Bought

1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Greek definitions--


BOUGHT-
G59
a????a´??
agorazo¯
ag-or-ad'-zo
From G58; properly to go to market, that is, (by implication) to purchase; specifically to redeem: - buy, redeem.


PRICE-
G5092
t?µ?´
time¯
tee-may'
From G5099; a value, that is, money paid, or (concretely and collectively) valuables; by analogy esteem (especially of the highest degree), or the dignity itself: - honour, precious, price, some.


SERVANTS-
G1401
d??????
doulos
doo'-los
From G1210; a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.


MEN-
G444
a?´????p??
anthro¯pos
anth'-ro-pos
From G435 and ??´? o¯ps (the countenance; from G3700); manfaced, that is, a human being: - certain, man.


You are REDEEMED with the HIGHEST DEGREE, A VALUABLE PRICE, be not the SLAVES in SUBJECTION of another HUMAN BEING.


1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.


We are bought! Yet we don't often act like we've been bought because we want so desperately to be our own person, not to need anyone or anything else. We want to stand on our own two feet without any help, thank you very much. If we do have help from others we want those others to turn around and tell us how wonderful it is that we made it mostly on our own, that they only offered a token of help, that without us doing the majority of the work nothing would have happened.


Self-sufficient, self-made, self-supporting. We reject the idea of relying on anyone. We reject the idea of anyone 'owning' us. Slavery is appalling to us with good reason given the horrors equated with it. Being enslaved sounds awful. Yet if we are BOUGHT, and we are, we are owned. You cannot buy something and not own it. Yes, you can buy something and then give it away to someone freely, gift it to another but until it's yours you cannot give it away. Once you buy something you can do with it pretty much what you want to do with it. You can care for it or neglect it. If it's a living thing- our world has created certain laws to protect the living thing, animals for example- even then a lot of animals are bought as livestock in order to kill them- humanely of course. When you've bought something and it's yours you are at liberty to control what you've bought. We've been bought. Bought from whom? Who owned us before we were bought? These are questions we need to think about, right?


1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.


Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.


Servants of sin.
Servants of righteousness.


If we are servants of sin- who owns us?


Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.


Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.


There is a father of lies, a father of sin, and that father is Satan. Satan brought sin to the human race and that sin has come to all humans through Him. As soon as we are aware of right and wrong and choose the wrong we are serving Satan. That sounds harsh but it's true. People don't like to talk about the accountability of children there is a great debate over it all but to me personally, accountability begins when you know better and still do it no matter the age. When we serve Satan by engaging in the works He's wrought He owns us. Is it no wonder we have to be born again daily? Is it no wonder that we have to ask for forgiveness daily? Is it no wonder we need to pray always?


Jesus bought us from Satan. Jesus bought us by paying the HIGHEST price one could ever pay. A God, setting aside His spirit form and taking on human flesh and in that flesh suffering the pain of living in a sin-filled world and being murdered while innocent of any and all sin. He died and by His death we are bought. Once we are bought we are not enslaved and tormented, we are loved as those adopted by God the Father. Once bought we have salvation from the sin of Satan, we are no longer in bondage to Him. On our own we cannot save ourselves. We cannot buy ourselves, we have to rely on our Savior. We don't need self-sufficiency we need God-reliance. We need to accept that we are so loved that the price paid for us was beyond measure.


1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.


No matter our situation in life, no matter if our job is as a servant to others, no matter what we are called to do we have to abide with God. God is our master, we serve God, we serve our Savior, our full allegiance is first and foremost to God above all.


Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.


Bought by our Savior. We are His and once we are bought we are freed from sin and are owned by a loving Savior who owns us in pure love like we can scarcely imagine.


By the grace of God may we be servants of righteousness in Him and not servants of sin. All praise, glory, and honor to our loving Savior for His mercy, for His grace to us who are so undeserving.


Amen.