The Law of the Bondservant
“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Messiah.” Galatians 1:10
What exactly is Paul saying here? At first glance it seems very plain that he isn’t trying to please anyone but God himself. But then there is this thing that he calls himself: Bondservant. What exactly does this mean? Is there a difference between a servant and a bondservant? To find the answer to this, we need to go back to the Torah to find out what he is talking about.
“If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this day.
“And it shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. And also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.” Deuteronomy 15:12-18
This is the law of the bondservant. This is the man who, although free, chooses to remain with his master because he loves him and feels that his master takes better care of him then he himself does. This man is not afraid to give his entire life to this master, and is willing to show this decision in a public display of servitude. He has said, “whatever my master has for me to do, I will do, for I know that this is the best for me.” This is what Paul has done. He has said that even though he is free through the blood of the Messiah, he chooses to remain under his authority. This, naturally, would include following the Law as revealed to Moses.
The question that we need to ask ourselves is this: are we bondservants? Are we willing to put aside what we feel is right to follow what He says is right? Are we listening to “church fathers” or are we listening to Him??
Many will say that the “Old Testament” no longer applies, or it doesn’t apply to us. This is a lie. How can I say that so boldly? I have searched the scriptures and found not one verse that would indicate that these laws don’t apply to us. When Paul wrote to Timothy that all scripture was profitable, he was not talking about the “New Testament”, because it hadn’t been written yet. Check “church” history.
This lie began back in the 300’s AD as a result of “paganizing” the faith in order to unite the “Holy Roman Empire” under “one world-wide religion.” They decided that it was “good” to have statues of Yeshua (Jesus) and the “Holy Mother” even though it clearly says in the word that this is wrong. Anyone who stood up for the truth were branded a Jew or “a Jew-lover” and executed “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
If we continue to ignore the entire scripture of God and instead focus only on a portion, we miss the true teaching and replace it with our “theories” and “doctrines.” This is what the enemy has used all these years to bring about the state of the world we are in today, with its different factions of Christianity.
Someone once said, “The Lord has invited us to a grand feast. We Christians arrive and head right for the dessert table (the gospel) and ignore the main course (the Law) and wonder why we walk away still hungering for more.” How can we say that we understand the teachings of Paul if we don’t first learn what he knew before the road to Damascus? Remember, the Law and the Prophets spoke of Him whom we claim to love. I don’t know about you, but I want to know everything there is to know about the one I love!
If we are truly giving our lives over to Him, we must we willing to follow His commands. To do this, we must not only study the “Old Testament” but also embrace it as our own. To be bondservants of the Most High God, we must, must do all that He tells us to do, regardless of how those around us feel or teach. Those who teach that we are not to keep the law of God (Torah) are going to be least in the Kingdom of God, according to Yeshua (Jesus) Himself.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19
Yeshua Himself taught that the Law (Torah) would not pass away until all is accomplisher, and that has not yet happened. He also warned us that whoever teaches others that the Law has been abolished would find them selves to be least in the Kingdom of God. The question we need to ask ourselves is this, “How do I want to rate within God’s Kingdom?”
Contrary to popular belief, Paul did not teach that we are not to follow the Law of God (Torah) but that we are no longer slaves to man’s law (the teachings of the Pharisees that added to God’s Law). If he had, he could not have referred to himself as a bondservant for Messiah, could he?
Simeon, the man who saw Yeshua as a baby in the Temple and knew Him to be Messiah also referred to himself as a bondservant:
And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, and the glory of Your people Israel.” Luke 2:25-32
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul refers to Yeshua as a bondservant as well:
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Yeshua EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Messiah Yeshua is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
We need to have the same kind of attitude that Yeshua had if we are to be exalted by the Father of all. To be bondservants of the Most High God, we must be willing to humble ourselves and be obedient to the will of the Father. He has told us plainly what His will is for us. All we have to do is to study the word, all of it, and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, will we be able to refer to ourselves as bondservants as well.