Ephesians 6:5-9
Slaves and masters in 2010
Over the last few weeks we’ve been looking at a number of relationships. We looked at the husband and wife relationship. We looked at the parent child relationship. These relationships are interesting and are marked by two features. Firstly – they are authority relationships, where one party has authority over the other and the other party is to submit. So wives submit to husbands. Children obey their parents. But they are authority relationships with a difference. Because they run counter to what we normally think of when we think of authority. When we think of authority, we think of the one having authority of using his or her authority to get his own way for his own advantage. We’ve seen that in the last few weeks with the political shananigans that have gone on and will no doubt continue.
But Jesus redefined authority. A few weeks ago we heard from Dave D’Amour who spoke to us about service. The one in authority is a servant to the one he serves. That is a radical turning around of the authority relationship. That is, the one who has authority is not more imporant that the one they have authority over. If anything it is the opposite. The one having authority has to put the needs of others before themselves! The husband is told to love His wife as Christ loves the church.
So we have this mix of authority with love. Godly authority is loving authority. And the two relationships we have looked as so far: husband and wife and parent and child, are relationships that have been ordered by God, set up by God, and in other parts of the Scripture we see that these are relationships instituted by God.
Today we look at a third authority relationship, but it is one that is quite different to the others. For while the husband wife relationship – marriage - was instituted by God,as was the parent – child relationship, the relationship we are looking at today was NOT instituted by God. The relationship we look at today is an institution of people, not God. The relationship we are looking at today is the slave-master relationship, which is definitely not a godly relationship, as we shall see.
Please open your Bibles. Look at Ephesians 6:5 and look at the first word. What is it?
“Slaves.” Who is this passage addressed to? Slaves. This is very important. Because today when we read the word “slaves” in this passage, instead of reading the “word” slaves, we often read the word, “employees.” And we re-read this passage something like this:
Ephesians 65 Employees, obey your earthly employers with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as employees of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is an employer or employee. 9 Employers, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Employer and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
So because we don’t have slaves and masters today, we read this verse as though it is directed to employers and employees.
So the first thing I want to say today is this: This passage is not directed to employees and employers. It is directed to slaves and masters. And there is a big difference between the two, a massive difference. If Paul had wanted to address employees, he would have addressed employees. But he didn’t, he addressed slaves. And perhaps we don’t understand why this such a fundamental difference between slaves and employees because we don’t have slaves today – at least in Australia we don’t. So we need to spend a few moments at looking at what slavery was like in the ancient world.
Slavery was very common in the ancient world. Paul was writing to Ephesus, a large city in what is now Turkey. Today there are just ruins but back then Ephesus was a highly developed city and one of the major cities of the Roman Empire, the vast, powerful Roman Empire. The Roman Empire covered all of the Meditterean Sea and a good part of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The population of the Roman Empire was somewhere around 50 million people. Even today that would be regarded as a high population for a country. But back then it was incredible. It was a highly efficient society with advanced government, travel and so on. Houses of middle to upper class people had plumbing, underfloor heating and other luxuries. After the fall of the Roman Empire these luxuries, this advanced stage of civilisation was not seen again until about 100-150 years ago. What brought about our current advanced civilisation of the last 100-150 years? The industrial revolution. Machines. The internal combustion engine. Things that can do menial tasks and that increased our efficiency many times over.
The question is, if Roman society was so advanced, so rich, how did they do it without machines? And if they were so advanced, why didn’t they invent machines? The internal combustion engine? Computers? Acheology has shown they actually had the know how to do it, but they didn’t do it. Why not? Because they didn’t need machines. They didn’t need the internal combustion engine. They didn’t need computers. Why not? Because they had slaves.
It is estimated that slaves constituted somewhere from ¼ to ½ of the entire population of the Roman Empire. It was the economic foundation of the Roman Empire. So if the Roman Empire had 50 million people in Paul’s time, then somewhere from 12-25 million of them were slaves.
So who was a slave? A slave was someone who did not own themself. Someone else owned them. The owner had absolute power of them and in some cases even had the power to put the slave to death. How did you become a slave? Well you could have been born a slave - your parents were slaves and therefore so were you. Or you could have been captured in war and you were on the losing side so you became a slave. Or you could have got into debt and to pay off your debts you sold yourself into slavery. And then someone else owned you.
Now what did slaves do? In the Roman Empire they did all sorts of things. Some of the things they did were very menial. Very low jobs. But on the other hand, some of them were very high up jobs. There were slave accountants, managers and doctors. So slaves did all sorts of things and some of them were highly educated and in some cases more educated than their owners. And some of the higher up slaves lived quite well. But most didn’t. And even the higher up ones were owned by someone else.
Now is that different to being an employee? Yes. In an employee-employer relationship the employee establishes a relationship with the employer on the basis of negotiation and a contract. I will work for you for so many hours and do such and such for you and you will pay me such and such. And if the employee doesn’t like it
the employee can negotiate, or can even resign. Not so the slave. A slave can’t resign. And if the slave runs away it is an offence.
Now in the Roman world, as well as slaves, there were employees too. They were the freemen. They could chose who they worked for and received wages in compensation for their services and could change employers as we can today. But Paul is not addressing these people. If he was, it wouldn’t say slaves here, but employees. He is addressing slaves.
So what can we get from this passage today if it is talking to a class of people that we don’t have amongst us today? Well a few things. Firstly we can learn of the Christian attitude to slavery and that helps us to understand history and the role of Christianity in the abolishment of slavery. We can also learn some lessons we can apply to the workplace, although we must do so with some limitations because the passage does not directy address the employer-employee relationship. And finally – this passage makes some assumptions about the Lordship of Jesus Christ which we can learn from.
So firstly: The Christian attitude to slavery. One criticism of Christianity is the allegation that the Bible supports slavery. People say, “why did Paul include slavery in this list of people to obey? Why did Paul tell slaves to obey their masters?” Well to answer that, first we must say that Paul does not endorse the institution of slavery but rather acknowledges that it existed. At the time Ephesians was written up to half of the population were slaves and Christians were a tiny minority. They weren’t in a position to do anything about slavery. And so Paul gives instructions on how to work within the system that we have. Elsewhere in the New Testament Paul tells us to obey the governing authorities. Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Paul didn’t write this as a subject of a good government. He wrote this as a subject of the Roman government which was pagan, corrupt and would soon persecute Christians. Whatever you might think of the result of our recent election, the government we have now in Australia is much better than the government Paul was under. And yet he tells us to submit to governments, whether good or bad. And so slavery was part of that system and so he tells the slaves to work within the system.
But we know that slavery is not the ideal In the Old Testament slavery between Israelites was banned by the Law. Leviticus 25:39-46 explicitly forbids Israelites from enslaving other Israelites. And Paul himself in 1 Timothy 1:10 lists slave trading as a vile occupation – a sinful thing to do. But if you were born a slave in Paul’s time, God’s will was that you needed to submit to your earthly master, unless you had the opportunity to legally become free. In 1 Cor 7:21 it says that if a slave had the legal opportunity to become free he should take it: 1 Corinthians 721 Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) But if you can’t gain your freedom – then submit.
But where we really see the Christian attitude to slavery is in the very fact that Paul addresses slaves here. Because he addressed slaves we know that some of the believers, Christians in Ephesus were slaves. That’s significant. Why? Because in Christ we are all equal. And later on in this verse Paul reminds the slave owners of that when he says 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. There is no partiality with God. We are all His children – whether slave or free. The Christian slave owner had to treat his slave as His brother in Christ! As it says here in verse 9, the masters are to do the same to the slave as the slaves are supposed to do to the masters! That is, in verse 7 the slaves are told to serve their masters as if they are serving God and now the masters are told to do the same to their slaves!
This totally turns the whole authority/submission thing on its head. The one with authority is to serve the one he has authority over. This was radical in the Roman world. In fact as Christianity grew and spread over the next few centuries after Paul wrote Ephesians and eventually became the most popular faith in the Roman Empire, the New Testament’s influence eventually led to the abolition of slavery in the Roman Empire.
So Christianity does not endorse slavery, but rather endorses the equality of all before God. And from this we can learn about relationships with each other. We heard a couple of weeks ago from Dave D’Amour from Grace Bible Church about servanthood. How Jesus who has authority over everyone else, came not to be served
but to serve.
And here we have one of the most perverted of human relationships – slavery. Where there is a world of difference between the slave and the owner. In some cases, the life of the slave is literally in the hands of the owner. And Paul tells the owner that as far as God is concerned there is no partiality between the slave and the owner. As far as God is concerned, they are on an even keel. That was revolutionary. And if that applied to slaves and slave owners, then it applies to everyone else. Especially as Christians we must serve each other, not pulling rank and using authority or position for our own ends.
Another thing we can learn from this passage, s that, yes, we can learn about workplace relations. But we mustn’t push this one too far. An employee is not a slave and an employer is not a slave owner. So what can we learn? To understand what we can learn, we need to understand the difference between a slave and an employer. The fundamental difference is freedom verses lack of freedom. Someone who is not a slave, who is an employee, is free. That means their work for their employer is based on negotiation and contract. The give their service in return for something - usually money. If you are an employee and you don’t like your conditions where you work, you can negotiate, you can always look for another job and leave the one you are at. You have that choice. A slave didn’t have that choice. No negotiation. No option to resign or even retire. So when we look at how this passage applies to us, we need to bear that limitation in mind.
One example of this is verse 5 where it says Ephesians 65 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling. Now when it says master here, this is the word kurios which is normally translated as Lord in the Bible. That is – it refers to someone who owns something, who has complete control over that thing or person. In the case of a slave – it is his or her owner. But if you are an employee, your boss is not your master. Yes while you are working he or she has the right to direct your work, but he doesn’t have complete control over you. And when your work hours are finished the authority over you finishes. So while a slave had to obey their master with fear and trembling, an employee is in a different relationship than that. But despite that, we can draw lessons from the rest of the verses. Our passage continues:
Ephesians 65 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
We can see a few things here a slave should do as he or she serves his master. Firstly he should obey his master not in the way of eye-service. That means – not just looking like you are obeying – or working to please others. But to obey and serve as though you are serving Christ. We see throughout this passage that the work of a slave was not just for a person – for the owner, but was work for the Lord. Now if the work of a slave for his master can be counted as working for the Lord, so can any work. The work of an employee also counts as work for the Lord. And this isn’t just for an employee, but if you are self-employed, the work you deliver to a customer is working for the Lord. The lesson for us is that when we serve others - our employers, our customers - we are to do it as to the Lord. That is, not just putting on a show of working, not just doing a good job when the boss is watching, but always, as you would to the Lord.
We ought to be doing the best we can, and as it says here in verse 6, doing it from the heart. And as we serve our employers, our customers, as we do it as unto the Lord, it says here we are doing the will of the Lord. So for us who are employees, we can learn these things from this passage.
And for those who are over others - the employers, bosses, managers over others. We can learn from verse 9:
9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
If a slave owner, who according to Roman law owned the slave and had the right to sell him - if he was commanded through the Bible to not threaten his slave, if he was commanded to do the same to his slave as the slave should do to him, if the slave owner was commanded to remember that God is the master of the slave owner as well as the slave, and if the slave owner is reminded that there is no partiality with God, then how much more then that this also applies the employer, the manager, the team leader, the boss, who today doesn’t have nearly as much power as a slave owner. If you are an employer, manager, boss, then don’t make threats to those under you. Treat them well, remembering that in God’s eyes there is no partiarlity.
So we can learn about employer-employee relationships from this and I would ask us all to think about how we are serving those whom we work for, whether employers, customers or others. Are we doing the best job we can? Are we serving them as though we are serving the Lord? Are we serving from the heart? Are we serving with good-will and zeal? And if we aren’t working as we should, then if we can see our work as service to the Lord, then hopefully that will motivate us to serve better.
Now speaking of service to the Lord, that brings us to our final point and perhaps the most relevant for us here today. There is an assumption that comes through this passage. The assumption is that the Christian will want to serve the Lord - the Lord Jesus Christ. And that the Christian will want to serve the Lord with zeal with his or her whole being. In verse 5 slaves are told to serve their masters with a sincere heart as they would Christ. In verse 6, slaves are told to serve not just with eye-service – when they are being watched - that is, not to serve as people pleasers, but to serve as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.
So - what is the assumption? The assumption is that as Christians we will want to serve Christ with a sincere heart. It is that we will serve Christ – not to please people, not just when other people are watching - but serving Christ with zeal from the heart. That is the assumption. And the question for us all here to today is, do you desire to servie Christ with a sincere heart? With zeal? Whether or not anyone notices or not?
And in a sense this is not just the assumption of this passage, it is what this passage is all about. You see – what marked a slave? What defined a slave? It was his lack of freedom. Picture a slave in Roman times. He or she hears the Gospel, becomes a Christian, is wonderfully delivered from sin as we’ve heard in the early part of Ephesians. He or she has been delivered from sin, gone from death to life, received the amazing spiritual blessings we have in Christ. This slave is a new creation, putting off the old self and putting on the new. The slave is wanting to be an imitator of God. The slave is filled with the Spirit and wanting with all his heart to serve the Lord – his master - with zeal.
And he or she can’t do this completely. Why? Because he is a slave. He has another master as well as Jesus. An earthly master. You see in Greek, the word for Lord and master is the same. It is the word kurios. We know that as Christians we have one Lord and master - the Lord Jesus Christ. But the problem was the slave had another Lord - his earthly master. So the slave had two lords. One whom he wanted – Christ.
The other he had no say over – his earthly master. What was he to do?
You see you or I, we are free. At 5 o’clock or whenever your knock off time is, you can leave your work, you are done for the day, you’ve done enough for the day to get paid enough to live on. And the rest of the time you have free, to give in service to the Lord in whatever way it is you can serve the Lord. You and I can do that because we are free. But the slave was not. He had two masters. And so how could he serve the Lord with undivided loyalty? How? That was the slave’s challenge. And so Paul tells him how. It is not his choice to be a slave. We know that because elsewhere in the New Testament as we have seen, the slave it told to gain his freedom if he can. It’s not his choice to be a slave. Through no fault of his own he has divided loyalties. So what is he to do? And so Paul tells the slave that the way he serves the Lord Jesus is to serve his earthly master as if he is serving the Lord Jesus. That as he serves his earthly master, so he serves the Lord. That’s how he can serve the Lord.
But what of us who aren’t slaves? We are free. And this is the main way this passage today does not apply to the work relationship. You see, many of us have become slaves of our work. Slaves of our employees, customers. We have let them become our Lord when they don’t need to be. Sure – we need to earn money to live, to bring up our children, and the Bible repeatedly tells us the honour and dignity of work and that we should work to earn our living and not rely on others unless we can’t work for some reason. But the question is - how much do we really need to work? Have we let our work become our master? The slave had no choice, but we do.
Let us only have one master. Sure we have to work, but don’t let it rule you. Make sure Christ is your only Lord. What are you doing with this life Jesus gave you? What are you doing with the time, resources, and talents He gave you? If Jesus is your lord, master, then use them for him. Let Jesus be your only lord and master. After all, He has chosen you before the foundation of the world. God has adopted you as His child. He has redeemed you, forgiven your sins, promised you eternal life. Taken you from death to life, removed the barrier between you and God and others.
And God has done that for a purpose: so you can put off the old self and put on the new. So you can imitate God. So you can serve Him in unity with other Christians, using your gifts to build up the church, making the most of your limited time, to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.
We are not slaves – we have no earthly masters. Let us use our freedom to serve our only master with zeal, doing the will of God from our heart, not to please other people, but as servants of Christ our Lord and Saviour.
