Bond-Servant

“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative), set apart for [preaching] the gospel of God [the good news of salvation],” (Romans 1:1‬ ‭AMP‬)

A bond servant is a slave who has only fantasized of freedom and has been finally and miraculously set free, but has vowed to remain a servant out of free will, for the simple reason that he has come to realize that he owes his new life to his master who has set him free.

Any preaching of the Gospel, that does not produce such change in man’s heart is a powerless gospel. And any man who claims to be a Christian and has not experienced such great love and has not made such a commitment is not yet a follower of Jesus Christ.

“Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?” (2 Corinthians 13:5, AMP)