Eph 6:5–9 — As Slaves of Christ

Paul has been instructing the Christians at Ephesus with regard to the various authority structures in their lives. We have already dealt with his call to wives, to be subject to their husbands as the church is subject to Christ, and with his call to children, to submit in Christ to the covenant nurture of their parents. We come this morning to the third and final case of slaves, whom Paul commands to serve their masters, not as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ.

But this third section makes us uneasy, because it was one of the major texts that was appealed to in the past to justify the enslavement of Africans in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. What could be clearer? Nowhere does Paul say that Christian slave owners must free their slaves. He only says that they must treat their slaves fairly. And he spends most of his time exhorting slaves to obey their masters with fear and trembling. Paul’s attitude here seems to be miles apart from the fiery abolitionist mindset that regarded all slavery as a monstrous evil that must be eradicated immediately irrespective of the consequences.

This whole subject of American slavery is particularly relevant for us as Presbyterians, since many of our Presbyterian forefathers appealed to the Bible to justify the institution of slavery in America. For example, in 1850 the southern Presbyterian theologian James Henley Thornwell wrote an eloquent speech called “The Christian Doctrine of Slavery.” Although the very title is appalling to us, we must not sit secure in our own feelings of outrage, for whether we like or not, we are the theological descendants of our Presbyterian forefathers of 150 years ago. Thus, I believe the time has come for the conservative Presbyterian churches to publicly declare our repentance and to denounce the misinterpretations and abuse of Scripture that were used to justify the evil of slavery. And we must also frankly acknowledge our role as Presbyterians, our share of responsibility for the great suffering and pain that such Scripture twisting has caused untold millions of African slaves and their descendants.

Having said that, however, we must also go on to point out that not all Presbyterians defended slavery as Thornwell and his southern colleagues did. In 1818 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church unanimously adopted a resolution condemning slavery:

We consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ.

In addition to such corporate statements, there were individual ministers like Albert Barnes, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, who wrote a devastating critique of slavery based on careful exegesis of Scripture. Barnes’s treatise is still worth reading today, and may be the most comprehensive critique of the pro-slavery argument in print.

Unfortunately, this strong anti-slavery stance did not last. In 1837, the Old School brethren were so scandalized by the Arminian and revivalistic tendencies of the New School Presbyterians, that they organized a lockout of the New School commissioners to the General Assembly. This is one of the saddest moments in Presbyterian history, for in order to secure the votes needed to get rid of the New School men, the conservative northern Presbyterians, who were generally opposed to slavery, agreed to be silent on the issue, in order to gain the support of the southern Presbyterians. By means of this political maneuver, without due process, approximately 45% of the ministers, elders, and laypeople were deprived of their membership in the Presbyterian church. The division of 1837 severely weakened the witness of the Presbyterian Church against slavery, because the New School men who were expelled, men like Albert Barnes, were among the most vocal opponents of slavery.

Eight years after the split of 1837, the Old School General Assembly, now fatally compromised on the issue of slavery, declared that slave-holding is not a sin. The GA appealed to passages like the one before us here in Ephesians 6. In their minds, this text seemed to imply that slave-owners were regarded as members in good standing in the early church. Therefore, the GA argued, to denounce slave-holding as sinful would be tantamount to charging the apostles of knowingly tolerating public sin.

Eighteen years later, during the Civil War, the Presbyterian Church returned to its original stand against slavery - but only after the southern Presbyterians withdrew to organize their own southern Presbyterian Church. In 1863, the same year that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the northern church proclaimed that the original decision of 1818 was their true position, in effect rescinding the compromise of 1845 and reaffirming its conviction that slavery is “totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ.”

Ephesians 6, then, played a significant role in the history of our church and its shifting attitudes toward slavery. And so this raises some troubling questions. Was the 1845 GA right when it argued that according to Ephesians 6 slave-ownership is not inconsistent with a credible profession of faith in Christ? Or did the declarations of 1818 and 1863 show greater fidelity to Paul’s insights into the gospel? To answer these questions, I’d like us to consider the following facts.

First, the type of slavery that Paul was familiar with in his day wasn’t nearly as degrading as American slavery. Race-based ideas of the inherent inferiority of the slave were not a factor in Roman times. American slavery was a racist institution, and depended for its justification on the notion that the Africans were so morally and culturally inferior as to be incapable of living responsibly in the state of freedom., Without blinking, Thornwell stated that “subjection to a master [is] the state in which the African is most effectually trained to [achieve] the moral end [or fulfillment] of his being” (Collected Writings, vol. 4, Banner of Truth, p. 421).

Another major difference, perhaps the most important difference, between American slavery and Roman slavery is that the vast majority of Roman slaves were given their freedom by age 30. American slavery, by contrast, was a life-long servitude. Only a very small percentage of black slaves were set free by their masters.

We must also keep in mind the American slave laws which made it illegal to teach slaves to read. These laws were utterly inconsistent with the claim of many southern slave owners to be concerned about the spiritual condition of their slaves. Although there were a few isolated cases of Christian slave owners who broke this law in order to teach their slaves to read the Bible, the vast majority of slaves were illiterate. As a result, of their appalling ignorance, few slaves had any clear understanding of the gospel, and what Bible knowledge they did have was often mixed with pagan superstitions.

By contrast, many Roman slaves were quite educated. In fact, secretarial functions like writing were thought to be menial tasks suited only for slaves. Many slaves in the Roman empire even held public office, or exercised positions of responsibility and authority in managing their master’s estates. Thus, the slave population of Paul’s day was far more likely to be able to read than the American slaves.

These are just some of the significant differences between Roman slavery as Paul knew it and African slavery in America. These historical facts were frequently overlooked during the nineteenth debates over slavery, but they go a long way toward explaining why Paul did not regard slave-ownership to be inconsistent with a profession o faith in Christ. As practiced in Roman times, the lot of slaves depended to a large degree on the kindness of their master. If they had a Christian master, who heeded Paul’s exhortations, they had an excellent chance of bettering themselves by the time they reached adulthood. In many ways, then, Roman slavery, as touched and influenced by Christian principles, would have become a benevolent institution akin to the temporary debt bondage of the Old Testament.

And yet we must not paint an overly romantic idea of Roman slavery. It was certainly a sinful institution based on kidnapping and forceful enslavement against one’s will, as was American slavery. Roman slaves yearned for their freedom just as much as African slaves. And both were frequently subject to brutal floggings, back-breaking menial labor, and sexual abuse.

In view these evils commonly associated with slavery in Roman times, Paul’s exhortations to slaves and slave owners in our text were far from being a defense of the status quo. What we have here is nothing less than a clarion call for the gradual withering away of slavery as it comes under the liberating and transforming sway of the gospel.

The very fact that Paul would address slaves directly is unprecedented. In traditional Greek and Roman discussions of household management, the master was the one who received the instructions on how to rule his slaves, but never were the slaves directly addressed. Furthermore, Paul treats the slaves as full members of the body of Christ, as ethically responsible individuals needing the same exhortations showing them how to live in light of their union with Christ. Thus, Paul’s pastoral treatment of slaves as equal in Christ was an example to the slave owners in the congregation.

Then there is Paul’s utterly outrageous statement in verse 9. Having just exhorted slaves to serve their masters with sincerity of heart, with fear and trembling, not as men-pleasers but as servants of Christ, Paul then adds, “And masters, treat your slaves in the same way” (NIV). It was unheard-of to say that masters ought to treat their slaves in the same way that slaves ought to treat their masters.

Furthermore, Paul’s rejection of threatening as a method of exercising authority over slaves was also out of step with the culture of his day. Slave owners were not only known to threaten their slaves with beatings, sexual abuse, or being sold away from their loved ones, but this kind of treatment was regarded as the only effective method of keeping one’s slaves in subjection. Paul therefore warns slave owners that they will have to give an account on the day of judgment for how they treated their slaves. And he adds, there is no partiality with God. Slave owners won’t receive special treatment simply because of their higher social status. Before the bar of divine justice, master and slave are equals, and will be judged equally on the basis of God’s perfect equity.

In sum, Paul was no abolitionist. In a sense, Paul was even more radical. He called for a total transformation of the relationship between slave and master on the basis of their equal submission to the Lordship of Christ. Paul’s mind does not move in the path of social or political activism. His ethical reflection is taking place within an entirely different universe of discourse. Paul’s exhortations are founded on the new reality that has dawned in Christ and in his body, the church, the eschatological new society of heaven on earth. Paul thus introduces a new dynamic into the slave-master relationship. He lifts them both to the new and higher plane of existence in Christ, in the new creation. In such an atmosphere, slave ownership on the part of Christians is destined to wither away and die. It is true that Paul never requires Christian masters to free their slaves, but he gives them a new set of gospel-centered principles, which, if put into practice, would sow the seeds of slavery’s ultimate demise. And if Paul was concerned to counter the evils associated with Roman slavery - a form of slavery that would have appeared benign in comparison with American slavery - how much more would he have wholeheartedly approved of the declaration of the 1818 General Assembly that American slavery is “totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of Christ.” That same Assembly went on to denounce slavery as a “blot on our holy religion,” and urged all Christians to make every effort to erase that blot from the church of Jesus Christ. The abolitionist call for immediate emancipation might not have been necessary, had the churches exercised their pastoral and disciplinary oversight to call their slave-owning members to greater fidelity to the gospel at this point.

Now that we have cleared up a few of the misinterpretations that have encrusted this text, we must delve even deeper and see how it applies to us today, after the abolition of slavery. One of the common misapplications is to view the slave-master relationship as having its modern parallel in the employee-employer relationship. My objection to this application is that it soft-pedals the evil of slavery, as if there is really any analogy between a slave and a paid employee. Furthermore, this application is too narrow. Paul specifically expands the principles he lays down in this text as applicable to all believers: He says, at the end of verse 8, that all believers “whether slave or free” will be rewarded for their toil in the Lord.

Paul’s concern in this text is that we must regard ourselves, in whatever station in life that God has placed us, as slaves of Christ - whether we are literal slaves or literal free men, whether employed or self-employed or unemployed, whether stay-at-home mothers or students in school. We must do all things, even the most menial task, as servants of Christ, doing all of our work with the sincere motive of doing it as unto Christ.

Read vv. 5-8.

In verse 6 Paul deals with one of the common temptations that Christian slaves often faced. Paul says, “not by way of eye-service, as men-pleasers.” The term “eye-service” means “serving the eye,” in other words, doing your work as a slave only to be seen by men, in order to please men. This was the temptation of performing their assigned tasks, only in order to curry favor with their master, to receive praise and perhaps better treatment - and this might include receiving better food or clothing from one’s master. Thus, rather than seeking the honor and recognition of Christ, a slave who is laboring according to eye-service, would be seeking only the honor and recognition of men in this life.

How can we avoid doing our work with eye-service, as men-pleasers? The key is to see yourself as “a slave of Christ,” as Paul says in the middle of verse 6, and, accordingly, to perform your work “as to Christ” (end of verse 5), or “as to the Lord and not to men” (end of verse 7). Such single minded sincerity and purity of motive is possible only as slaves recognize that in serving their masters, they are in fact serving Christ. To perform menial tasks with sincerity, with a godly fear and reverence, is impossible apart from an act of faith by which the human master is regarded not as he is in the flesh as the representative of Christ himself.

So far so good, and we dealt with this in depth several weeks ago when we looked at “the fear of Christ” in Eph. 5:21. But it what does it mean to be a slave of Christ? This is not an easy concept for us. It seems abstract. Well, Paul spells this out in concrete terms in verse 8. To be a slave of Christ means serving Christ in the conviction that “whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord.” The issue of who is the one to whom we look for recognition and reward - that is the key to laboring, not as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ.

Notice that Paul does not teach that we must avoid any and all thought of reward or recognition. Many Christians mistakenly think that doing good works with an eye to receiving the reward is a wrong motivation. We are taught to look not for the reward, but to think only of the glory of Christ. Such may be the self-righteous religion of moralists and do-gooders, but it is not the religion of the Bible. The Bible plainly teaches that “without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those who seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

Now part of the reason that we stumble over the biblical exhortation to serve the Lord with an eye to the reward is that we have a wrong view of the reward. Rewards are not to be thought of in crass terms as some physical treasure that will be given to us in heaven. The reward is being honored by Christ, being publicly praised and acknowledged by him as having done the work in his name and for his glory. It is best to think of it as Christ not forgetting your work but remembering it, taking note of it, and acknowledging all you have done in his name at the day of judgment.

Matthew 6:1-4. Notice that being seen and honored by men means that you already have your reward in full. Thus, when the contrast is made between being honored by men and being rewarded by God, we may rightly conclude that the reward that God gives is that he sees in secret and honors us for our service unto him. Jesus and Paul are in perfect agreement.

Yes, there is the danger of having improper motives in our service. But the problem is not whether we are seeking honor and recognition, but whose honor and recognition. Legalists are those who do good works to receive praise from men. Sinners saved by grace, on the other hand, are looking ahead to the praise and approval of Christ. The very fact that you are looking beyond the applause of men, waiting beyond this world to the next for a divine approval - that is what sets you apart from those seeking to be justified by works. This is the whole point of the great catalogue of men and women of faith in Hebrews 11. Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going, because he was seeking a heavenly homeland, a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Moses forsook Egypt, because he was looking for the recompense of the reward. Even Jesus himself, the author and finisher of our faith, endured the cross for the joy that was set before him and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It is precisely because their eyes were fixed on the heavenly reward, that all these gained approval through faith.

Believing that we will be rewarded is crucial to serving Christ with the zeal and sincerity of heart that Paul speaks of here. Imagine a slave who reasoned in his heart: “I worked so hard to serve my human master, but all I ever got for it was more beatings and mistreatment. Everything I did was a colossal waste of time. Why did I even bother?” Such a defeatist attitude is an attitude of unbelief, a denial of the eschatological reward. And what do you suppose will be the quality of the labor produced under such conditions of unbelief? Only he who believes in future rewards is able to truly please Christ.

And notice that Paul applies this logic to the menial, secular work that was the primary occupation of Roman slaves. Tending to the crops, milking the cows, keeping the master’s house clean, and preparing meals - none of these tasks appear to have any spiritual significance in the same sense that ministry or evangelism does. And yet Paul invests such menial work with eternal significance, if it is performed as unto Christ. What comfort and encouragement is contained in that one word, “whatever.” “Whatever good thing each one does he will receive back from the Lord.” Nothing we do evaporates into thin air. Nothing enters a black hole never to be remembered. Believe it, you humble servants of Christ who labor unseen in the thankless tasks of daily life, you will receive it all back from the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, if you are going to persevere in good works, without growing weary in well doing, then you must keep your eyes fixed on the reward. No human being on earth may take note of all your hard work, your daily grind, your long commute to work, or your weariness to the bone. Yet there is an all-seeing, all-knowing eye in heaven, taking note of all that you do. And on that day, that great day of reunion when you behold your heavenly Master and Savior face to face, he will say unto you: “Well done, good and faithful servant. I hereby honor you, in the recognition of your many years of humble, faithful service to me. Enter now into the joy of your Lord.” Your highest joy, your eternal reward, will be to hear the voice of Christ himself as he declares the pleasure that he takes in everything that you did for him, since you did it, not to receive the fleeting honor and recognition of men, but to receive the commendation, the approval, and yes, the pleasure of Jesus Christ himself as he takes pleasure in you and delights in your faithful service to him.