This past weekend I read a sermon by Ray Stedman regarding Romans 6. Ray focussed, in part, on the idea we can either be enslaved by sin or enslaved by righteousness. It’s a passage I am familiar with but he talked about it in a way that was new to me, new and helpful.
The paradigm shift involved Stedman’s argument that human beings are designed to be mastered. He says God designed us to live in relationship with Him as our King, and we work best, most healthily and emotionally stable when we submit to him as our master.
As Stedman said this, I realized he was right. We aren’t independent creatures, capable of “finding our own way.” We were designed to have a master. We were designed to be ruled over.
As I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I’ve realized my views of authority are skewed. Earthly authorities, all of them including Kings and teachers and pastors and priests are corrupt. And they aren’t just a little corrupt. The best of us are extremely corrupt, acting in our own self interests. The most trustworthy leaders are the ones who know this and press on in honesty and humility. I’d even go on to say that the best leaders are the ones who are the most submissive to God.
What Romans 6 is essentially saying, according to Stedman, is that because we are designed to be mastered, we will either be mastered by God or by our own sin.
I grew up trying to fight sin, if you will, because we were taught that sin was bad. This was true, of course, but sin, as a master, must then be replaced by something. My body and mind will be mastered by something, whether I like it or not. What might be more helpful, then, would be to simply change masters. Rather than allowing sin to master me, I should simply submit to the authority of God. Good stuff. Thanks Ray.
As an Oregonian, Cyclist, fan of Blue Like Jazz, and now dental missionary in Kenya I’d say thanks for an encouraging post. To change the mindset from simply fighting sin to actually allowing righteousness to master us would change all of our lives for the better.
didn’t Bob Dylan write “Ya gotta serve the devil or the Lord”?
To a “Christian liberal” such as yourself, with a healthy, functioning individuality and sense of self, the idea of submitting is probably pretty ground-breaking, I’d imagine. To someone unthinkingly raised as a ground-down Christian fundamentalist/conservative such as me, I’ve spent a life learning how to deal with all the parts of the bible which are about objecting, resisting authority and not going along with the crowd. It’s not always about being a sheep. There are many other metaphors at work. The sheep one just happens to be the favourite metaphor for people trying to keep the status quo going. There’re usually two extremes to go to.
Great post, Michael. Thanks for the alternative perspective.
Maybe you should write about some of these “alternative” parts of the Bible.
I think Mr. Miller was talking about being a follower (or sheep) to God; not just any and ever human authority. Also I think like you Mr. Miller was raised as a “ground-down” Christian conservative.
Over the years, I have learned the best way to not be mastered by sin is to run to God and to be honest with Him. I have learned that He has so much more knowledge, understanding, and wisdom than I have and that He is more than willing to share all that He has with me. I think rather looking at the relationship between God and ourselves as master to servants, we might benefit in looking at it in the context of the Father and His sons. One of the best lessons I’ve learned is that there is nothing greater than Gos’s absolute love. God will meet us where we are and bring us to where He is if we ask Him to.
How do we balance being enslaved to righteousness with our adoption as children of God? It is paradoxical to talk about ourselves as slaves of God and children of God. Can a slave be an heir?
Maybe the use of the metaphors is contextual. When talking about our fight against selfishness and/or “the flesh,” it is best to talk about being slaves. But when we talk about the struggle between legalism and antinomianism, it is best to talk about our adoption.
It hurts my mind when I am told all these contrasting metaphors. I wish the writers of the text would have been led to only use one metaphor:)
Oooo, I like…
I’m not a golfer, but I understand that the players change clubs and drivers to accomplish different things. I wonder if God doesn’t use a bag full of clubs to move us to different places in our understanding of our relationship with him.
I think that I am leaning into your metaphor. It does seem like we have these multiple images that help us in different ways and in different circumstances in life. It is not an either/or but a both/and kinda deal with these seemingly opposite images for the divine and human relationship.
Paul,
I think the difference in mentality between the slave/laborer and the heir is hope. Hope that everything we do here is based on the certainty of a glorious future.
While we labor as both slaves and heirs, hope is the orientation of our souls and we are led instead of driven.
Dudley Hall and Alan Wright have some excellent sermons on this – Hall’s is called “Son’s Perspective” and Wright’s is “Hope of the Heir” if you’re able to find them online.
I agree with you, Claire, and I was going to say that it is often similar to difference (in feeling) between being a foster kid and an adopted kid. I have learned that it is a perk of being adopted, to understand this concept more easily, perhaps, than people who are not.
I think that I get what you are saying and I agree that hope needs to be our orientation no matter how we imagine our relationship with God to be.
Yay!
That’s all I got…a big smile and a heart that says, Yay!
You have no idea how timely that is for me. Thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put quite that simply.
I had a very similar “revelation” about this familiar passage a couple of months ago… (wrote about it on my blog… http://readmythoughtsorelse.blogspot.com/2010/04/rethinking-slavery.html)
It’s definitely a “paradigm-shifting” thought—thanks for sharing!
Very well said, Don. The bible describes our relationship to God in 7 ways that I see:
1. clay/potter
2. sheep/shepherd
3. slave/master
4. branch/vine
5. child/father
6. friend/friend
7. lover/lover
In each of the first 5, it’s obvious that we are being led by Him in some way. And if you read the context of the descriptions of the last two, we’re still being led; the friend and lover relationships still have a built-in leadership aspect to them.
The problem with this is that it seems to go against the American cultural ideals of individualism, independence, and self-sufficiency, all of which depend on a certain level of pride. It’s only when we take on proper biblical humility that we shed the weight of our cultural hang-ups that keep us from experiencing the full relationship with God that we could be having.
Whoooaaaa favorite reply yet. I love the broader context you’ve brought to light here.
I’ll second that. JamesW, your reply was a pleasant-read, informative, and a little provocative. Thanks.
very nice
Our actions are determined by our motivation. It seems, before we follow God we follow our own selfish desires, even if we are doing good, it isn’t to serve God or others, it’s just to serve our own agenda, ego, or appearance according to Stedman. From what you guys wrote, it seems the only pure actions we can make have to just be side effects of looking straight at God and His will.
This may seem stupid, but your last paragraph conjures the image at the end of the 6th Harry Potter book, how Harry is fighting with all his might to resist the oncoming of the inferi, and he’s fighting and trying but it’s all for naught. That is until Dumbledore comes in and casts the fire, the light. All of the inferi fade away. Harry is doing significantly less work than before yet seeing completely different results. I picture us fighting off sin, trying our best and failing and succeeding and failing, then when God steps in, we only have to really fight the sin when we venture off, take our eyes off of God, our Master.
I’m probably way off, but that’s kinda what I got from what you and Stedman wrote. Great post.
Simple thoughts are always my favorite. Good reminder.
Hmm. I am normally in agreement with your posts here, but I am taking issue with this one.
This is an absolute black and white way of thinking. I am not sure if it is the term “mastery” i am taking issue with, or the message that it is either 100% mastery under God or 100% mastery under sin.
This paints a picture of people only able to be fully serving God or fully depraved. Clearly this is a flawed view.
I have seen people overcome their own demons without even acknowledging God, and the opposite is also true.
Maybe we are all mastered by something, but it is not this black and white.
What are others views on this? Am I off base here?
I think Nick is on to something. Very nice…now you’ve got me churning.
I see what you’re saying. I was tempted to stop writing my blog because I didn’t understand the complexity of my ongoing struggle with submission (http://spiritualklutz.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-want-to-be-christian-celebrity-when-i.html). I think you make a healthy distinction in a respectful way.
John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
I love it when people just drop an scriptural A-bomb on here.
Glad I could be of service. Watch out for that mushroom cloud.
Yeah I think you are bit off base here because there is no “Third Way” with God. We are either for Jesus or we are against Jesus no one is a little bit for Jesus and a little bit against Jesus.
Sometimes we are off base because we think of this as being a list of actions. If I am a “pagan” I can’t be kind, generous, helpful or good. If I am for Jesus then everything I do must be right and I am no longer selfish, evil, lazy etc… This is of course false. In their actions Christians and non-Christians run the gambit of good and bad behavior.
However if you think about this from the relationship standpoint, and this is how the Bible and God sees this, it makes a lot more sense. For instance can I be a bit married to my wife but not completely? Can my son be a bit like a son a bit not like a son to me? We are all in or we are nothing.
We are either fully committed to God, as a slave is fully owned ie committed to his master, or we are not. It is black and white in that sense. We may be disobedient slaves or we may be “good” people who are still dedicated to sin but it is not really about what we do but what relationship we have to God.
Another way to look at it is that we can’t be partially born again. We are either born or we are not born. A pregnant woman goes to the hospital in labor she doesn’t come home and say that her child was half born either the child was born or not born it is black and white.
Don’t think of this as a list of behaviors that we do (ie this can’t be true because I know unbelievers who are good people that do kind things and I know people that believe in Jesus that are chumps) Think of this form the relationship standpoint and I think it is easier to understand. I hope this helps sorry for going so long.
Nick
I don’t think you;re off base but I don’t think Don is arguing that it is 100% either way, because that would be impossible. What I think he is saying is that we were designed, like the rest of creation, to be ruled. That there is a pull in us to either obey the laws (spiritual) that govern us, or not.
To me,the natural world is an example of a continual obedience to the laws that govern them, i.e. gravity, the life-cycles of plants and animals, etc. You might say well they don’t choose to obey or disobey, we really don’t know, that has yet to be seen or if it is innate to obey.
But because we were created with choice, we have that freedom to either ignore those “laws” that govern us (obedience to God) or to step within those laws. Either way there is something that will always govern us and it I think it’s quite fluid, it’s not static at all.
Does that make sense?
Marci
I see what you mean. However, after looking at Romans 6, I have to agree with Don. There, it seems that Paul is trying to help us see that if we are in Christ, we are free from sin, which should compel us to no longer remain living as we did (mastery by sin) out of thanks and worship to God (God as Master). I think Don is essentially saying the same thing, which may be pretty black and white, but to me, there isn’t much room for gray in this passage. I guess this is where the question of whether or not you think we are always mastered by something comes in. I personally think so, but I also agree that it’s true that people can “overcome their demons” on their own in a sense – people can and have recovered from drug and alcohol abuse, for example. However, that does nothing for the greater problem of being fallen and sinful. When I look at myself and the world, the idea of being mastered by sin or God makes a lot of sense to me.
I have a theoru; we like rules like we like cookies…..broken, and involved with copius amounts of frozen dairy dessert.
http://johilderblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/we-like-rules/
Cheers,
Jo
I have a theory; we like rules like we like cookies…..broken, and involved with copius amounts of frozen dairy dessert.
http://johilderblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/we-like-rules/
Cheers,
Jo
??
As Americans I think we really struggle with this concept. We’re very individualistic and selfish. That or maybe we’re just sinners.
Either way a person’s perspective of God and sin can impact which is their master. If I’m focused on fighting sin instead of pursuing God as master I’ll continue to fail and fall on my face. This isn’t to say I’ll never sin again if my driving force is pursuing God and a laser focus on Him as Master, but one would hope it’d be less frequent or drastic.
Man, Don. It seems with every post you speak something extremely relevant to what God is directing me into. Thanks for doing this on such a regular basis for those of us who need a constant challenge in the midst of serving others.
This more general than practical, but certainly biblical, post seems to work well with your practical chess illustration in ‘To Own a Dragon,’ which i have been recently mulling over. Thanks for the thoughts.
I think this is where your ideas about living a good story are so useful. If as humans we are meant to be mastered, then we NEED something to live for. Many people fill that need by living for more money, power, enjoyment, relationships, whatever. Living a good story means we are choosing to be mastered by something that matters – something that makes a difference in ourselves and in our world. I believe God is the best designer of good stories and our submission to Him makes them a little easier to find.
Scripture does call us to submit to broken, earthy authorities (e.g. children to parents, citizens to government, husbands and wives to each other, employees to bosses). I often wonder if submitting to these broken people – though counter-intuitive to us – provides some of the best training for our submission to a faithful, trustworthy God.
It’s interesting that you write “employees to bosses”…I agree with you for sure, but I also have found it difficult to respect some of these leaders and therefore, fully submit to people who I do not respect—who have crossed MAJOR boundaries with me personally or who are involved in things I believe to be morally very wrong.
I’m trying not to be too obvious or too cryptic, but how do you reconcile this type of scenario? I try to have the “whole work for Him, not for men” attitude but some days it seems impossible.
The way I reconcile it is to work for my boss and, on my best days, submit to his or her authority without a heart of resentment. If he or she is crossing boundaries, I can either (a) turn the boss in to a higher authority; or (b) quit my job and find a new authority. I mean, husbands and wives are supposed to submit to one another, according to scripture, and I can tell you for certain that my wife and I don’t always deserve it. And all of that brings me back to my first point above.
Well, I’m looking for another job…guess that’s the only solution and I’ll just have to make the best of it until I get one.
You are not alone.
Just an opinion based on personal experience, but doesn’t this seem a little bit like “putting the cookies on the bottom shelf”? I can see the correlation here, but it seems that to suggest we are designed to be mastered presupposes that we are destined to be controlled by a soveriegn master. Is the soul of a woman/man merely a passenger within a vehicle being piloted by someone or something else? I don’t know…I may be way out of my depth here, but I’d be very interested to hear other’s points of view concerning this “mastery” concept.
The mastery pov is a meaningful one, but isn’t it oversimplification (which we Christian teachers love to do)? And isn’t there an inherent risk of misinformation when we oversimplify such weighty material? And isn’t this more of our attempts to “generate a formula”?
Maybe I just need some caffeine…
Ok, I’ve recalibrated and I definitely think we’ve wondered into generating formulas with this post. what say ye?
How freeing? (irony noted)
I don’t know if I totally agree. Are we designed for dominant and submissive relationships? As Christians we always want spiritual answers when perhaps it’s more biological. All living things have a dominant, submissive pecking order. I’d say God gives us the ability to step out of that way of life and into a more spiritually loving type of relationship. Our natural state is our fallen state not our regenerated state.
When I was younger I would over think everything.God calls us not to do that.The mind bending genius of God is that the closer you get to the heart of what He wants for you the more simple doing life with him gets.What I’m saying is make the main focus of your life HIM.In Oswald Ccambers book,My Utmost for His Highest,he says,(on the page for May 18),”If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focusd on Him, and He will make use of you every minuite you live–yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.”Remember (Matthew 6:33) “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” God is talking about how to live life with Him if you think about it.
I think you are onto something. I’ve noticed that most truth has two sides, the one that makes people feel convicted and burdened and the side that makes them feel encouraged and freed.
This also reminded me of the verse about children returning to what they know when they are young. A little tangential here, it is good to sorta set those patterns of mastery in place early on in life … giving kids a sense of whose authority they are under and getting that foundation under them.
Our nature abhors a vacuum, if we want to get rid of something that is wrong in our lives we have to fill it with something right.
I have enjoyed Ray Stedman as well in some sermons I’ve heard. Wish he was still up in Palo Alto so I could visit his church. You are a balanced guy Don and I really enjoy your posts. Just when i think, “oh he’s this…” you show us “this.” oh these silly boxes, glad you demolish them.
cheers!
This is SOOOO good and SOOOO true.
“We can’t figure it out ourselves” unless we get used to sitting at dead ends and possibly destructive incidents.
So does this mean that you think we “all have a plan” for our life???
Hahahaha that was in regard to your lovely post on April 29th.
Don – Can you offer some clarifying language around “being mastered”? What do you intend these words to mean in your post re: the me-God relationship?
True and Very freeing!:)keep up the good work man
I’m just going to add one thing (or possibly an entire page) to my smile and YAY from earlier!
‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”
I believe Exodus is the picture of redemption.
I believe we all have to experience deliverance.
We are all in need of being brought out from our own Egypt.
And as we are freed, we are led into the desert where our faith is borne and has a chance to grow. I believe that is where the “Egypt is taken out of us” because we need a new identity and God gives us that identity, but we are stubborn and forgetful and not too much into being patient and trusting, so it can take some time…a lifetime in fact.
I’m not trying to make this a formula, because it ain’t! but I do believe it is a process, a long journey that takes time and patience and a walk through a desert…
I will bring you out.
I will redeem/cleanse you.
I will make you My people.
I will be your God.
Often times we leave one Egypt, but don’t want to do the walk in the wilderness, so we just opt for another Egypt.
They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
We give up and opt to be enslaved rather than trust God and allow Him to be our God. And gosh, if we just would hold on to Him, walk a little further with Him…then…
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Sorry, I love Exodus, so I couldn’t help myself.
Better to be a slave to no one. Choose virtue for its own sake and don’t be a slave to externals either in the from of gods or men.
I Agree – but I never preach it because immediatley you start talking about submission the issue of women submitting to men comes up – like its a proper chain men submit to God and then women submit to both.. the whole topic brings this ouch in my soul as the way this thinking is extended as been used (and still is) for prejudice and religious abuse….
Thank you so much… simple words, yet communicate the message clearly. I’m either mastered by sin or God. I need to take my pick.
Just thinking about my own comment – its ironic though because i have been preaching for the past four years to let God be the CSO – cheif Story telling Officer of your life (from Emotional Capitalist by Martin Newman) — maybe is just all about language……
I think that it would be interesting to explore how women and men process this differently. In my experience women in the church are forced to face the idea earlier and more directly, and many times pressured not to identify the corruption (because Godly, nice girls submit). I don’t know if we get it or accept any sooner or more easily, but it would be interesting to learn more.
Submission is really about trust. That was how the Serpent managed to get Adam and Eve to rebel; by convincing them God didnt have their best interests at heart. Respect for a masters authority is difficult where trust is absent.
But I think there is a kind of mastery which hasnt been considered as yet in this discussion.
I think we are designed to be mastered….mastery in terms of husbandry, not domination. As a winemaker masters making wine, as an artist masters art, as a builder masters the craft of making houses, we are mastered, husbanded, by God. He created us, crafted us, knows us.
The scriptural metaphors speak to this kind of relationship more than to the oppressive, controlling kind we fight against.
It’s funny, but this is the same sort of image that came to my mind regarding the word “master.” The slave/master image connotes not committment, but oppression. The slave obeys the master out of fear, not out of free will. But an apprentice obeys a master out of admiration, respect, and a desire to learn and become more like him. The apprentice will make mistakes, but he is constantly seeking to be more like the master.
I like your thoughts on the subject but finding it hard to reconcile it to John 17. Perhaps the word mastered is the wrong word for the relationship between Jesus and me/us? –Jim
The Father has given them to the Son, yet they are invited into the Trinity relationship. That is not the picture of a master-subjects relationship. Yet I agree with you and Stedman, that we are in need of a master and that we were designed to need outside help. John 17 clearly indicates we are His and yet closing out 17 are we not invited to be more than subjects??
I am no John 17 authority, but I can’t help but marvel what I think Jesus is saying in that prayer.
It’s great to read everyone’s posts and encouraging to read how people are interacting around this subject. I found my thoughts landing with this verse in Hosea:
16 “In that day,” declares the LORD,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;[Ishi]
you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
We do get to choose when we are willing to commit in the way Don mentions here, that leap we take when we decide that whatever comes our way, we’re going to cling to the desire to acknowledge God and His ways, to submit to Him, allow Him to teach and direct us. I know I can relate with the rest of Hosea 2; how my heart has been so adulterous against the Lord, but He wooed me back and championed over my heart. When you fall in love with Him, it’s not painful to call him ‘Master’ and ‘Lover’.
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the LORD.
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the LORD—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ “
In recent days my prayers have changed in matters of struggles with sin. Instead of praying that God would take away this or that struggle I admit my desire or aptitude for this or that and pray that Id want God more. In essence I stop trying to fight the sin nut increase the love and mastery of God in my life. It has been an incredibly intimate and powerful process that has impacted my relationship with both sin and God. Great reflections
God may be our master, when we choose Him, but it is not a slave/owner relationship like it is with Satan. It is a Father/Child relationship.
We are never “enslaved” by God. He gives us the freedom to come and go as we choose and learn life lessons by our experiences in that. He does not trap us.
We are ruled over by Him when we submit our life to Him, but we are willingly ruled over by him. We choose to accept his direction and mandates.
This is all quite overwhelming. Sometimes I think God has us at his mercy. That if we want a good life then it has to be his way. But I find even when I do give him mastery over my life it is really hard and its hard to hang in there with him. So therefore it creates a up down relationship. I think it is because I am not sure I get this relationship thing in how to have one.
TRI, it really can be overwhelming at times.
Life is complicated and confusing on its best days.
One of the turning points in my life was when I discovered the verse found in Jeremiah, “And when you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me,” declares the Lord. “I will let you find Me.”
I hit a really dark time in my life and I found myself on the floor in a ball and all I could say was, God, you promised that You would let me find You if I searched with all my heart. I beg You to let me find You.
And you know what, He did.
My life is not easy, it is still full of questions and decisions and complicated and confusing moments, but I do have a peace, I do have a hope and a joy and a relationship with God that has brought me more life in the last 18 months than I had in my first 33 yrs. combined.
I will be praying for you as you grapple with all of this. May God make Himself unmistakably tangible and real and your life.
Sincerely, shelly
Thanks Shelly
I agree with Stedman, in theory. But in practice, we substitute religion for God, and call this bondage freedom. What passes for union with God is usually little more than a propositional belief system — slavery to one’s own pious idols. I think Jesus came to free us from the slavery that is religion.
ShelleyBell makes makes most of my point above when giving a pretty good analysis of the Exodus, but I would like to add one thing:
I love this post by Don, because even at the Exodus God makes it clear that we need to be mastered. God’s people weren’t released from Egyptian slavery to do whatever they’d like. They weren’t released from slavery, but they were released from serving one master to serving The Master. God releases them so they may serve Him. We are made to be servants/slaves of God. Don and Ray are right, we were made to be mastered.
Very important addition Ryan. Thanks for clarifying that!
“You will be My people. I will be your God.”
He gave them a new identity.
[...] Were We Designed to be Mastered? : Donald Miller has a very thought provoking post on the meaning of Romans 6. [...]
I would like to respond with an emphatic “no!!” to this question. Perhaps this is good news to you as a white male, but this is disastrous news to anyone who has lived in a culture where BEING mastered was considered part of your “role.”
Can you imagine saying to a slave, “You were designed to be mastered.” Can you imagine saying to an abused wife or child, “You were designed to be mastered.”
No no no no no no no no no no no no.
Go back to Genesis. Adam and Eve were not designed to be mastered by God. They were designed to be in a relationship with God and with each other. They were designed to be masters over the created world.
We were made to love and to be loved, and to rule as stewards over God’s creation. Jesus said that the truth would set us free, and He quoted Isaiah to say that he was anointed by the Spirit to proclaim freedom for the captives. Paul says that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor. 3:17) Paul says it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Gal. 5:1) In fact, Paul talks about NOT being mastered by anything. (1 Cor. 6:12)
One could argue that the “need” to be mastered is not a part of original creation, but ultimately a result of the fall.
Then you can always go back to the first question of the Westminster Catechism: What is the chief end of man? (Or, For what ultimate purpose were people designed?) The answer is “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” The ability to glorify God and enjoy God does not come when we are “mastered” by God, but when we are freed from the curse of the fall by Jesus’ gracious sacrifice, freely given.
I don’t know who your friend is, but he should know better than to extrapolate what “we were designed for” from only one chapter of the Bible. The picture is much bigger.
i don’t think you are defining “master” as God defines it. that is the rub, though. our earthly examples of masters are freedom takers, not freedom givers. God is definitely up against a challenge here…..
You could be right, perhaps I am not defining “master” the way God does, but I guess then I don’t know what God’s definition would be. On doing a cursory search on the word “master” in the Bible, I see that it is mostly used of a man who has servants or slaves. The one time in the OT when I see that it refers to our relationship with God, it is not the kind of relationship God ultimately wants. In Hosea 2:16 God says, “In that day…you will call me ‘my husband,’ you will no longer call me ‘my master.’”
Jesus uses a lot of parables about masters and slaves, and the master often refers to God, and the disciples call Jesus “master,” but then in John 15:15 Jesus no longer considers himself the disciples’ master; he elevates them to friends.
But no matter what definition of “master” we use, that isn’t my biggest concern. My biggest concern is that by this definition we are objects, not subjects. We are the kind of being that has been designed for something to be done unto us, not the kind of being ultimately designed to have agency, to do.
You’ve been writing about stories, and about becoming protagonists in better ones. What kind of protagonists can we be if we are designed to be objects, designed to be passive recipients of another’s actions? Nobody’s going to bother reading that story. There isn’t one epic story written that way.
I would say instead that we are the kind of being that has been designed to love, and ultimately to worship. In every culture across every eon people seem to be hardwired to give their allegiance to something greater than themselves, whether that thing is “the gods,” their country, or the regional sports team. This is the real epic stuff. The question or conflict is: Who or what will she ultimately give her allegiance to? What is he willing to sacrifice in order for his god/country/football team to triumph?
The problem is that often we give our love, our allegiance, our worship to lesser gods. Sometimes we call it idolatry. These lesser gods enslave us, and we need Jesus Christ to release us so that we can be free again to love aright.
But Jesus doesn’t “master” us. He will not. He wants more for us and from us–our freedom and our love freely given.
I do have to say Don the word Master does freak me out because of my own issues it makes a bit of fear and rebellion rise up inside of me. So the perspective you just gave to Sue has helped but I do have to say some of her perspective has helped me also. I agree earthly masters are definitely freedom taker whether it be addictions or people so for me to remember when I am challenged by the fears to remember that God is a freedom giver. That is very awesome and freeing. Thank you!
Good post, but it is obviously not acting in our “self-interest” when we deny submission to God. It is contradictory to say someone is both “corrupt” and “acting in their own self-interest.” Another great tip for overcoming sin is realigning our self-interest to the way God sees it.
you are going to “Mind somebody or something” Like it or not.