A servant of sin !

Jn 8:34

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

What is a servant of sin ? Its first and foremost a unbeliever, and we all by nature are servants of sin/unbelievers, yes by nature we are in servitude, slavery to unbelief, to disobedience, just like the children of disobedience Eph 2:2

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

That word disobedience is the same word unbelief here Rom 11:32

For God hath concluded[consigned,imprisoned] them all in unbelief and or disobdience, that he might have mercy upon all.

So Elect and non elect are born prisoners, servants of unbelief, disobedience which is I.obstinacy, obstinate opposition to the divine will,

Its translated unbelief in Rom 11:30,32;Heb 4:6,11 !

I know many believe that to be a servant of sin we must be fornicators, theives, or drunkards and so on, though practicing those things are servitude to sin, yet truth be told, simple unbelief is servitude to sin.

Understand, er can be ever so moral, religious and sincere, have outstanding character, and yet dont believe the True Gospel by a revelation of the Spirit, we are servants of sin/unbelief.

Remember when Paul wrote of himself in Phil 3:4-6

Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Now notice Vs 6 when he speaks of his zeal and blamelessness touching the righteousness which is in the Law, now all that time he was a servant of sin, because of ignorance and unbelief 1 Tim 1:13

13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

The exact same is true of the religious and zealous jews he wrote of here Rom 10:2-3, those zealous jews in the jews religion as Paul calls it Gal 1:13-14

13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Those jews were servants of sin, because of their unbelief !

 

A servant of sin !2

Because unbelief is nothing but being a slave to sin, we must be made free from the service of sin/unbelief Rom 6:20,22

20 For when ye were the servants of sin[unbelievers], ye were free from righteousness.

22 But now being made free from sin/unbelief, and become servants to God[by Faith], ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

In Vs 22 its having been set free, which is the passive voice, its having been set free from sin, in other words the sinner who is the subject had to be acted upon to be set free from the servitude of sin/unbelief, disobedience.

In order to believe and obey God in a Gospel way, all men must be liberated or set free from the servitude of sin/unbelief, and only Jesus can and does that Jn 8:34-36

34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Notice, this is important, ones faith or repentance is not what Jesus says makes one free, but the Son must make us free !

The phrase"shall make you free" is the word eleutheroō and means :

II.set at liberty: from the dominion of sin, also means to deliver !

Paul agrees with Jesus words here, when writing to the Galatians he writes Gal 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ [The Son] hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

This is what Jesus means in Jn 8:36 !

Folks Jesus as a effect of His redemptive death, makes those He died for liberated from the slavery of sin, disobedience, unbelief. You see unbelief is a sympton, by product of being a slave to sin !

When proud and self righteous men say its up to the freewill of man to believe the Gospel, they are in essence saying, by their own freewill they have set themselves free from being a slave to sin, which makes them their own liberator, not Christ, but the True Believer knows they could not have savingly believed the Gospel until Jesus Christ had made them free from the servitude of sin/unbelief ! Thats why Paul says in Rom 6 that God must be Thanked in this matter Rom 6:17

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin[in unbelief and disobedience], but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

 

Natural man cannot savingly believe the Gospel !

That the natural man cannot savingly/conversionly believe on Christ is affirmed many times in scripture, Two of which are here in Jn 6:44,65

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

Now notice the word Can in both verses, its the greek word δύναμαι and means:

I am powerful, have (the) power, (b) I am able, I can.

to be able to do something

Here Jesus denies that man has the ability to come to Him, which is synonymous to Believe on Him !

See man by nature lacks the possession of spiritual life and qualities, especially mentally to believe on Christ. Mans mind by nature is alienated from all things Spiritual !

By nature mans mind is blinded 2 Cor 4:4

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The word minds is the greek word noéma:

a thought, purpose, design; the mind; the heart, soul, feelings.

nóēma (a neuter noun, derived from 3539 /noiéō, "to exert mental effort") – properly, the mind, especially its final output (systematic understanding, TDNT). Note the -ma suffix which underlines the result of the thinking, i.e. the personal verdict that comes out of using the mind.

a mental perception, thought.

We by nature have no mental perception as it regards spiritual understanding !

One aspect of believing the Gospel is spiritual understanding Matt 13:23

23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

This is an aspect of coming to Christ Jn 6:44,65 ! Now this Truth in and of itself proves the lie of mans freewill to come to Christ and believe to be just that, a lie!

Man by nature doesnt have the mind, will, or heart and affections to come to Christ ! Both Jn 6:44,65 are Divine Testimonies against mans natural abilty to believe on Christ in a way of Salvation/ Conversion !