There was a common ritual in much of the Roman and Greek world during the first century. It was one of the ways that a slave could be set free. A master would take his slave to a temple. There he would sell the slave to a god. The temple priests would give the master the price of the slave from the temple treasury. The slave became the property of the god, but he was not a slave of the god. Instead he was considered a protégé of the god. This meant that he was to live the rest of his life in service to the god. He could never be made a slave to man again.
This pagan ritual is properly used as a reference point by Paul in 1 Corinthians. In 6:19-20, we read, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
If pagan slaves were willing to live the rest of their lives for a make-believe god after being bought, should not Christians willingly live their lives for God after being bought with the price of Jesus’ blood? The pagan slave was considered free from slavery. How much more should a Christian be thankful for being set free from the slavery of sin? In 7:23, Paul tells the Christians that they were bought with a price and should not make themselves a slave to false teachers. False teachers are men. Instead, Christians should serve God.
Study your Bible. Learn how to be “bought with a price.” Become a Christian. Then, live properly as a person “bought with a price” by God. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
