35 Bible Verses about Slavery, Spiritual

"We are Abraham's offspring," they retorted, "we have never been slaves to anybody. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be free'?" Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now the slave does not remain in the household for all time; the son of the house does.read more.
So, if the Son sets you free, you will be really free.

Sin is not to reign, then, over your mortal bodies and make you obey their passions; you must not let sin have your members for the service of vice, you must dedicate yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, dedicating your members to God for the service of righteousness. Sin must have no hold over you, for you live under grace, not under law.read more.
What follows, then? Are we 'to sin, because we live under grace, not under law'? Never! Do you not know you are the servants of the master you obey, of the master to whom you yield yourselves obedient, whether it is Sin, whose service ends in death, or Obedience, whose service ends in righteousness? Thank God, though you did serve sin, you have rendered whole-hearted obedience to what you were taught under the rule of faith; set free from sin, you have passed into the service of righteousness.

What follows, then? That 'the Law is equivalent to sin'? Never! Why, had it not been for the Law, I would never have known what sin meant! Thus I would never have known what it is to covet, unless the Law had said, You must not covet. The command gave an impulse to sin, and sin resulted for me in all manner of covetous desire ??for sin, apart from law, is lifeless. I lived at one time without law myself, but when the command came home to me, sin sprang to life and I died;read more.
the command that meant life proved death for me. The command gave an impulse to sin, sin beguiled me and used the command to kill me. So the Law at any rate is holy, the command is holy, just, and for our good. Then did what was meant for my good prove fatal to me? Never! It was sin; sin resulted in death for me by making use of this good thing. This was how sin was to be revealed in its true nature; it was to use the command to become sinful in the extreme. The Law is spiritual; we know that. But then I am a creature of the flesh, in the thraldom of sin. I cannot understand my own actions; I do not act as I want to act; on the contrary, I do what I detest. Now, when I act against my wishes, that means I agree that the Law is right. That being so, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me. For in me (that is, in my flesh) no good dwells, I know; the wish is there, but not the power of doing what is right. I cannot be good as I want to be, and I do wrong against my wishes. Well, if I act against my wishes, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me. So this is my experience of the Law: I want to do what is right, but wrong is all I can manage; I cordially agree with God's law, so far as my inner self is concerned, but then I find quite another law in my members which conflicts with the law of my mind and makes me a prisoner to sin's law that resides in my members. Miserable wretch that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? God will! Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord! [Move second part of this vers to follow vs 23] (Thus, left to myself, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.)

For we ourselves were once senseless, disobedient, astray, enslaved to all manner of passions and pleasures; we spent our days in malice and envy, we were hateful, and we hated one another.

with the freedom for which Christ set us free. Make a firm stand then, do not slip into any yoke of servitude.

What I mean is this. As long as an heir is under age, there is no difference between him and a servant, though he is lord of all the property; he is under guardians and trustees till the time fixed by his father. So with us. When we were under age, we lived under the thraldom of the Elemental spirits of the world;read more.
but when the time had fully expired, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to ransom those who were under the Law, that we might get our sonship. It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!' So you are servant no longer but son, and as son you are also heir, all owing to God.

You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!",

Since the children then share blood and flesh, he himself participated in their nature, so that by dying he might crush him who wields the power of death (that is to say, the devil) and release from thraldom those who lay under a life-long fear of death.

Now before the passover festival Jesus knew the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had loved his own in this world and he loved them to the end; so at supper, knowing that though the devil had suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, the Father had put everything into his hands ??knowing that he had come from God and was going to God,read more.
he rose from table, laid aside his robe, and tied a towel round him, then poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, wiping them with the towel he had tied round him. He came to Simon Peter. "Lord," said he, "you to wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "You do not understand just now what I am doing, but you will understand it later on." Said Peter, "You will never wash my feet, never!" "Unless I wash you," Jesus replied, "you will not share my lot." "Lord," said Simon Peter, "then wash not only my feet but my hands and head." Jesus said, "He who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed; he is clean all over. And you are clean ??but not all of you" (he knew the traitor; that was why he said, "You are not all clean"). Then, after washing their feet and putting on his robe, he lay down again. "Do you know," he said to them, "what I have been doing to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right: that is what I am. Well, if I have washed your feet, I who am your Lord and Teacher, you are bound to wash one another's feet; for I have been setting you an example, that you should do what I have done to you. Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than he who sent him. If you know all this, blessed are you if you really do it.

but Jesus called them and said, "You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them: not so with you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave;read more.
just as the Son of man has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

so Jesus called them and said, "You know the so-called rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them: not so with you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever of you wants to be first must be your slave;read more.
for the Son of man himself has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus. Though he was divine by nature, he did not set store upon equality with God but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guiseread more.
and appearing in human form, he humbly stooped in his obedience even to die, and to die upon the cross. Therefore God raised him high and conferred on him a Name above all names, so that before the Name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth, and every tongue confess that 'Jesus Christ is Lord,' to the glory of God the Father.

but now that you are set free from sin, now that you have passed into the service of God, your gain is consecration, and the end of that is life eternal.

No one can serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other ??you cannot serve both God and Mammon.

No servant can serve two masters: either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other, you cannot serve both God and Mammon."

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

Whatever be your task, work at it heartily, as servants of the Lord and not of men; remember, you will receive from the Lord the inheritance which is your due; serve Christ your Lord and Master,

James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: greeting.

Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God.

Symeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been allotted a faith of equal privilege with ours, by the equity of our God and saviour Jesus Christ:

Well then, my brothers, we owe a duty ??but it is not to the flesh! It is not to live by the flesh! If you live by the flesh, you are on the road to death; but if by the Spirit you put the actions of the body to death, you will live. For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God.read more.
You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!", it is this Spirit testifying along with our own spirit that we are children of God; and if children, heirs as well, heirs of God, heirs along with Christ ??for we share his sufferings in order to share his glory.

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When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar, was he not justified by what he did? In his case, you see, faith co-operated with deeds, faith was completed by deeds, and the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him as righteousness ??he was called God's friend.

So Jesus addressed the Jews who had believed him, saying, "If you abide by what I say, you are really disciples of mine: you will understand the truth, and the truth will set you free." "We are Abraham's offspring," they retorted, "we have never been slaves to anybody. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be free'?"read more.
Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now the slave does not remain in the household for all time; the son of the house does. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be really free.

Tell me, you who are keen to be under the Law, will you not listen to the Law? Surely it is written in the Law that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman and one by the free-woman; but while the son of the slave-woman was born by the flesh, the son of the free-woman was born by the promise.read more.
Now this is an allegory. The women are two covenants. One comes from mount Sinai, bearing children for servitude; that is Hagar, for mount Sinai is away in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for the latter is in servitude with her children. But the Jerusalem on high is free, and she is 'our' mother. For it is written, Rejoice, O thou barren who bearest not, break into joy, thou who travailest not; for the children of the desolate woman are far more than of the married. Now you are the children of the Promise, brothers, like Isaac; but just as in the old days the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit, so it is still to-day. However, what does the scripture say? Put away the slave-woman and her son, for the son of the slave-woman shall not be heir along with the son of the free-woman. Hence we are children of no slave-woman, my brothers, but of the free-woman,

What follows, then? Are we 'to sin, because we live under grace, not under law'? Never! Do you not know you are the servants of the master you obey, of the master to whom you yield yourselves obedient, whether it is Sin, whose service ends in death, or Obedience, whose service ends in righteousness? Thank God, though you did serve sin, you have rendered whole-hearted obedience to what you were taught under the rule of faith;read more.
set free from sin, you have passed into the service of righteousness. (I use this human analogy to bring the truth home to your weak nature.) As you once dedicated your members to the service of vice and lawlessness, so now dedicate them to the service of righteousness that means consecration. When you served sin, you were free of righteousness. Well, what did you gain then by it all? Nothing but what you are now ashamed of! The end of all that is death; but now that you are set free from sin, now that you have passed into the service of God, your gain is consecration, and the end of that is life eternal. Sin's wage is death, but God's gift is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Why, free as I am from all, I have made myself the slave of all, to win over as many as I could.

(It is Christ Jesus as Lord, not myself, that I proclaim; I am simply a servant of yours for Jesus' sake.)

Brothers, you were called to be free; only, do not make your freedom an opening for the flesh, but serve one another in love.

Now where is the trusty and thoughtful servant, whom his lord and master has set over his household to assign them their supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives! I tell you truly, he will set him over all his property.read more.
But if the bad servant says to himself, 'My lord and master is long of coming,' and if he starts to beat his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with drunkards, that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know; he will cut him in two and assign him the fate of the impious. There men will wail and gnash their teeth.

The Lord said, "Well, where is the trusty, thoughtful steward whom the lord and master will set over his establishment to give out supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives! I tell you plainly, he will set him over all his property.read more.
But if that servant says to himself, 'My lord and master is long of arriving,' and if he starts to beat the menservants and maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know; he will cut him in two and assign him the fate of unbelievers.

For the case is that of a man going abroad, who summoned his servants and handed over his property to them; to one he gave twelve hundred pounds, to another five hundred, and to another two hundred and fifty; each got according to his capacity. Then the man went abroad. The servant who had got the twelve hundred pounds went at once and traded with them, making another twelve hundred.read more.
Similarly the servant who had got the five hundred pounds made another five hundred. But the servant who had got the two hundred and fifty pounds went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now a long time afterwards the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. Then the servant who had got the twelve hundred pounds came forward, bringing twelve hundred more; he said, 'You handed me twelve hundred pounds, sir; here I have gained another twelve hundred.'

"A nobleman," he said, "went abroad to obtain royal power for himself and then return. He first called his ten servants, giving them each a five-pound note, and telling them, 'Trade with this till I come back.' Now his people hated him and sent envoys after him to say, 'We object to him having royal power over us.'read more.
However he secured the royal power and came home. Then he ordered the servants to be called who had been given the money, that he might find out what business they had done. The first came up saying, 'Your five pounds has made other fifty, sir.' 'Capital,' he said, 'you excellent servant! because you have proved trustworthy in a trifle, you are placed over ten towns.'

Which of you, with a servant out ploughing or shepherding, will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and take your place at table'? Will the man not rather say to him, 'Get some thing ready for my supper; gird yourself and wait on me till I eat and drink; then you can eat and drink yourself'? Does he thank the servant for doing his bidding?read more.
Well, it is the same with you; when you have done all you are bidden, say, 'We are but servants; we have only done our duty.' "

Even the creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. For creation was not rendered futile by its own choice, but by the will of Him who thus made it subject, the hope being that creation as well as man would one day be freed from its thraldom to decay and gain the glorious freedom of the children of God.read more.
To this day, we know, the entire creation sighs and throbs with pain;