Ephesians 6:5-9 (NIV)
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
For this third set of hierarchical relationships that Paul is using to demonstrate mutual respect and submission, he addresses the master-slave relationship. And, as he did in the previous two, he starts with those perceived to be on the lower level of the relationship and moves up.
In Paul’s day, slavery did not have the strong racial overtones that exist in so many people’s minds today when that word is used. In the Jewish world slaves were most frequently those who were paying off a debt. According to Jewish law, a Jewish person could only be enslaved for a debt, whether to a foreigner or to a fellow Jew, until the next year of Jubilee when all Jewish slaves had to be set free (Leviticus 25:47-55). But those enslaved could buy themselves free, or be bought free by a kinsman redeemer at any time.
The rest of the slaves in the Roman Empire, including in Israel (Leviticus 25:44-46) came from the people groups around them who had been conquered in battle. For example, many of the Roman slaves were from the Mediterranean peoples, such as Greeks and Macedonians, whom the Romans had conquered. Rather than being slaughtered as people under conquest, which was quite common in those days, some were brought into slavery.
Even among the Christians in places like Ephesus, the wealthy had household slaves; the concept of paid servants didn’t really exist in that culture. But rather than the normal domineering and sometimes abusive relationships that existed between master and slave, the salvation of either or both parties transformed the dynamic completely.
A Christian slave was to serve his or her master in the same way that they served Jesus. If their master was a believer, they were to serve as if working for a brother in Christ. But even if their master was not a Christian, they were to do their work as if they were working for Jesus, not for a man. Their hard work and lack of shirking would serve as a powerful witness to their master of Jesus and His transformative work in a person’s life, perhaps opening the door to evangelism. And, even if they got no reward from their earthly master, they could work hard, and faithfully, and well, knowing that their heavenly Master was watching every moment, and had a reward waiting for them.
Masters were to treat their slaves in the same way. If they were Christians, they were to be treated as brothers and sisters in the Lord, not with harshness, but with kindness and grace. If they were not Christians, they were to be treated just as kindly, but with a different goal: that they might be won to the Lord and receive eternal life.
Even though there are no slaves in many cultures today, these principles easily and naturally translate over into the worker-boss relationship. Those Christians lower in the hierarchy are to serve well, working conscientiously as if working for Jesus Himself, whether those over them are Christians or not, not focused on earthly rewards, but on those that come from the hand of God. And those Christians who lead or manage others are to treat them as Jesus treats His workers, aware that the eyes of their Master is constantly on them.
Father, it is difficult for many people to objectively read words like “slave” or “servant” today due to the history of racially based slavery in America and other countries. And there is still slavery in the world today, often based not on race, but on conquest or dominion of one people group over another. The fact is, Your word is not just for 2,000 years ago, or just for a specific form of slavery or servitude. It is for all times and all places. So, we can easily extrapolate these principles into the area of boss-worker relationships and see how we are to work, no matter where we fall in that particular hierarchy. Our Christianity is to saturate every area of our lives, even the so-called “secular” area of our work. Simply stated, we are to treat others, whether they fall above us or below us in the structure, as we would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12), and we are to serve those who employ us as if we were working for You, not for them. Thank You, Lord, for this clear and important teaching. Amen.