vs 17 – Whatever you do in word or deed, (EVERYTHING) do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,...

vs 23 – Whatever you do (EVERYTHING), do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,...

definition – the way to walk; or the way to go, often translated as “Jewish law,” literally: “the way to behave” or “the way of walking” or “the way to live your life.”

(Auto = Self + Nomos = Law)

“Slavery in the Roman Empire took a wide range of forms, some of which were barely comparable with the forms of slavery later practiced in the Americas or the Arab world.

Most doctors were Greek slaves; many slaves were educated scribes, and some household slaves in important homes managed estates or wielded more power than most free persons.

Slavery in the Roman Empire was not ethnically based; Romans were happy to enslave anyone.”

“Slavery in the ancient world had practically nothing in common with slavery familiar from new World practice and experience of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

It would distort the interpretation of the Bible to impose such an understanding on its books.”

“there are “significant differences between the slavery of 1700s British imperialism and that of the first-century Roman world.”

“Most significantly, Roman slavery was not racially defined, such that first-century slaves were generally indistinguishable from free men both in physical appearance and in dress.”

“Moreover, Roman slaves often had the opportunity to earn their freedom—eventually becoming citizens and even masters themselves. Additionally, the slaves of a good master enjoyed a stable and relatively comfortable life, and the slaves of important people often possessed a certain degree of their own prestige and influence.”

“Though Roman society never viewed slavery as the ideal, the institution did not generally carry the same stigma that is associated with the eighteenth-century slave trade.”

“In the larger cities, such as Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, and Antioch, as many as one-third of the population were legally slaves and another one-third had been slaves earlier in life.”

“In Rome, “Roughly one-fifth of the empire’s population were slaves—totaling as many as twelve million at the outset of the first century AD.”

“...we should not read Paul’s instructions to slaves in light of typical forms of slavery in the Americas or the traditional Arab world, but in light of the specific forms of servitude that members of his audience experienced.”

doulos: def. – the word group doulos is used exclusively “either to describe the status of a slave or an attitude corresponding to that of a slave.”

– Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Kittel)

“slave(s) – The strong Greek word doulos cannot be accurately translated in English as servant or bond servant; the HCSB translates this word as slave, not out of insensitivity to the legitimate concerns of modern English speakers, but out of a commitment to accurately convey the brutal reality of the Roman empire’s inhumane institution as well as the ownership called for by Christ.”

Vocation: from Latin, voco, vocare (“to call”), vocation is literally the “calling” which one enters into. Calling is from God.

“all of our work, whether in “noble profession or a menial task,” should be seen in light of our role as children of God.”

To Luther and to the other reformers...”all work and all the roles that one could fulfill were potentially holy callings, which could be fulfilled for the glory of God.”

BACH – SDG

YOU are not the center of reality. YHWH is.

Resources for today’s sermon are available upon request in the church office.

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