5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
Commentary
Vs. 5 5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ;
Continuing on from his exhortations to the families the Apostle Paul now moves to the workplace. Today there are not bondservants, but there are employers and employees and so the exhortations here apply to those relationships and responsibilities. To begin then the Apostle Paul addresses employees first, since that is what must of us are, saying, we are to be obedient to our employers in sincerity of heart, as to Christ. Obviously this is not a blind obedience that would requires us to place ourselves (or anyone else) at risk of injury, or prosecution, or scrutiny for violating civil laws or workplace regulations and such given for the direction and safety of all employees. Similarly the employer has no jurisdiction when it comes to an employees faith and conscience, to command anyone to knowingly violate theirs. That said an employee may have to reconsider their employment if an employer would require them to do something that they themselves feel is a violation of theirs, but that decision would be up to the employee and employee alone, for not even the church Pastor has jurisdiction in this, for it always comes down to the individual believer and their own faith convictions and conscience that determine this, therefore do not judge one another in regards to this (see Rom 14:10), unless another believer is using this precept to justify doing a undeniably clear violation of God's Moral Law (1 Cor 5:3-5). Now the manner in which we are to obey our employers is with "fear and trembling". The idea here is not that we be cowering in their presence, but rather we are to respect (if not their person) then the position and the authority God has given them to rule and govern us in the workplace. And thus bad mouthing the boss when they are not around should never be heard coming from any Christians mouth, same with slacking off in the workplace, because the work that we perform there we must view as to Christ, and thus we should seek to serve Him there to the best of our abilities, (first proving ourselves there to Him, so as to be qualified to serve Him elsewhere) and thus let us all serve Him in all honesty and integrity and faithfulness in our workplaces.
Vs. 6 "not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart"
Having commanded our obedience to our employers (see verse 5), the Apostle Paul now addresses the manner in which we are to serve Christ in the workplace. And so we are not to serve our employers (and thus Christ) with mere "eye-service." Meaning we don't try too look busy, or only do what they say we are to do, when they are around. Rather we work in same manner when they are there, and when they are not, "doing the will of God from the heart". Which means we all strive to be a faithful and diligent employee whose employer doesn't have to come and regularly check up on us to see if were doing what we are supposed to be doing, or to see if we are doing our work in the manner in which we were instructed to do it, because they have come to trust that what we are when they are around, so we are when they are away. Thus we don't take shortcuts in exercising our duties, or do things half-heartily, or take unnecessary restroom breaks, or speak ill of others so as to try to promote oneself, or partake in all of the workplace rumors and gossip that inevitably undermine the companies harmony and productivity. Rather as bondservants of Christ we do the will of God from the heart, which is to serve our employers not with eyeservice, but as if we are serving Christ Himself!
Vs. 7-8 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
And so it is we are to serve our employers with goodwill (gr. εὔνοια) which means we are eager employees who willingly and wholeheartedly serve our employers in whatever duties that are assigned to us. Because as the apostle Paul says, what we do in the workplace is in fact our serving Christ Himself and He will reward us according to what we have done there, according to what we have done there in our service towards Him.
Vs. 9 "And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him."
Having addressed us as employees, the Apostle Paul now addresses us as employers. Notice that holding such a position is likewise a responsibility that also carries with it an accounting to our mutual Master in heaven, who does not show favor towards employer or employee, or in fact anyone (consider Deut. 16:19-20; Job 13:10, 31:13; Acts 10:34-35; James 2; 1 Peter 1:17-20).
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Vs. 6 "not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart"
Having commanded our obedience to our employers (see verse 5), the Apostle Paul now addresses the manner in which we are to serve Christ in the workplace. And so we are not to serve our employers (and thus Christ) with mere "eye-service." Meaning we don't try too look busy, or only do what they say we are to do, when they are around. Rather we work in same manner when they are there, and when they are not, "doing the will of God from the heart". Which means we all strive to be a faithful and diligent employee whose employer doesn't have to come and regularly check up on us to see if were doing what we are supposed to be doing, or to see if we are doing our work in the manner in which we were instructed to do it, because they have come to trust that what we are when they are around, so we are when they are away. Thus we don't take shortcuts in exercising our duties, or do things half-heartily, or take unnecessary restroom breaks, or speak ill of others so as to try to promote oneself, or partake in all of the workplace rumors and gossip that inevitably undermine the companies harmony and productivity. Rather as bondservants of Christ we do the will of God from the heart, which is to serve our employers not with eyeservice, but as if we are serving Christ Himself!
Vs. 7-8 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
And so it is we are to serve our employers with goodwill (gr. εὔνοια) which means we are eager employees who willingly and wholeheartedly serve our employers in whatever duties that are assigned to us. Because as the apostle Paul says, what we do in the workplace is in fact our serving Christ Himself and He will reward us according to what we have done there, according to what we have done there in our service towards Him.
Vs. 9 "And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him."
Having addressed us as employees, the Apostle Paul now addresses us as employers. Notice that holding such a position is likewise a responsibility that also carries with it an accounting to our mutual Master in heaven, who does not show favor towards employer or employee, or in fact anyone (consider Deut. 16:19-20; Job 13:10, 31:13; Acts 10:34-35; James 2; 1 Peter 1:17-20).
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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