Jesus answered them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin.
Read Chapter 8
Clement Of Rome
AD 99
And, therefore, seeing that the prophetic sayings are fulfilled even in yourselves, you rightly believe in Him alone, you rightly wait for Him, you rightly inquire concerning Him, that you not only may wait for Him, but also believing, you may obtain the inheritance of His kingdom; according to what Himself said, that every one is made the servant of him to whom he yields subjection.
Veri1y, verily, &c. Most assured, i.e, the saying Isaiah , and specially commended to their notice. But our Lord speaks to them modestly and becomingly, using only general terms and the third person. He might have said, Ye commit many sins, and are therefore the servants of sin, and from this bondage no one but Myself can deliver you. "A miserable bondage," exclaims S. Augustine in loc, and adds the reason. "A man slave, when worn out by his master"s cruel treatment, can at length escape and be at rest. But whither can the servant of sin flee? He carries with him himself, whithersoever he flies. A wicked conscience cannot fly from itself; it has no place to go to, it follows itself. It cannot withdraw from itself; for the sin which causes it is within." (2.) S. Peter ( 2 Peter 2:19) gives a further reason. "Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." (3.) He who committeth sin is the servant of the devil, who instigates to sin, and he is a cruel tyrant, who drives...
Nor can a sinful people be a son; but the name of sons is attributed to those to whom remission of sins is granted, and to them immortality is promised anew, in the words of our Lord Himself: "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth ever."
He lifts out of their innate unlearning these who were carnal and looking only to things corporal, He transfers them to the more spiritual and removes them to a mode of teaching wholly unpractised and unwonted, shewing them their hidden and through long ages unknown bondage; and that they falsely say, To no man have we ever been: in bondage He wisely passes by, neither does He say that to no purpose do they boast of the nobility of their forefather, in order that He may not appear to be inciting to what was not right them who were already prone and much inclined to anger, but advances to this needful matter and one which they needed verily to learn, that he is sin's bondman who doth it, as though He said thus: A compound animal, sirs, is man upon the earth, of soul that is and body, and bondage as to the flesh pertains to the flesh, but that of the soul and which takes place upon the soul, has for its mother, the barbarian, sin. The freedom then of man from bondage after the flesh the ...
He does not call mammon Lord when He says, "Ye cannot serve two masters; "but He teaches His disciples who serve God, not to be subject to mammon, nor to be ruled by it. For He says, "He that committeth sin is the slave of sin."
