Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:6. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:6

“…not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.“

The words used by Paul here are interesting. The more literal translation is “ not as in the way of eye- service as man- pleasers.” Some commentators suggest this word eye- service was made up by Paul.

Slaves are instructed not to only work while they are being directly overseen, because they are not merely there to please people.

Giving eye- service suggests that our heart is not in what we are doing. Some work is like this – drudgery with no obvious results or sense of achievement at the end of the week. Some people carry no pride in their work, whether it is work they find interesting or not. They watch the clock, desperate to get out of work and get into what they want to do. For such people, diligent oversight is necessary because all they do is give eye- service.

Paul tells those who are slaves that this is not how it is to be for them. As Christians, they are to work for the Lord, not for their earthly master, and put in their full effort. There should be no discernible change of pace when they are being watched and when they are not being watched.

To be a people pleaser is a terrible trap. It may seem congenial to keep the people around us happy, particularly those who wield some form of power over us. To do this consistently requires compromise and deception .

We might be popular because we can always do what people expect of us or because we voice the right opinions. It is impossible to keep that up if people around us have opposing views, or if the demands of one person compete with the demands of another.

To be a people pleaser means that we must sacrifice our integrity and our sense of what we should be doing with our time and money.

Paul entreats slaves not just to please the person that is over them. They must rather seek to please the Lord. Because the Lord is always with them, they are always under supervision and always accountable.

Every follower of the Lord, regardless of their status in life, is a slave of Christ. Whether you are a CEO of a top corporation or the cleaner, to follow Christ means that you are His slave. Our life is no longer in our own hands but in His.

Paul says elsewhere, “You are not your own for you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Therefore, whoever we are as followers of Christ, we are slaves of Christ. Our whole life must be dedicated to serving Him.

This must have been a revolutionary idea for people who were actual slaves. They were unwilling slaves, forced to work for another and without any alternative life opportunities. Paul is saying that they did not work for their earthly master, but for Christ. They might not understand, but their position in life was the will of God, and they were to serve their master as their service to the Lord.

Key points in this verse:

• All of us are to serve from the heart and not give mere eye- service
• Being a people pleaser is a trap which may force us to give up our integrity
• All followers of Jesus are slaves of Christ
• We should see our work as service to the Lord

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:5. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:5

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as you obey Christ” ( literally, “as to Christ”).

For those of us who have only lived in an individualistic, free economy, it is hard to put ourselves into the way thinking of a slave society.

Slaves were seen as part of the household, so the instructions in this section about domestic relationships is entirely appropriate.

Slaves were property, and therefore had no legal rights. They could be subject to corporal punishment, tortured, cooled, used sexually, all at the whim of their owner.

Slavery was a big contributor to the prosperity of the Roman Empire. Ephesus was the location of the biggest slave market outside Rome, and so it was quite possible that many of the members of the church there were, in fact, slaves.

Paul and the other apostles did not see themselves as political revolutionaries. They were more interested in the spiritual liberation of all people through the gospel of Jesus Christ than in the overthrow of the system of slavery.

So, rather than demanding that masters free their slaves, or that slaves run away from their masters, Paul applies gospel principles to their current situation.

His first instruction is that slaves should obey their earthly masters. Literally, the phrase is “ Masters according to the flesh.” Although they are slaves according to the flesh, they are also free people according to the spirit. They are in a relationship to their master determined by the ways of the world even though Christ has set them free.

Christian slaves have no choice other than to obey their earthly master. They also have a Master who is higher. Obeying Him will mean submitting to an earthly master .

They are to obey in fear and trembling. The word fear does not necessarily mean terror, but rather the kind of respect that we should have for people of position or rank. Slaves are to respect or honour their master .

The word “ trembling” does suggest fear as we normally think of that word. Slaves must always recognise that their masters have the power of life and death over them.

Christian slaves, therefore, are to obey their masters with both respect and fear, nursing their authority and also their power over them.

Slaves are to have “ singleness of heart” In obeying their masters. They were to be the best slaves that they could be, doing everything with purpose and enthusiasm.

The reason for this singleness of heart was that they were not serving the master according to the flesh, but serving Christ. They were to see their work as being for Christ as much as it was for their owner.

In our society, slavery is mostly eliminated, although there are traces of it everywhere through people smugglers and the sex industry. This tverse, then, does not apply to us directly. But we can make applications in the area of employees working for a wage.

The Christian is not to see their employer as a class enemy or a part of an oppressive system, but as a brother in Christ or a seeker in need of Christ.

Christians do not have a ministry life that is separate from their work- life. There is no sacred versus secular divide. Our work is our ministry.

Therefore, we are to honour and obey our employers unless to do so would be to disobey Christ. We are to work with singleness of heart doing the best that we can to serve our employer.

This is the so-called Protestant work ethic in which people give their best possible service because their work is their vocation, a service to the King.

Key points in this verse:

• In the ancient world, slavery was a big part of the economy
• We are to have singleness of heart in our work
• We are to respect our employers, seeing them as people for him Christ gave His life
• We should give our best possible effort to our employer