Romans 1:1a

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—

(v1, NIV)

Paul is a servant of Christ Jesus. Now, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, this may not seem weird. However, to those who are not Christ followers, this may be strange. Jesus was crucified and buried. How can Paul claim to be a servant of someone who is dead? As you may already know, Jesus has been raised from the dead. Jesus is alive.

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

(1 Corinthians 15:12-19)

If Jesus has not been raised from the dead, this is all pointless. This passage in 1 Corinthians goes on to talk more about Christ being raised from the dead and resurrection. The point remains that if there is no resurrection, our faith is futile.

So Paul is a servant of Jesus Christ. The word is actually bondservant. However, we don't really use that word nowadays, so it's hard to understand what that means. What Paul is saying by this phrase is that he is bought, owned and ruled by Jesus. Jesus paid it all by taking upon himself our sins and dying as a sacrifice and payment for our sins. The wrath of God that was due to us was unleashed on Jesus. We have been bought and are therefore owned by him. What's interesting is that if you are a bondservant of Christ Jesus, you are doubly owned by him. We are owned by him because he bought us, but we are also owned by God because he made us. We are double not our own because we were created and we were bought.

The last thing is that Paul is saying that he is ruled by Jesus. As a servant or a bondservant, you are to do the bidding of your master. Immediately we may come to think of a servant who is unwilling and not desiring to do the will of his or her master. However, this type of ruling is not like that. Paul is not being drawn along against his will to be ruled by another. It's not something he doesn't want but can't help but be forced against his will. Instead, Paul is joyfully submissive and obedient to he who rules. As a bondservant, Paul seeks to please and obey Jesus.

Who is Paul? Paul may have been the number one opposing force to followers of Christ. However, he is the bondservant of Christ Jesus. He is bought, owned and ruled by him who he persecuted. If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I hope you too can boldly proclaim to be a bondservant of Christ Jesus. We are his bondservants.