The Contradiction of Christian Liberty and Slavery

Examining 1 Corinthians 7:22-23

Khen Lim



Image source: nehemiahteams.blogspot.com

In 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 (NLT), Paul says, ‘If you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you are free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.’ Here, the Apostle emphasises our freedom in Christ our Master (‘free in the Lord’) and links it to our new slavery with Jesus as our Saviour (‘a slave of Christ’).

However we know that the Messiah had come to free His people from bondage and captivity. We also know that any master usually takes control instead of freeing the lives of people whom they have the right to lord over. As paradoxical as it seems, the question is why did Paul say something so contradictory?

Perhaps if we look at both liberty and our newly-acquired slavery, we might find two effects for each of both. One clue is in the phrase ‘free in the Lord,’ which suggests that Christ secures our freedom but inherent to it is a limiting condition to how we should define and exercise it. ‘In the Lord’ in this case may point to the premise that we are indeed free albeit with an unmistakable proviso.

Christ’s Lordship is over and above all other so-called lords and because of that, our liberty is safely and incontestably bound up, meaning that while we are free from the shackles that other lords impose on our lives, we are now mercifully – and wonderfully – limited by our new liberty in Christ.

In the second part of Paul’s message, the term ‘a slave of Christ’ points to our Messiah have claimed us as His own and in doing so, He has freed us from the enslaving darkness of our past sinful life and brought us into the broad open vistas of peace and light.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah says, ‘His government and its peace will never end’ (Isa 9:7a). By claiming us His own, Christ has truly given all of us the sweetening of slavery, transforming it into pure joy.

‘I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock’ (Ps 81:16b).

And that sweetened rock is undoubtedly our Messiah.