What is the difference between the obedience Law demanded and that which Christ displays? It seems beyond coincidence that the answer is signalled in Exodus immediately upon the giving of the Ten Commandments, the pulse of the Mosaic Covenant. In Exodus 21 we read:
Exod 21:1-6 (ESV)
“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
Having received from Yahweh the Ten Words of the Covenant in Ex 19, 20, Moses begins to develop its civil and ceremonial implications. First comes legislation regarding slaves. There are, of course, many questions that press in upon us when we consider the Bible and slavery, but these are not for this post. Here, I want to flag simply the Christotelic aim of the text.
Israel, understood slavery all too well. The people had until very recently been little more than a rabble of slaves in Egypt. They may have been God’s people but they had yet to develop real national identity. It was only in leaving Egypt and subsequent journeying in the wilderness that national identity (and dignity) began to be shaped and the stigma of the past erased. Yet it was never quite erased. Israel never quite forgot her past. Actually, the Lord did not let her forget. As the Law is about to be reiterated for the second time on the eve of entering into her inheritance (the Promised Land) she is reminded:
Deut 5:6 (ESV)
“‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Some 500 or so years later he is still reminding them of this (Mic 6:4).
Yet, while God rescues them from slavery in Egypt there is a sense in which their slavery continues. They are no longer slaves in Egypt but are now slaves of Yahweh. There is a sense in Scripture in which we are all slaves. Slavery cannot be avoided, the only question is who we serve. In Ex 19,20, the Lord, the great King-Warrior who liberated them from Egypt, spells out the implications of their redemption. As their liberator (according to the customs of ancient civilizations) he had rights over those he liberated; they were obligated to him. In the Covenant of Sinai, of Law, Israel was bound over to serve the Lord. His authority was of a different kind but the fact remained, he was their Lord; he was their ‘Master’ and ‘Owner’ (Isa 1:3; Jer 3:14; Mal 1:6) and this Israel must never forget. In the NT, this covenant of Sinai, the Law, is called a ‘yoke of slavery’ (Gals 5:1, Cf Gals 2:4).
Israel was enslaved to the Lord like the purchased Hebrew slave. In redeeming her, she was rightfully his – he was her legal Master. He had rights of life and death over her. She was responsible (on pain of death) to obey his Law. She must serve him. There was nothing voluntary about this. Israel had no option but to accept the covenant; all, under Law, were involuntary slaves (Cf Gal 4). She, like the Hebrew slaves among her, was indentured and must serve (six years – the number six is often associated with human responsibility in Scripture) until the promised freedom of the year of Jubilee.
If, upon the year of Jubilee, the slave did not wish to be free, if his love for his Master and family was so great he refused his freedom, then he was to be taken to a door-post (probably that of his Master) and his ear bored through with an awl. The bored ear symbolised his commitment to his Master (an ear ever open and devoted to his commands). He made himself a slave for life, forever.
We must all serve, but there are different kinds of service. There is the involuntary service of legal duty and there is the voluntary service of devoted love. The difference is as absolute as Law and gospel. In Law we have involuntary service; in gospel we have voluntary service. The difference is all-important. Gospel service is the service of Christ. Christ, although born ‘under law’ didn’t serve simply within the relationship of this covenant. He introduced a new way of serving. The service of Christ was never mere legal duty. His was service of an altogether higher kind. It was the voluntary service of love and devotion. Love always delights to serve. It was the service of one whose ear was bored through with an awl. This is precisely the figure used of Messiah in Psalm 40 (and cited in Hebs 10).
Ps 40:6-8 (ESV)
In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open [dug, bored, pierced] ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
The ‘opened ear’, as in Isa 50, is a signal of dependence, but ‘opened’ also means ‘digged’ or ‘bored’; as in Ex 21 where it is a symbol of devotion; an ear ever open to obey. It spoke of one who rejoiced in God’ will, who had this will engraved on his heart. For him sacrifice and service was never merely duty, but delight. He did the things that pleased his father because he loved him. His meat, that which nourished his being, was to do obey. He would hear no will but the will of the One who sent him (Jn 6:38). And he came voluntarily. He entered voluntarily into bond-slavery and did so forfeiting complete freedom. Being in the form of God he took the form of a bondslave for this was his father’s will. No-one but God could ‘take the form of a servant’ for everyone else was a servant. Of course, here relationships begin to overlap. For Christ, his God is his Father. He becomes a bondslave but is always a Son. His devotion to his God, his Master, is devotion to his Father: ‘but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has commanded me, thus I do’ (Jn 14:31). And it is a devotion ‘unto death, even the death of the cross’. He will not be free. He loves his Master.
And he will not go free because he loves his wife and family: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (Jn 13:1). When the heavens were established Christ, the divine wisdom, was there beside God, like a master workman, and was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man (Prov 8). Here is mystery. What is man that the Lord should care for us (Ps 8)? Why should he set his love upon the children of men? Yet he does. Christ will serve gladly, because he loves the church and will sacrifice himself fully for her (Eph 5). In love, he will lay down his life for her (1 Jn 3:16). Like Jacob he will serve as long as necessary that he may win her and make her his own. Love bears all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. Love never abandons. Love, once awakened, is as strong as death; it is irresistible and unquenchable. It will have its way. Love exclaims, ‘I love my wife. I will not go free’. And so he took a towel and girded himself. He came among his people as one who served and gave his life a ransom for the many. He proclaims in resurrection to his God, ‘Behold I, and the children you have given me’. He does not take up the cause of angels but lays hold of the seed of Abraham; his delights are truly with the children of men. He loves his wife and children. He will not go free.
Of course, we too are bondslaves. Having been set free from sin we have become slaves of God (Roms 6). Our kiss of vassal allegiance to the Son was a confession of such. It effectively said:
“Pierce my ear, O Lord, I pray;
Take me to Your door this day.
I will serve no other god;
Lord, I’m here to stay.
For You have paid the price for me;
With Your love you ransomed me.
I will serve You eternally;
A free man I’ll never be.”
Paul says, let this attitude be in you which was also in Christ Jesus… he took the form of a bondslave… he made himself nothing. We are ‘sanctified to the obedience of Christ’ (Hebs 2). And like Christ we serve not in the old way of the letter (Law and mere imposed duty) but in the new way of the Spirit. Like Messiah the law is engraved on our hearts. Ours is the slavery of sons. Our nature is to love for to be born of God is to love for God is love. Love is the nature of the life of Christ within, the fruit of the indwelling Spirit. Our renewed hearts gladly recognise that nothing we have is our own. Our possessions, our talents, our life, our all… we hold them for the giver. And such bondservice gladdens the heart of God. The God who in selfless love gave his Son as a propitiation for our sins and freely along with him gives us all things wants more than obligated love, he wants unconstrained love, chosen love, reciprocated love. Who loves, who does not wish to be loved in turn?
And, in love too we serve one another. In the gospel we are called to freedom. Only we do not use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Gals 5:13). If he, our Lord and Master, has washed our feet then we, in his spirit and by his Spirit, will wash each others feet. And so we gird our loins. In love we consider others before ourselves. In love we avoid behaviour that would make others trip. We carry each others burdens. We outdo each other in showing deference and honour. We contribute to the need of the saints and show hospitality. Whatever gifts we have been entrusted with we use for the building up of the body of Christ. We walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant sacrifice to God. Such service delights God. The service of the elected slave who says, ‘I love my Master, I love my family (the people of God) I will not go free’.
Of course, we fail. Even as I write this, I see how poor my service is. This is a reason for regret but not for dismay or fear for my acceptance does not lie in the quality of my service. At best, should we do all we ought, we will be unworthy bondslaves. Only Christ was the perfect servant and, gloriously, my acceptance rests in his vicarious, God-vindicating, sin-eviscerating, Satan-vanquishing, infinitely valuable and voluntary bondserving death, not my vapid bondserving life. Yet, despite our failure and in our failure, with its bitter taste fresh in our mouth, we come gladly to the throne of grace for mercy and help and say with bishop Handley Moule,
My glorious Victor, Prince Divine,
Clasp these surrender’d hands in Thine;
At length my will is all Thine own,
Glad vassal of a Saviour’s throne.
My Master, lead me to Thy door;
Pierce this now willing ear once more:
Thy bonds are freedom; let me stay
With Thee, to toil, endure, obey.
Yes, ear and hand, and thought and will,
Use all in Thy dear slav’ry still!
Self’s weary liberties I cast
Beneath Thy feet; there keep them fast.
Tread them still down; and then, I know,
These hands shall with Thy gifts o’erflow;
And pierced ears shall hear the tone
Which tells me Thou and I are one.
So you want to be my huckleberry, huh, Doc? As if January 10’s post was a touching of gloves before coming out warring. Why all this demolishing of arguments and taking captive every thought, anyway? After all, are you not a man of flesh and blood? Why this directing the fight to the heavenly places, with things like: “In love we consider others before ourselves. In love we avoid behaviour that would make others trip. We carry each other’s burdens. We outdo each other in showing deference and honour,” eh?
Come now, were you not once me boy? Why not a wee little debate about various men and their teachings? So what if these so easily entangle. Wouldn’t a little trip be exhilarating…a real puffing-up experience, after all? You don’t really want to take this quiet and peaceful seat (in the heavenly realms), being so self-controlled and alert, do you?
If you continue on in this resistance, I have no other choice but to prowl, I mean, stroll, elsewhere to seek others to dissipate, oops, did it again, I mean, illuminate. Got to run just now…until a more opportune time.
I’ll come down from the heavenlies shortly and start fighting (though the fight is really in the heavenly realms). You’re too pugilistic that’s your problem.
You like street fights. A ‘Tuco’. I’ll just have a quiet cigar and stay cool. 
Then your condition is serious; indeed, it may be terminal; a real case of Acts 21:13:
“When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”"
Godspeed