|
|
|
The above text tells us three things about Jesus. He was a servant, he was holy and his master was God. There are many servants, but none but Christ is called holy. The passage goes on to say: “whom thou hadst anointed”. It is part of a prayer to God . The AV has child rather than servant, but that is wrong. The word in the original is servant (bondman) and is in contrast to freeman in Revelation 6:15. The Greek is doulos. There were other types of servant, such as hired servants (Luke 15:19) and ministers (deacons) (Philippians 1:1). Because of this we need to be clear that Christ had the place of a bondservant. |
|
The place of bondservant that Christ had is something he took up here. Paul tells us of it in Philippians 2:6/7 where he speaks of Christ “taking a bondman’s form”. It is in contrast to “on an equality with God”; not, as it would superficially appear to be, in contrast to “in the form of God”. The AV has servant rather than bondman, but the word in the original is the same. The fact that the apostles refer to Christ’s anointing (see above) would suggest that Christ did not practically enter on his path of bond service until after that event. In fact it was only after Christ had been baptised and then tested in the wilderness that He began to preach (Mark 1: 9-14). |
|
Certain things may be noticed. The apostles speak of Christ as a servant when they address God as despot, that is, as the master of a bondman (slave) (Acts 4:24). It is not here a question of Father and Son, but master and servant. Christ had this place when in this world and it would appear that it will, as the Hebrew bondman, never be given up - see Exodus 21:5/6. In Hebrews 10:5-9 we have Psalm 40:6-8 quoted as applying to Christ. The passage appears to refer to the Hebrew bondservant. Note it is as “coming into the world” Christ takes up the position of a servant (verse 5) and this agrees with what we have quoted in Philippians. |
|
Not many passages specifically speak of Christ as a servant. The centurion in Matthew 8:5-10 recognised that Christ was under authority saying to Him: “I also am a man under authority” (verse 9). In |