Contents
- The historical enslavement of the Jewish people in Egypt refers, in the Bible, to spiritual slavery: humanity enslaved by evil.
- Jesus offers forgiveness to humanity, trapped in a cycle of violence, and sets it free
- He pays the price of blood for the sins of mankind by offering his life as the Passover lamb. He redeems mankind from slavery
- This gesture proves the gratuitousness of God’s love for his creatures. The spirit of Christ is poured out on the multitude and introduces humanity into a filial, trusting relationship with God
- Christ frees us from the grip of evil and invites us to enter into a relationship of filial love with God, freely given. We do not need to earn his goodwill; he does not look at our merits; we are his children.
Related articles
- The filial relationship
- Shabbat, God’s rest
- The gratuitousness of love
- The for-giveness
- Genesis 1:2 Ruah, the spirit of God, is feminine
The Bible, and Jesus in particular, often speak to us about slavery. In the Old Testament, it is recounted that the Hebrew people were brought as slaves to Egypt and were oppressed by very harsh conditions of slavery until God freed them by sending Moses. Every Passover, the Jewish people commemorate this deliverance from slavery in Egypt. However, this slavery can also be applied to human beings in general when we think of what imprisons human beings spiritually, what chains their minds and holds them captive: evil. Human beings are prisoners of a chain of violences, responding to evil with evil and unable to free themselves from the jealousy and rivalry that divide them from their fellow human beings, instead of living in brotherly love. However, Jesus’ mission, and the one he entrusts to his apostles to continue, is to free people from this slavery. The means is to bring forgiveness into play. He who, innocent among all, was unjustly condemned and tortured by men, offers his forgiveness to all humanity. He who could legitimately condemn them stops the chain of violence and brings the gaze of parents upon their children, a maternal love too, which does not see its child as a criminal, but knows him deeply and is ready to forgive without limits, 70 times seven times, as Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew 18:21-22. (Regarding God’s paternal and maternal love, see the article Genesis 1:2 Ruah, the spirit of God is feminine). Thus, Jesus on the cross entrusts humanity to his Father by forgiving his children, those to whom he himself gave life, he who is the Word of God through whom all things were made (John 1:3: “Through him all things were made, and without him nothing that has been made was made”) and, giving up his spirit into the hands of the Father, he says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. ” (Luke 23:34) Thus, Christ redeems his children who had fallen into the slavery of evil, he frees them. That is why, when he celebrated Passover with his apostles, that is, when he commemorated the liberation from slavery in Egypt and the blood of the lamb that had preserved the firstborn of the Hebrew people and allowed them to flee, he announced to them that it was his own blood that would set them free. In his blood shed for the multitude of men, redemption from slavery is accomplished, the price paid to redeem a slave is paid, a new covenant is made, but it is also God’s eternal covenant with men, renewed in Jesus Christ his Son, his creating word. (For a more detailed explanation of redemption, see Thomas Aquinas’ commentary on Romans 3:24 in the article The Gratuitousness of Love). Thus, God calls us to enter into a trusting, filial relationship with him, who, like a father and mother, does not take into account our mistakes and faults. Through our trust, that is, through our faith, we then enter into a filial relationship. The word trust, is expressed in Latin by the verb confidere, meaning being confident. From this same root comes the word fides, faith, so trust means what is done with faith, cum fide, confidere. It is this free gift of love, of for-giveness, that is, of the renewed gift of life, that frees human beings from this mercantile, servile mentality, according to which we only possess what we can buy ourselves, we do not trust in the free gift of God’s life, and we thus remain prisoners.
To fully understand Jesus’ words on the subject of slavery and redemption, we need to know the Greek words used in the Bible to mean slave and error, fault, and also the Hebrew words that are at the origin of the Greek translation.
First, there is the word doûlos [δοῦλος], which means slave. It is sometimes translated as servant and sometimes as slave, depending on the context. It is generally translated as servant when the Gospel speaks of the servant’s wages, which brings this figure closer to our modern reality, but in our reality the servant is free to commit himself to the service of someone or not, while the slave is not free; he can be freed if a sum is paid, if he is redeemed. However, the parables in the Gospel clearly use the word slave, which refers to a servile condition, where human beings are prisoners, even chained. Thus, Christ, the Son of God, will fulfill his role of salvation by freeing humanity from the slavery of evil, from being chained. Through the gratuitousness of his forgiveness, he will redeem those who were slaves to evil and set them free. God’s forgiveness means precisely the renewal of his gift, the gift of divine life to his children: to for-give means to give again and again. This intimate bond with God, who animates us with his own breath and spirit of love, is an eternal covenant. Whenever human beings break this bond through their lack of faith or their suspicion of the gratuitousness of the gift of life, God is ready to renew this covenant, this gift, endlessly, infinitely, whenever his children turn back to him in trust, in filial trust.
And then, from the word hamartía (ἁμαρτία), which in the Bible translates the Hebrew word khaṭṭ’ah (חַטָּאָה) from the Hebrew root khaṭ’a (חָטָא). In both Greek and Hebrew, it means to miss the mark, to make a mistake, to err, to be wrong. It is usually translated as sin, but this translation does not reveal God’s paternal and maternal gaze on the human being who seeks his own good, tries to grow up like a child, but makes mistakes, commits errors: he does not know what is good for him or where it is. He struggles to find his way, like a child taking his first steps or crossing the road. It is through trust in his parents that he will grow up; it is by giving them his hand and accepting their help that he will overcome obstacles and become an adult. The mistake, the fault, is then not to have trusted, not to have had faith in the words of the parents who pointed out where true happiness lies. It is not by taking what belongs to others that the child is happy, but by sharing what he has that he discovers the joy of friendship. It is in thanksgiving that he welcomes the gift of life from his parents, and it is then that peace and joy reign in the family. In this way, we find the meaning of God’s words that lead us to happiness. They have been called the Ten Commandments, but the text of the Bible speaks of the Ten Words of God (see Exodus 20:12 ff. and Deuteronomy 5:16 ff.). These words were not enough to free the human being from his slavery they revealed to him his own imprisonment. It is faith in divine life, in its breath spread over humanity, freely, that enables human beings to fully welcome the gift of divine life and enter fully into the filial relationship by giving thanks.
This article is closely related to the one on The gratuitousness of love, the gift of faith. In this article are the biblical verses that attest to the passage from slavery to filial relationship. In the article on the gratuitousness of God’s love, the nature of God’s gift is presented, which made deliverance and faith possible. The gift of Christ’s life in which God’s love is recognized.
Biblical texts
John 8:34-36
34 ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν δοῦλός ἐστιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας.
34 Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits a fault (ἁμαρτίαν) is a slave (δοῦλός) to the fault.
35 ὁ δὲ δοῦλος οὐ μένει ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὁ υἱὸς μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
35 But the slave does not remain in the house forever (εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα), the son remains forever (εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα).
The Greek word aiōn (αἰών) generally translates the Hebrew word ‘olam (עוֹלָם). This word refers to the totality of time, for all time or for ever and ever, the ages of ages, the entire duration of time, and therefore also means forever. The Hebrew word ‘olam is used in the same expressions to mean forever, for ever and ever, but also to mean the world, as its equivalent ‘ālam in Arabic means the world. Used in the sense of world, this word often introduces the distinction: “in this world,” “in the other world.” In this passage, the text does not use the common Greek word aéi (ἀεί) to mean forever, but rather aiōn, which refers to the entirety of a life, the entire duration of time, possibly eternity, and also the world to come. It is as if to say that the son shares the eternal life of the father. Indeed, in the following sentence, the word son refers to the son of God who came to free humanity from the slavery of evil and make it free by offering it divine life and thus divine sonship, his own breath, his own divine spirit that inspires works of grace and love.
36 ἐὰν οὖν ὁ υἱὸς ὑμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃ, ὄντως ἐλεύθεροι ἔσεσθε.
36 If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Augustine, Sermon 306: The mistake is to seek happiness where it is not to be found.
John 15:7-16: I do not call you slaves, I call you friends.
Mark 8:34-35 (parallel passages in Matthew 10:39; Luke 17:33; John 12:25)
34 Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν ὄχλον σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, εἴπεν αὐτοῖς, Ὅστις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτόν, καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι.
34 And having called the crowd with his disciples to him, he said to them, “Whoever wants to walk behind me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
35 Ὃς γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι, ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· ὃς δ’ ἂν ἀπολέσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, οὗτος σώσει αὐτήν.
35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Matthew 10:8b-10: Do not possess gold or silver
8b δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε.
8b “You have received freely, give freely.
9 Μὴ κτήσησθε χρυσὸν μηδὲ ἄργυρον μηδὲ χαλκὸν εἰς τὰς ζώνας ὑμῶν,
9 Do not possess gold, silver, or copper coins to put in your belts,
10 μὴ πήραν εἰς ὁδὸν μηδὲ δύο χιτῶνας μηδὲ ὑποδήματα μηδὲ ῥάβδον· ἄξιος γὰρ ὁ ἐργάτης τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῦ.
10 nor a bag for the journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff. For the worker is worthy of his food. “
One does not enter into a filial or friendly relationship through merit, money, or power. On the contrary, all of these things create ambiguity in the relationship, raising doubts as to whether the friendship is sought out of self-interest, for profit, or not.
When God invites humanity to enter into a filial relationship with him, it can only be done freely. If we imagine that we are more entitled to God’s friendship because we are rich, our wealth will prevent us from perceiving God’s true love for us. Similarly, it is not through his merits that a child buys his parents’ love. Shouldn’t parents love their child in his weaknesses and support him or in his difficulties and failures, reassuring him of their love, which is greater than the child’s success or achievement?
In the dialogue between Jesus and a rich young man (Marc 10, 17,27), we see how Jesus, with affection and love, tries to make him understand the goodness of God, which is like that of a father and a mother. It is not because you are the best, nor because you are successful and wealthy, that we love you, but because you are our child and we loved you even before you came into the world, before you accumulated merits.
Our merits are not a currency with which to buy divine benevolence; God’s love is ours in advance. Let us look at the awkward young man who goes to meet Jesus. Even though he does everything wrong, the Gospel tells us, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
Here, wealth becomes an obstacle to recognizing true love. Get rid of all your wealth and you will discover the love with which God loves you, and then he will give you back your wealth a hundredfold, already in this life. Perhaps a greater wealth will be that of discovering true love. Those who have a true friend have a treasure.
Jesus invites us here to distribute this wealth to the poor. It is not there for personal gain but for the good of all. Rediscovering concern for our brothers and sisters is also the result of a filial relationship with God. Contemplating God’s love for us also gives us access to the discovery of God’s love for the rest of humanity, for all his children. The filial relationship with God also introduces us to a fraternal relationship with the rest of humanity, for whom God has the same love. Thus, a multitude of brothers and sisters is offered to those who enter into a filial relationship with God.
Mark 10:17-27: What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Luke 19:11-27: The ten slaves and the ten minas
Luke 17:7-10: We are useless servants
Luke 15:11-32 The Prodigal Son
Romans 8:16: We are children of God
This article is related to the one that explains the biblical words that speak of The gratuitousness of love, the gift of faith, and is also a further exploration of the article that speaks of The filial relationship.