Servants and Masters

Ephesians 6:5–9 KJV 1900

5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: 8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. 9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Introduction

Instructions for Servants

Who were these servants?

Paul has clearly been dealing with relationships within the home.

The church at Ephesus was made up of homes.

Within these homes were husbands, wives, and children who have each been individually addressed.

Within many of these homes, there were also slaves.

The greek word translated “Servants” in verse 5 is the word doulos and it refers to a slave.

There were 6 million slaves in the Roman empire during this period.

These were people that had been either born into slavery in the master’s house.

Or, people who had been purchase by the master.

Slavery has been and remains to be a blight on human history.

The only master that is worthy to be served is God.

For us as image bearers to steal His position by owning one another is demonic.

Some have wondered why Paul doesn’t speak out against the institution of slavery in this passage, rather than telling slaves to be obedient.

One author posits this solution.

Paul, consistently acted as though Jesus was going to come back at any moment.

The imminence of Christ’s return motivated Paul’s passion in the gospel ministry.

With the soon return on the horizon, it is believed that Paul was under the impression that slavery would be abolished by God and without human effort.

Until that were to happen, Paul comforts and encourages slaves with this admonition.

We see that slavery is only one-dimensional.

Paul encourages the slave to obey his “masters according to the flesh.”

Outer slavery alone cannot produce inner slavery.

Humans have repeatedly proven that inner freedom is not tied to external status.

Whether that be seen in the lives of slaves, prisoners of war, or people whose bodies fight against them because of some form of physical impairment.

Slaves were only slaves in terms of their body, they could not be owned spiritually.

Many slaves became Christians in the early days of the gospel.

They were drawn to the equality and freedom that Jesus offered.

When a slave became a Christian, he became the Lord’s freeman.

He still had a responsibility, and opportunity in his condition.

What were they supposed to do?

We’ve already mentioned the command to be obedient.

This is the same wording that was used a few verses earlier for children.

It has to do with the actions we are directed to perform.

Paul goes beyond directing them what to do, he gives them some direction in how they are to do it.

They are to obey with fear and trembling.

This matter of fear and trembling would have struck the slaves in the audience as ironic.

They were accustomed to taking this posture.

Whether they were German, Briton, African, or Some other culture, they knew what is was to fear and tremble.

They had been ripped from their homes and taken to a strange place and strange culture.

How many of those first nights had they lay in bed trembling at the thought of what the morrow would hold.

This is not the same fear that Paul is referencing.

Paul is building to the point that the slave’s relationship with his master is sacred.

All human relationships are sacred, actually.

An element of fear enters the equation when we realize the essential sacredness of our relationships.

By sacred, I mean God is concerned with our interaction in this realm.

They are to obey in singleness of heart.

Singleness of heart is an interesting phrase.

It’s a biblical way of communicating honesty of purpose and wholehearted effort.

In other words, Christian slaves were to devote their full attention and energy to the job at hand.

This is a high standard to promote.

But, they also have a strong motivation to fulfill this expectation.

They are to obey as servants of Christ.

Twice, Paul makes the connection between the slave’s work and his relationship to Christ.

As we’ve said before “as unto Christ” does not mean the master is Christ to him.

Rather he serves his master for the sake of Christ/ for the glory of Christ.

The Christian slave is to perform the work and service he renders to his master as if they were being offered to the Lord Himself.

The Bible allows no distinction between sacred and secular work.

The conviction of the Christian workman is that every single piece of work he produces must be good enough to show to God.

Because of this conviction, Christian slaves were not to engage in eyeservice.

Strictly speaking, eye service is a word that means eye slave.

It’s a word that at least one author believes was made up by Paul to communicate his point.

It refers to service that is done under the compulsion of inspection.

A slave that engages in eyeservice only works hard or works extra hard when the boss is watching.

This is what happens when people are men-pleasers.

They give service only in things that will be seen of men.

But the Christian knows that no matter what I he is doing, he can do it for God from his heart.

So, for the slaves that were listening to the letter being read, Paul says do service as unto the Lord, and not to men.

Doing service is literally, doing slaving.

Do it for the Lord

This is where the hope of the slave comes in.

What hope did they have?

Slaves receive special encouragement in this passage.

Paul encourages the slave with this fact.

Nothing that is done well for the Lord is ever done in vain.

There may be no thanks on earth.

A man may only reap criticism and misunderstanding for a time.

Paul promises that God will reward the faithful worker.

It doesn’t matter whether his work was performed as a slave or as a freeman.

“Knowing that” having learned, let this affect your work.

Instructions for Masters

Seek the best for their servants.

He tells them to do the same.

If you are going to expect your workers to do their best for you, then you must do the best for them.

Too many Christian masters have hidden behind their status as Christians.

As though that simple claim excludes them from having to act like it.

The same principles of hard work, singleness of heart, and divine motivation apply to master equally as much as servant.

Avoid threatening.

Threatening of slaves came easily in those days.

A slave could not answer back.

They had little legal protection to hide behind.

Rebellious slaves could legally be killed by their masters.

This was rare, however, because of how expensive slaves were.

Instead, masters would threaten their slaves to make them think they would be killed.

Paul calls out this common practice as un-christian.

Remember who their master was.

If the slave who becomes a Christian is the Lord’s freeman, then the free person who becomes a Christian is the Lord’s slave.

This is the title that Paul routinely claimed for himself.

Masters were to remember that they had a master too.

The literal reading of the greek is awkward in English but it would have been something like this...

Your master also (both for them and you) the master is in heaven.

He is no respecter of persons.

You won’t get preferential treatment, Christian master, just because of you inhabit a higher social status.

Your Christian slaves, and fellow church members, will not get poorer treatment because of their lower status.

Each will judged according to their works.

In God’s economy slave and master are both judged based on how they served God in fulfilling their responsibilities in regards to work.

Application

The principles of this section don’t just apply the slave-master relationship.

They also apply to employees and employers in every age.

Remember what Paul said at the end of verse 8, the rewards are the same regardless of whether you are a bond or free worker.

The attitude of workers toward work and the spirit demanded of masters are just as relevant in a free society as in a slave economy.

This is something that must translate to our lives today.

How often do we consider our jobs to be sacred?

William Carey knew what this was about.

When he applied for approval for missionary work, he was asked “what is your business?”

He answered, “My business is to serve the Lord, and I make shoes to pay my expenses.”

This should be the spirit of every Christian worker.

Your workplace is not an opportunity for you to take off your Christian testimony and leave it in a locker in the break room.

This is your mission field.

Your work ethic will go a long way in legitimizing your testimony.

The Christian’s entire standards of work and service are totally different from the standards of the world.

Your reward in heaven will have more to do with what you do at work then perhaps you realize.

This is equally true if you’re an employer, boss, or manager.

Do the people under your authority see you as an example of a Christian?

Are they motivated by your servant leadership?

Are they only motivated by threats of write-ups and termination?

People like to complain about the drop off in the quality of society’s marriages, children, and workers.

The expectations we have for these areas all stem from the standards set by God.

It is not to be expected that unbelievers would strive to enact Christian standards in their marriage, parenting, and work ethic.

Which is why the beginning of the book is so important.

If we want to see our society change, it will only happen as more people are reached with the gospel.

Christians will continue to struggle in proclaiming the gospel as long as our marriages, parenting, and work ethics continue to mirror those of unbelievers rather than display the examples that God intended for them.