of time in which it can be attained are clearly defined. This will make them work willingly. So, look, positively, on the one hand, I think slaves would have spoken this language. I think masters would have spoken this language. Oh, like there's this big inheritance at the end of this difficult trial or the end of this season in life. You know, maybe the miners we read about the other day weren't thinking this as they were, you know, just destroying their bodies and the minds, and nobody knew who they were, what their names were. I mean, that seems like a much harsher expression of ancient slavery than a lot of the stuff that we are encountering in the Bible. But probably the slaves who were in the room here, they were like, oh, that kind of sounds like the promise of manumission, a deal that people often make with their masters, that there's this big inheritance at the end. But then I could also see how somebody would come back at me over that and be like, Matt, are you likening us to being slaves to God, slaves to Jesus? And this analogy, he's the slave master, and we're the slave. Well, weirdly, yeah. I mean, it kind of flies by and you don't really notice it at the beginning of these letters because you're just so eager to get into the heavyweight theology stuff. But in the last couple days, as I've been just, you know, reading through the Bible, I've had this slave language pop way more. Paul is constantly calling himself a slave of Christ. Romans 1, Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, Philippians 1, Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, Titus 1, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Christ Jesus, James 1, James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter, Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, Jude. Most people forget that even as a book in the Bible, Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. No, all of the rock stars of the New Testament, happily and proudly, all of these free men. Paul, even as a Roman citizen. I mean, these people with really quality social status are eagerly lining up in the opening lines of their letters to identify themselves as something that no one would want to be. A slave. But the analogy is rich. Listen to the way the slavery image plays out here in First Corinthians 7. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you. Although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freed man. Similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. Get this part. You were bought at a price. First Corinthians 6, 19. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. When I heard that kind of language for my whole life until basically the last three or four weeks since I've been reading this ancient history stuff about slavery, when I would come across passages like that, I would hear it with the ears of a free man living in a free society with a bill of rights and a constitution. I would only hear the blood of Christ and forgiveness of sin undertones of that. I would hear, oh, I sinned and there was a price to be paid for my sin. So Christ went to the cross to pay the debt for my sin as a substitute for my sin. Now that is absolutely true. That is all over the Bible. But there's an additional level of metaphor in these two passages that we just looked at here. And that additional level of metaphor is that I was a slave to something, not in control of my own destiny. And then God bought me back from that slaver, from that oppressor. What was the price? It was the blood of Christ. And you get language like this in the middle of Romans as well. Romans 6 present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. Revelation 5, 9, and 10. And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain. I mean, we're talking about Jesus here, and with your blood you purchased men for God. Other translations say, with your blood you ransomed men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Well, that's exactly how the Romans went and got slaves. It was from all over the place, everywhere else. Remember, we read the sources firsthand. But instead of Jesus going out and being a slaver in the traditional sense, Jesus is going out and buying people back from the ends of the earth at his own great expense. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. I'm telling you, this slavery language is hitting way harder for me after having done the exercise you and I just did. Heck, let's reevaluate a little bit about the book that we spent so much time studying last season, Galatians. Galatians 1, 10. Remember the language Paul uses here? Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I still trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ. Some translations say a servant of Christ. The word in that context is effectively the same. Then remember, we get into all the stuff about the slave woman and the free woman in the middle of Galatians. How about the language at the end of Galatians 3 and into Galatians 4? Listen to this in light of what we've just learned about what slavery meant in the ancient world. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Remember that clothed language and how that imagery in the ancient world was so connected with being adopted into a household, being given a legal standing that you don't really have and you're maybe not even really entitled to, but you're generously given it by the master of the house. Now it gets more on the nose as we read forward in terms of the slavery image. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, not slaves. Heirs. You have ownership in this household. Feels like it has undertones of manumission to it. But let's keep reading just a little. What I'm saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he's no different from a slave. Although he owns the whole estate, he's subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic or elemental principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you're sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Formerly, when you didn't know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. And then he unpacks this whole idea and scolds the Galatians for inching their way back toward slavery instead of living in the manumitted freedom of Christ. Maybe I'm alone here, but for me, Galatians is hitting harder because of what we're doing right now in Philemon and what we're doing right now with this Greek and Roman slavery stuff. Paul goes on in Galatians 5 1. It's for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. If you can't tell, I'm quite excited about this and I don't want to wrap up yet. So I'm gonna make this a two-day thing. I'm gonna go and unwrap different parts of the New Testament that I have kind of seen with fresh eyes after having done this work with you. And I want to invite you into that. So we're just gonna take another day on it. We'll pick up right where we left off next time around. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.