slave to Son

By Greyson Gilbert

There once was slave. He was born into slavery and he had worked every day since he could remember. It was all he had ever known. He would work in the fields if it was harvest time, but most of the time he worked in the house. Primarily, he cleaned, cooked, and served the Master, alongside many other slaves. Although they weren't particularly kind or good, they were his only friends. This life was all he had ever known, and he was content with it.

 The Master was a good, fair, honest man, but stern and just nonetheless. One day, the slave was working. He was scrubbing the floors of the home alongside some of the other slaves when the Master came in. The Master announced to all the slaves that he had a gift for any slave that would accept it.

"To whoever wants it, I will give complete freedom. If you accept my gift, today you will no longer be a slave but a freeman. Not only am I going to give you freedom, but I am going to make you my son. You will be my heir, you will eat my food and drink my wine at my table. If you accept this gift, you do not owe me anything except that you obey my rules under this house.

"These rules are just, they are fair, and they are for your own protection, to keep you safe. They are not a burden but an opportunity to prosper. If you disobey me, although I will be displeased, I am full of grace and will always give you a second chance. In fact, you could disobey me a million times and I would still forgive you

"As long as you truthfully accept this gift, you need to do nothing else to earn it. You will be free, you will be my son, and you will walk with me every day, and when you die you will be buried with me in my family's tomb.

"If you choose to accept in your heart, tell me, I will be outside your door waiting." And he walked outside.

To be the son, heir, and best friend of the Master, and to be buried in the family tomb and not in the slave's tomb, was the highest honor and privilege after ones death. The slaves listened to the masters proposition and whispered over it with each other.

"This is too good to be true."

"Being a slave is easy, all I have to do is work and do the same thing every day."

"His rules are too stingy, and while I am a slave, he doesn't care whether I follow them or not."

"He's lying. He's a liar, and he'll trick you and then turn on you."

The one slave mentioned earlier sat quietly, listening to his fellow slaves grunt and agree to refuse the offer.

"Maybe He's telling the truth. Maybe He wants us to be free," the slave said.

All of his friends mocked him for being gullible.

The slave had already decided though. He was meant for more in this life, and desired to experience true family.

The slave laid his brush and soap on the ground and stood up.

"And where do you think you're going," said the biggest and scariest of the slaves who were in the house with him.

The one slave said nothing and walked outside to find the Master sitting, waiting for him. The Master smiled and embraced him.

"My Son," he said.

The now former slave could not help but begin weeping in the arms of his new Father. The Master then said,

"You are now to call me Father, and you are Son. No longer are you a slave, and no longer are you to do the work of a slave. You will walk with me through my garden during the day, you will eat and drink with me, and you will celebrate with me at night. You are also to tell of my free gift to every other slave here, and, using my name, declare him free and an heir if he so accepts.

"Your belongings back at your slave quarters are no longer yours. Leave them and forget about them. I have prepared your very own room in this house, with new robes and new tools. If you have any questions or are ever in need of anything, call my name and I will be there."

 Father handed him a ring, and told him, "this is the family ring, and now you are family. Wear it proudly, but understand that it itself is not your identity. Your identity is now that you are My Son, and that is enough. Do not look back at the slaves in envy, for now you have everything you will ever need."

The Son agreed to do anything the Father asked of him, and went on to his room. On the way though, he passed some slaves working, and without even thinking, he got on his knees and began scrubbing the floor alongside them. It was all he knew, and he never even thought of doing otherwise. Although he was still the Son, he thought for a second he was a slave again.

The Master walked in and said, "Son why are you cleaning? Don't you remember, you are now my Son."

The son felt ashamed he had forgotten so quickly his gift, and immediately stood up and apologized.

The Father laughed and responded, "It's ok son. Come walk in the garden with me." Ignoring the glares of the slaves, the Son walked with him full of joy and life. They talked about the family history, stories, and how a son was to behave. When the son walked with the Father, he truly felt, deep in his soul, that he was a true son, and it gave him immeasurable joy. As time went on, the slave spent more and more time with other freemen, and began to become more like his Father in his newfound freedom.

Sometimes when he visited the other slaves, he would tell them about his life. They would snicker and mock him for abandoning him, and even when he told them about how the same offer was given them they would ignore the Son out of anger. They would all tell him that no matter how much the Father said he loved the Son, that the Son was still a slave deep down and that the Father was a liar.

Sometimes, The son would reject the slaves and run straight to his Father, who brought him comfort and joy.

Other times, the Son would give in and begin scrubbing the floors once again, even though he knew deep down it was not what he should have been doing. Sometimes, he would wish that he had his old clothes, so he'd go back to the slave quarters and try them on. He would take off his ring and he'd look in the mirror and feel that he was not where he was supposed to be, and run back to the father in shame.

The Father always knew when the Son had gone back to his old slave-like habits, but every time that the son would break down and apologize, the Father would reply, "Come walk in the garden with me. Talk to me, tell me your feelings and struggles, it will all be ok. Even while you ignored what I told you about not being a slave any more, and even when you listened to the other slaves feeding you lies, and even when you took off your ring and put your old clothes back on, I was sitting outside the house waiting for you to come outside and meet me, because you were still my son, and you will always be my son.

"You will always be my son.

"I do not want you to scrub the floors with the other slaves, and I will always invite you to come walk with me in the garden, and when you die you will be buried in the family tomb, even if there are times that you're convinced that you're still a slave. You're identity will forever be of my Son."

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This story was inspired from a night talking with a group of men about a passage in Romans 6. The question that we were struggling with came from the following verses. It is kind of a long passage, but here are some of the main pieces we were looking at, namely verses 6, 11-12, and 16. The question is at the bottom of the passage in italics.

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.


 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.


If we have been set free from the slavery to sin, why do we still sin? If Christ defeated sin and the grave, and we have that same power over sin (through our resurrection), then why does sin still seem to have so much power over us?

The story written above, I hope, helps to communicate the question in a more understandable light. We were born as slaves to sin, and for a while that is all we knew. Our nature was to sin because we did not know any better. In fact, we had to sin. 

Now that we have been made sons, our previous nature to sin is still lingering and whispering in our ear, much like the other slaves in the story. The more time we spend with Father, however, the more we reject the tendencies to sin, and the more we live into our identity, as a Son. But even when we sin and ignore Father, our identity does not change. We are still sons, and no longer slaves.

Additional passages:

Leviticus 26:13

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Galatians 4:7

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.