Servants and Masters
Here in Ephesians, Paul plants the seeds of the destruction of slavery, beginning with the Christian community. It was subtle but powerful. Paul focused on spreading the gospel in a society that approved of slavery, and in so doing, he planted the seeds of the destruction of slavery. Stott says, “The gospel immediately began even in the first century to undermine the institution; it lit a fuse which at long last led to the explosion which destroyed it” (Ephesians, 257).
Paul’s main concern is the spread of the gospel. But he also describes the ethics required between Christian slaves and Christian masters, thereby changing typical relationships between master and slave. By changing how they related to one another, he essentially planted the seeds for slavery’s destruction.
Some have estimated that in the Roman Empire there were 60 million slaves (Stott, Ephesians, 250), or one-third of the people in a city like Ephesus. It was an accepted part of the Mediterranean world’s economic life. Snodgrass reports, “In the Greco-Roman world slavery was so much a part of life that hardly anyone thought about whether it might be illegitimate” (Ephesians, 327).
They did not merely do menial work; they did nearly all the work, including oversight and management and most professions. Some slaves were more educated than their owners. They could own property, even slaves, and were allowed to save money to buy freedom. No slave class existed, for slaves were present in all but the highest of economic and social strata. Many gained freedom by age thirty. (Ibid.)
slavery in the Roman world was not like slavery in our recent history. However, the question remains, How did one become a slave? Snodgrass states, “People became slaves through various avenues: birth, parental selling or abandonment, captivity in war, inability to pay debts, and voluntary attempts to better one’s condition. Race was not a factor” (Ephesians, 327).
Slavery in America was mainly racial and executed by self-righteous people. As one can see from the history of Roman slavery, while for many slaves life was harsh and cruel, “their circumstances depended on their owners” (Snodgrass, Ephesians, 327). So Paul’s words to “masters” were important and life altering.
He is writing to give instructions about household relationships and responsibilities within a given society. His goal is not to write a document about changing the social structure.
With that said, the Bible clearly opposes the type of cruel slavery we think of today. I base this on a few obvious biblical convictions.
First, we are called to love our neighbor, not own our neighbor (
Paul also undermines slavery by teaching equality among groups. This equality is clear in our text and others (e.g.,
The command is clear: Live all of life for Christ. While slaves were to obey their masters, they were to see Christ as the ultimate Master.
Paul basically urged servants to transfer masters, even if they could not transfer jobs. In 1 Corinthians Paul told the one in slavery that he was actually “the Lord’s freedman” (
Perhaps you have been thinking, “I’m not a slave. I don’t have slaves. Can we just move to the next passage?” Not so fast. This passage is life changing if you apply it to your life. How so?
No work is merely work. It is a way to serve Christ. Think about employees and employers. Can we make this application? I think so. If these principles applied in a sometimes awful working environment of slavemaster, how much more should we seek to live them out in better working conditions? You say, “My job stinks.” Maybe it does. But you are not being physically threatened or abused or treated like property. Remember, your boss is Jesus.
Employees: Work through Christ, like Christ, and for Christ. Break these down for a moment. Work through Christ. Remember that Paul is addressing the Christian church. These are believers in Christ who have been spiritually raised from death to life (2:4–7) and saved by grace (2:8) through the atoning death of Christ (2:13). As a result, they have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. They, and we, do not live our lives, love our spouses, raise our kids, or work our jobs alone. The living Christ abides in us. So do your work through Christ.
In the Old Testament Joseph was sold into slavery, and he ended up working for Potiphar. In
Question: Do you pray before you go to work? Do you pray for the Spirit to fill you and for God to use you as a missionary where you work? You should.
Work like Christ. Jesus gives us the model work ethic. As the Suffering Servant, Jesus humbled Himself and died for sinners. He took “the form of a slave” (
Work for Christ. You should do your best, as if you were doing it for Jesus. Spurgeon said,
Did anybody thus dream of supervising Raphael and Michelangelo to keep them to their work? No, the master artist requires no eyes to urge him on. Popes and emperors came to visit the great painters in their studios, but did they paint better because these grandees gazed upon them? Certainly not! Perhaps they did all the worse in the excitement or the worry of the visit. They had regard to something better than the eyes of pompous people. (“Our Motto”)
Spurgeon said this reality should lift our spirits, keep us from complaining, and keep us from becoming lazy. Stott puts it this way:
It is possible for the housewife to cook a meal as if Jesus Christ were going to eat it, or to spring-clean the house as if Jesus Christ were the honored guest. It is possible for teachers to educate children, for doctors to treat patients and nurses to care for them, for shop assistants to serve customers, accountants to audit books and secretaries to type letters as if in each case they were serving Jesus Christ. (Ephesians, 252)
You should also do your work for Christ now but realize that you will receive a reward from Christ later. Many Christians do not meditate on this. They think, “Our works don’t matter.” True, Jesus’ work saves us, not our works. However, God saved us to do good works (
Employer: Lead through Christ, like Christ, and for Christ. Now let us break this down. Lead through Christ. Oh, the challenge of leadership! You take on numerous responsibilities and make numerous sacrifices. You need the Spirit’s power! Paul felt the pressure of leading churches (
Our culture subtly tells us that there is a hierarchy of value among individuals, and it tells us where we fit in this value system. This text crushes that idea. Although there are different roles, in no way do these roles define one’s value.
This hierarchy does not exist for the Christian. We have the same Lord, and we await the same judgment (
What matters according to this text? It is your relationship with Christ. The most important thing in this life is not whether you work in a sawmill or an office building in a nice part of downtown. What matters is how you respond to Jesus Christ. Is He your Master?
Jesus said it like this: “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?” (
