Principles 3 Being Bonded

[HKHaugan]

Previously we have suggested that ‘bond’ is a better word than relationship because of the spiritual nature we have been given in Jesus. In biblical times there was the visual presence of bonded people, those carrying outward signs like rings, body marks or chains. They had those marks of identity denoting ownership by a master. Defining this position was the Greek word, doulos, slave. A slave was a servant bonded to and identified by his or her master who demanded complete submission to the master’s will. It was this image that Paul used to describe his position in Jesus. The difference was that for him Jesus was the ultimate Master, God in the flesh, whom he chose to submit in every detail of thought and action. The bond slaves of the day were resigned to a life of fear and resignation. For Paul it was a joyous sense of being enslaved to a life of love, grace and acceptance through faith and the prospect of eternal life.

His was an inner sense that Jesus, now His Master, had bonded him with a secure identity, personal significance, spiritual purpose and world changing mission through His Cross and Resurrection. Paul’s slavery was His freedom from sin in an eternal bond in Jesus that transcended the world of fear and its death sentence. This he states with powerful assurance to his Ephesian family, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession---to the praise of His glory (Eph.1:13-14).” It was the Great Exchange, death to sin in the Cross of Jesus to life in Jesus through His Resurrection. This exchange removed the outward slavery to the Law as the visible seal replacing it with the inward, spiritual and living seal of the Holy Spirit. It is from this spiritual seal that the principles of discipleship emerge.

There are three primary principles that build the bond Jesus established on the Cross, attitude, obedience and expectation.
First, attitude. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Php.2:5-8)”
Second, obedience. “Jesus replied, ’If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me (John 14:23-24).’”

Third, expectation. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you (John 16:12-15).”
With these principles in mind we’ll move on to specifics in the next writing.