Merriam Webster defines a slave as “a person held in servitude as the chattel (or bondman) of another”. In other words, slaves serve the interests of their masters under the bondage, or as a property, of their masters.
Slaves are defined by deeds in conformance to the will of the masters. There is no instance where slaves rest while masters work the fields alone and still provide for the creature comfort of the slaves in the house. All slaves work in obedience to their masters at their masters’ bidding. If they do this voluntarily, they have a reward; but if against their will, they have a bond or stewardship thrusted to them (c.f. 1 Corinthians 9:17). As for slaves who rest lazily instead of obeying their masters’ commands, their masters will call them wicked and worthless, and then throw them out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (c.f. Matthew 25:26-30). Therefore, slaves must do the work and fulfil the will of their masters to stay in the household of their masters.
Romans 6:18-19
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness… For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
Just as there are slaves of sin slaving for sin to beget greater measure of sin, there are slaves of righteousness slaving for righteousness to beget greater measure of righteousness.
In other words, a slave of sin is a slave to sin, that is, a slave who does the works of sin according to the will of his master to attain greater defilement in unrighteousness; while a slave OF righteousness is a slave TO righteousness, that is, a slave who does the works of righteousness according to the will of his Master to attain greater sanctification in righteousness. The latter is the doctrine of sanctification, or the principle of setting apart as holy through purification.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, 7-8
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God… For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.â€
So, the question is, “Which master are we serving, for we cannot serve two masters?” Are we serving the God of our sanctification, thus resulting in greater righteousness and honour, or are we serving the idols of our lustful passions, thus resulting in further impurity and lawlessness?
John 17:17-19
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”
1 Peter 2:21-22
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
As much as it was the will of the Father for Jesus to walk in sanctification, it is the will of the Father for us to walk in sanctification just like Jesus did. Thus, the purpose of sanctification, and the reason why we must walk as Jesus walked on earth, is to pursue and attain to the image and likeness of Christ, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
Indeed, “it is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master” (Matthew 10:25). Thus, being a slave of righteousness is synonymous with being a disciple of Jesus Christ; and being a slave to righteousness is not just about doing what is right or what is of faith in the Master’s sight (c.f. James 4:15-17; James 2:14-26), but also being like the Master in nature, character, and behaviour (c.f. Matthew 5:48). Such was the bond-servanthood of Apostle Paul.
Jesus Christ is the Master of sanctification in truth, such that we, as slaves of righteousness, also may be sanctified in truth when we follow after His footsteps. He is both the small gate and the narrow pathway of sanctification by which we must enter through sanctification and walk in sanctification in order to lead to eternal life.
Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
So, salvation from sin and death unto righteousness and eternal life has two stages in our life’s journey: The small gate AND the narrow pathway.
The first stage is entering the small gate, where we, by faith, receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Master who sanctifies and frees us from being slaves OF sin to become slaves OF righteousness (c.f. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11); from being servant-sons of the devil to become servant-sons of God (c.f. John 8:44).
The second stage is walking the narrow pathway of continuous sanctification as slaves TO righteousness, where we walk in explicit obedience and faithful servitude to the Lord of righteousness and soon-coming King as His body and bride-to-be (c.f. Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 12:1-2).
In short, salvation is the entire journey of sanctification from the small gate to the end point of the narrow pathway. In other words, to be saved, not only must we enter by the small gate, we must finish the journey along the narrow path until we reach our destination called “eternal life in the image and likeness of Christ”. In baseball terms, making a home-run does not end with the batter hitting the ball, even if the ball is hit over the outfield fence, but with him running all the bases until he reaches the home plate. Similarly, our assurance of salvation is in “base-running” within rules until we reach the “home-plate” safe, not just in “hitting the ball out of the batter’s box” (c.f. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27). Our assurance of salvation is in our sanctification along the “dirt paths” and “bases” of life. Thus, the small gate is but a “short” event compared to the “long” narrow path in one’s life journey towards salvation.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Jesus Christ is the gateway of truth that sanctifies and frees us from being slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness; He is the pathway of continuous sanctification in truth that purifies our vessels according to the image and likeness of the Father; and He is the resurrection life that saves us from the second death at the end of the pathway to abide with the Father through eternity. Indeed, the gate and the pathway is the alpha (the first stage) and the omega (the second stage) that leads to everlasting life with the Father.
Through Jesus Christ, we are sanctified at the small gate so that we have the power of continuous sanctification to walk along the narrow path that leads to eternal life at the end-point. It is this power of continuous sanctification that enables us to “stop sinning” (1 Corinthians 15:34) or “go and sin no more” (John 8:11), and perform “deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:20), from the small gate onwards, resulting in greater sanctification and righteousness in the narrow path that leads to salvation. It is this continuous sanctification that enables us to conform to the image and likeness of the Firstborn Son of the Father.
Thus, we cannot just have the narrow gate without the narrow pathway if we want to see the Father through eternity.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Too many of us have entered the small gate of the Master who have sanctified and freed us from slavery to sin, and then choose to live a life of lawless liberty by becoming slaves of another master called Babylon the great, resulting in the falling away from the Master (c.f. 1 Timothy 4:1). Too many of us have been led through the narrow gate of Red Sea by the Master, only to return to the broad plains of slavery and idolatry of their Egyptian masters for the security of “the fish… the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic” (c.f. Numbers 11:5). If we enter by the small gate and then choose to walk lawlessly by the broad way that leads to destruction, we will not be able to attain to the complete sanctification of our spirit, soul, and body that leads to eternal life as the pure, spotless, and blameless bride of Christ at His coming.
In fact, if we go on sinning wilfully and divert from the narrow path after receiving the knowledge of the truth at the narrow gate, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES” (Hebrews 10:26).
2 Timothy 4:10
for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica…
Indeed, wide gates and broad pathways of the cultures of the world are easy, even rewarding to the flesh, to go through and navigate in life; while a small gate and narrow path are rather exacting, even demanding on the flesh, to stay within the boundaries, especially when the baggage of life are huge and many. Yet, know ye that the former leads to eternal death, while the latter leads to eternal life. Thus, we must count the cost and make the right choice as to which master we want to follow and which path we want to take in the long-haul to salvation.
Luke 16:13
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.â€
Make no mistake about it, my friends. Salvation is about the masters we serve in the pathways of life, even if we have received the Messiah through faith by the grace of God at the gate. In this journey, we have complete freedom to choose to be either slaves to righteousness under God or slaves to sin under the gods of the world. What we do and how we live will determine whose slaves we are. No servant can serve two masters. One will lead to sanctification and eternal life, while the other will lead to corruption and eternal death, on this lifelong journey.
Joshua 24:14-15
“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.â€
If, by the grace of God, we have found and entered the small gate to become slaves of righteousness by faith, let us also walk faithfully by the narrow pathway as slaves to righteousness so that we may attain to the complete sanctification without which no one will see the Lord at the end of our life’s journey.
Faithful is our Master who has called us, and He also will bring it to pass.
Matthew 25:23, 30
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’… ‘Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”
Whose slave are you? For whom are you slaving today?
Are you a good and faithful slave, or are you a worthless slave, in the eyes of the Master?
Post-script: I encourage you to read the “sequel” post, Is the Righteousness of the Redeemer Transferable to the Redeemed?.
More detailed exegesis concerning sin, righteousness, and salvation are available in chapters 5, 6, and 8 of my book, PoiÄ“ma, God’s Workmanship.
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