Colossians 3.25b-The Slave's Service Will Be Evaluated Impartially By the Lord Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 22, 2017
Colossians: Colossians 3:25b-The Slave’s Service Will Be Evaluated By the Lord Jesus Christ
Lesson # 102
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (NASB95)
“And” is conjunction kai (καί), which is serving to emphasize the declarative statement that the Lord Jesus Christ will evaluate impartially the service of the slaves in the Colossian Christian community at the Bema Seat.
“Without partiality” is composed of the following: (1) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “without” (8) the verb eimi (εἰμί), which is not translated (9) noun prosōpolēmpsia (προσωπολημψία), “partiality.”
At this point in the verse, the apostle Paul is employing the figure of ellipsis meaning he is deliberately omitting the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος), “the Lord,” though it is clearly implied from the context.
This noun of course refers to the Lord Jesus Christ who will be conducting the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church immediately after the resurrection or rapture of the church which is imminent.
The verb eimi denotes that the Lord Jesus Christ’s impeccable, holy character and nature possesses a certain inherent characteristic that is identified by the noun prosōpolēmpsia, “partiality” and the emphatic negative adverb ou, “without.”
The present tense of this verb is a gnomic present which is used of a general, timeless fact indicating an eternal spiritual truth.
Here it expresses the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ is “as an eternal spiritual truth” absolutely never partial.
The objective emphatic negative adverb ou is in the emphatic position of this declarative statement and is employed with the indicative mood of the verb eimi and emphatically negates the statement that there is partiality with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, Paul emphatically declares that there is absolutely no partiality with the Lord Jesus Christ and is making an emphatic denial that there is any imperfection in His character and nature.
The noun prosōpolēmpsia is a compound word composed of the preposition pros, “face” and the verb lambano, “to receive,” thus the word literally means, “to receive face” meaning the accepting one’s person.
The idea behind the word is that of looking to see who someone is before deciding how to treat them, thus to judge them by their appearance and on that basis showing them special favor and respect.
The word pertains to judging purely on a superficial level, without consideration of a person’s true merits, abilities, or character.
The Middle Eastern custom of greeting was to bow one’s face to the ground and if the one greeted accepted the person, he was allowed to lift his head again.
The accepting of the appearance of a person was a Hebraic term for “partiality.”
The noun prosōpolēmpsia refers to judging a person on the basis of externals or pre-conceived notions, and shows partiality or favoritism and meant to make unjust distinctions between people by treating one person better than another.
The concept of impartiality is depicted in the popular symbolic Greco-Roman statue of justice as a woman blindfolded, which signified that she is unable to see who is before her to be judged and therefore is not tempted to be partial either for or against the accused.
Many times she is pictured with her hands tied suggesting that she cannot receive a bribe.
The noun prosōpolēmpsia functions as a predicate nominative meaning that it is asserting that the Lord Jesus Christ’s holy character is absolutely never partial.
Colossians 3:23 Whenever any of you, at any time, should do something, each of you from your entire being, for your own benefit, must continue making it your habit of working hard as for your one and only true Lord, indeed, never for people 24 The reason for this command is that each of you know without a doubt that each of you will certainly receive for your own benefit your reward, which is your inheritance. Each of you continue making it your habit of serving the Lord, who is the Christ 25 because the one who is characterized by habitually doing wrong will certainly cause themselves to receive back that for which they have done wrong. Indeed, the Lord is as an eternal spiritual truth absolutely never partial. (My translation)
In the emphatic clause at the end of Colossians 3:25, the apostle is also teaching the slaves in the Colossian Christian community that the Lord Jesus Christ is no respecter of persons and is not tempted to be partial.
He is not looking at the person on the outside but rather He is looking at the conduct to see whether it reflects His righteousness or unrighteousness.
He will be the one who determines if these slaves performed their duties on behalf of their human slave masters based upon their obedience to Paul’s apostolic teaching and thus the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The implication is that these slaves can never use that they were a slave in life as an excuse for their disobedience and unfaithful service to their human slave masters.
Interestingly, Paul in Ephesians 6:9 makes this same point with the masters in the Ephesian Christian community in relation to their treatment of their slaves.
Ephesians 6:5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. 9 And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him. (NASB95)
In Colossians 3:25, Paul is not speaking of the Lord’s impartiality in relation to the slave masters in the Colossian Christian community but rather only the slaves in this community because he is still addressing slaves and never explicitly mentions the slave masters in this community.
He does not address explicitly the slave masters until Colossians 4:1.
As Douglas Moo writes “It would be unprecedented in New Testament household codes for an author to refer to household members before they had been addressed.”
The Lord Jesus Christ will never give consideration to anyone because of their race, gender, social status in life, wealth, influence, popularity, or appearance.
All these things are externals but He as the Son of God looks at the heart and evaluates a person’s conduct and actions.
He even judges a person’s motives, no matter how “righteous” their actions may appear to other people (1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Cor. 4:5).
The fact that the Lord’s judgment is dispensed with impartiality is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 10:17, Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Ephesians 2:9, 6:9 and 1 Peter 1:17.