“And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ” (I Corinthians 7:22 NLT).<\/p>\n
Does this mean that if you were a slave then you are the property of your owner and forced to obey them?<\/p>\n\t
Forced? No. There have always been slaves who rebelled against their masters. “Required to obey” would be a better way to put it. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love<\/em>” (John 15:10).<\/p>\n “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord<\/em>” (Romans 6:16-23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But in a real sense, we all belong to God. “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:4). This is why those who choose to rebel and serve a different master (sin) are under a death sentence.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: “And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ” (I Corinthians 7:22 NLT). Does this mean that if you were a slave then you are the property…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[426,562,1515],"class_list":["post-29845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-free-will","tag-predestination","tag-slavery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15058,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-believe-that-the-only-way-to-heaven-is-by-accepting-jesus-as-your-savior-and-not-by-good-deeds-or-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":29845,"position":0},"title":"Do you believe that the only way to heaven is by accepting Jesus as your Savior and not by good deeds or grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the church of Christ believe that the only way to heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ, by accepting Him as your Savior and not by good deeds or grace? Thanks. Answer: \"If you love Me, keep My commandments\" (John 14:15). You cannot claim to accept the Lord\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/after-a-person-becomes-a-christian-can-they-live-as-they-please\/","url_meta":{"origin":29845,"position":1},"title":"After a person becomes a Christian, can they live as they please?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There are some people who feel that Christians can live a lifestyle pretty much as they please after \u201cbelieving on the Lord Jesus Christ\u201d ( Ephesians 2:8-9; John 5:24; and others). Faith alone in Christ alone with nothing else required, it is all in the rewards. Is that your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-not-become-slaves-of-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":29845,"position":2},"title":"Do Not Become Slaves Of Men","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sewell Hall \"Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord's freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-babies-are-not-sinners-then-why-do-some-babies-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":29845,"position":3},"title":"If babies are not sinners, then why do some babies die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, The Bible says for the wages of sin is death. If you claim that babies are not born sinners why do babies die? Thanks Answer: \"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23859,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-elect-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":29845,"position":4},"title":"Who are the elect in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who are the \"elect\" the Bible talks about? Answer: \"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3144,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-masters-under-the-old-testament-law-beat-or-kill-their-slaves\/","url_meta":{"origin":29845,"position":5},"title":"Could masters under the Old Testament law beat or kill their slaves?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know what the Scriptures teach about how we Christians today\u00a0are to treat our fellow man and that it is a serious sin to murder, that being so, Is it true that during the Old Testament age\u00a0the slave\u00a0masters had the right to severely beat or to even kill their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}