Chapter 2 notes for Slave by John Macarthur

1 Corinthians 7:21-23

New Living Translation (NLT)

²¹ Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. ²² And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. ²³ God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.^[a]

Footnotes:1 Corinthians 7:23 Greek don’t become slaves of people.

• Roughly one fifth of the empire's population were slaves totaling twelve million at the outset of the first century AD
• The institution of slavery itself was never really questioned. Slaves may have resented their bondage but given the chance they acquired slaves themselves. When freed, they simply moved up a notch in the system, becoming themselves masters and mistresses.  
• Household slaves received greater honor than other slaves because they worked more closely with their masters.
• A wicked slave was a greeat liability and would cause serious damage to the owners welfare.
• Slavery offered a certain amount of social and economic protection to whose masters were kind of well respected these slaves sole concern was carrying out interests of their owner.
• If a master was a prestigious or powerful member of the community such as government official his slaves would also be respected because of their relationship to him A great deal of honor would be given to the slaves of someone highly regarded by roman society.
• To be a slave was to be totally in someone's else's possession, totally subjected to one's master in everything.
• ***Greek philosopher Aristotle defined a slave as a human being who was considered an article of prosperity, someone who belonged completely to another person.***
• The only thing that slaves had in common with the 1st century is that each of them had an owner. 
• A person's experience with slavery depended entirely on the slave owners family & customs. The character of the owner & class of society.

Out of Egypt

• Hebrew word for slave, 'ebed, appears in the Old Testament 799 times as a noun and another 290 times as a verb.
• The King James Version for example, never translates ebed as slave opting instead for servant or manservant the vast majority of the time.
• Slavery was apart of Israel's history from her earliest days as a nation. Even before Issac was born, in Genesis 15, God revealed to Abraham that his descendants would one day experience great suffering as slaves in foreign land.
• The exodus from Egypt did not give the Israelites complete autonomy Rather,it used them into different kind of bondage. Those who had once been the property of pharoah was now the property of the Lord.

"You shall be my own possession among all the peoples," God told them as they camped at foot of mount Sinai(EX 19:5) Later he told mosses, For the Israelites are my slaves I brought out of the Land of Egypt I am the Lord your God (Lev 25:55HCSB).

• To call oneself an israelite was the same as calling oneself a slave of God.
• Having been rescued from egypt centuries before, God's people again founf themselves in wholesale captivity (shows the connection between Babylonian captivity & exodus; In a great reversal of God's deliverance in the exodus: in the exodus he will enslave Israel & her enemies Jer 17:4 
• Many of Israel's heros including Abrham moses, Joshua, David, Elijah and the prophets are specifically referred to as his slaves.
• Non-Jewish slaves on the otherhand were regarded and treated like chattels or movable property (Lev 25:44-46)

The Master's Law

• James did not boast about being Jesus' half brother but instead called himself James, A slave of God & of the Lord Jesus Christ (James 1:1: 4CSB)
• The word doulos or slave is even used throughout the book of relationship to describe the believer's eternal relationship.
• The words doulos or slave is even used throughout the book of Revelations to describe the believer's eternal relationalship to the Lord.