by Angus Harley

Paul the slave

In reading through Philippians, I am struck by Paul’s slave mentality in preaching the Gospel. He calls himself and Timothy slaves (doulos) (1:1). Some translations call Paul, here, a ‘bond servant’ or ‘bond slave’, with ‘bond’ acting as a kind of qualifier to stress that Paul was bound to service, bound to being a slave. In reality, all we need is the plain ‘slave’; ‘bond’ confuses matters by reminding us of ‘service’ without payment. The reason why some translations reject ‘slave’ is because they don’t consider Christians as slaves, for we are free to serve. Thus the ‘bond’ thing again. However, Paul is going for the exact opposite effect of freedom: he was entirely without his own will, and rejoiced in his enslavement to the will of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus declared, “Not my will be done, but yours.”

In prison for the Gospel

Paul’s enslavement was profoundly demonstrated in his imprisonment. He endured all the hardships of being a man of the Gospel. He did not, could not, and, more to the point, would not extricate himself from this condition. He was a slave to God and Jesus Christ. This world gave him only suffering, trial, and abuse. But he didn’t flinch in his obedience.

Honey out of the lion

The image of the lion killed by Samson fascinates me. He kills it and comes back to gather honey from its dead mouth. That is what the wisdom of the Gospel is: eating honey from the mouth of slain foes! No better example is found in how his enemies treated him. Notice how ‘Christians’ attack Paul. They preach out of envy and selfish gain, seeking to cause him trouble whilst in prison. Being the frauds that they were, they sought to compound Paul’s problems in prison, hoping to make a greater power-base for themselves. Yet, once again, in the divine wisdom, this evil is turned on its head and Paul uses it to praise God, for these fools were preaching Christ even as they attacked Paul. By embracing this suffering, another victory is won by enslavement to Jesus. Oh the wisdom of God!

Such sweet honey! Paul’s enslavement and imprisonment allowed him to do what? Preach the Gospels in different countries, eventually to the emperor; forced his ‘Christian’ enemies to preach Christ; gave a platform to him to preach to prisoners and to prison guards; provided the opportunity as an example under suffering.

The sweetest thing of all, for Paul, was therefore that he was a slave of Christ, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Let’s read those words again with a paraphrase, “For me, the slave of Christ, to live and suffer is Christ and to die for the Gospel, under suffering, is gain.” No matter if upon this suffering earth or through his own death, his enslavement to Jesus Christ and to God was the direct path to Jesus and to joy in him.

In divine wisdom, he turned the oppressive powers of the flesh and the world into his own victory in Christ Jesus. Is this not the way God always acts? Did not the Son take the cross and its curse and make it the platform for his victory over sin, death, Satan, and evil? So Paul takes his imprisonment and uses it to boldly proclaim the Gospel to the prison guards and to be an example to all the Philippians suffering persecution. Honey out of the mouth of the lion!

Embrace slavery

Paul exhorts the Philippians to bond together to stand against their enemies. This is not a platitude plucked out of thin air, a mere generic encouragement. He has founded this concluding exhortation (to the chapter) on his own example as a slave of Christ. The Philippians’ sufferings in the name of Christ, if embraced in Christ, will be a bond of unity and the source of their fearlessness against their foes. Just as Paul was eating honey out of the mouth of the lion, so they, too, can experience these things in Christ Jesus. Slavery, not freedom, was the key to true obedience to the Lord and great love for Christ.

The Christ’s life and way

We are, at last, in a position to understand the Christological emphasis that Paul is making when making these comments, “to live is Christ and to die is again”, “deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, and “Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death”. Christ’s path to victory and glory was through suffering and death. He was, in other words, the slave of God! That life of Christ that overcame these things now issues from the ascended and glorified Christ, through his Spirit, to the slaves of God on earth. Paul was victorious, and the Philippians will be victorious, by the life of the One who was himself the slave of the Lord, whose endurance of sufferings and death gave rise to a monumental victory and to his enthronement and reign. What a Christ!