In our last post, we explored the relationship between a husband and a wife. What are the roles of the husband and wife and what does that look like? The apostle will now move to the rapport between other household members within a family, that of the children and the slave’s relationship to the house’s head whose role is as father and master.
The Text
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him. (Ephesians 6:1-9)
Obey Your Parents
While we talked a lot about submission in our last post, Paul switches to a different term when related to the other house members, mainly focusing on obedience. In return, the head of the house has responsibilities of his own to follow. Let’s start with the children. Since the commands to the fathers and children are to be read in the church, there is at least a hint that the congregations consisted of families and in return that the children who are exhorted to obey were old enough to do so. This contrasts the negative connotation of children not obeying which was a sign of depravity (Matthew 19:19; Mark 7:10; Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2). But what we don’t want to miss is that whether the wife’s (5:22), the children’s or the slave’s obedience, are all to be done “in the Lord”. This is their service to God. In the case of the children, they are to be obedient to their father.
The expression “This is right” is probably a reference to establish the righteousness of the command through the Old Testament law which he’s going to quote in the very next verse. With that said, many societies in the first century, including the culture in Asia Minor which the Ephesians had been exposed to their whole lives, had embraced the necessity of children’s obedience to their parents. Bringing in the OT law was a means to attribute God’s righteous standard to it and to truly give it credence. These Ephesian believers would have already understood the significance of this obedience, but Paul wants to establish it further by quoting a portion of the law and making sure that they understand that the outcome of this obedience is the glory of God. While many people, even today, see the necessity of children to be obedient to their parents, this is based upon their own upbringing. With that said, this is probably why we are seeing the decline of the family and the rebellion of kids. Parents are trying to treat their children as equals or, in some circumstances, the relationship takes a twist, and the parents are obedient to the children. This new parenting decline is brought into light in our day because those who promoted the obedience of children to their parents had no foundation. There was no outside source to determine that this strategy to parenting was “right” because they left God out of the picture. We live in a secular atheistic society that has no basis behind judging right and wrong and we are seeing this in the lives of children.
Pleading the 5th
The support for this command comes from the 5th commandment to honour your father and your mother found in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16. Paul stresses that this is an important commandment because it is the first one with a promise. Of course, the 2nd commandment comes with a promise of showing mercy to those who obey His commandments. But as many commentators point out, this is more of the acknowledgment of His character than a promise. The promise was that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” While some have made a big deal about the usage of the term “earth” as pertaining to a more universal promise (which we agree to a degree), it can also be translated as land as well. The point here is that a blessing accompanies the obedience of the children to their parents and a society that raises their children in this way will be a blessed society.
Provoking Dads
In v.4, Paul now turns to the responsibility of the fathers in the relationship. Notice that in v.1, the children are to obey their “parents” while in v.4, it’s only the father that is mentioned not to provoke them to anger and to bring them up in the discipline of the Lord. The first of these, to not provoke to anger, is probably meant as an intentional act. The intention of raising the children should be with the goal of seeing them grow in the Lord. If this obedience by the children is met with unreasonable demands, abuse of authority, humiliating the children, constant condemnation, or even excessive discipline, whether in words or actions, this is not going to benefit the child. Fathers are supposed to build them up, not crush them.
The term “bring them up” could also be translated as “nourish” like Christ nourishing the church in 5:29. Instruction here probably means educating them in the things of God, like in the Great Commission, teaching them obedience in all that Christ had left them (Matthew 28:18-20). Discipline is probably speaking more in terms of correcting them (1 Corinthians 11:32; 2 Corinthians 6:9.) These two things take effort. To be a good father to the children, time needs to be reserved to focus upon these things. This also doesn’t mean that the mother can’t help with the discipline and instruction, but that the oversight and responsibility to see this happening in the home is on the father. The goal is that they be instructed in the things of the Lord so that they may come to know Him. The father also becomes a sort of representation of the authority of God that a child will grow into as a Christian.
Hebrew Slavery
While a wife to be subject to her husband or a father in raising your kids with discipline isn’t controversial enough, we now turn to the household relationship of slave and master. When slavery is mentioned, most revert back to the times of black chattel slavery prominent in the Western world. While slavery still exists today, mostly in the form of human trafficking, this is the primary historical comparable that is brought up. But in New Testament times, the prominence of slavery wasn’t based necessarily on race. There was also a difference between Roman slavery and Hebrew slavery. Roman slavery was brutal and extraordinarily cruel. The Hebrews largely started out as slaves and the nation started with their freedom from slavery. Of course, because of their God conquering their masters who happened to be the most powerful nation on earth at that time. The treatment of slaves was inducted into the nation’s law. The Hebrew slave was to serve for 6 years and allowed to leave on the 7th year (Deuteronomy 15:12) and provisions were to be awarded to him (Deuteronomy 15:13-14). We must also consider the redemption afforded to a slave during the year of jubilee (Leviticus 25:47-55). If the slave ran away from his master, presumably because of mistreatment, you were not to return him to his master and allow him sanctuary in the city (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). There were largely two ways that an individual became a slave: (1) they were the plunder of a conquering army or (2) they sold themselves into slavery to pay a debt (Leviticus 25:47).
Slaves in the Household
One of the things we’ll notice about this form of slavery is that they were in a household. They were supposed to be cared for with the provisions of the house. I’m not persuaded that this section addressing the slave (vs.5-8) or its parallel in Colossians 3:22-25, is meant to communicate the oppression of the slave but rather it’s a means of coping with the situation of slavery. While they were to remain slaves, the difference was that they’re work should have a different focus than the pagan slaves. They were not exhorted to rebel but to be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh. But Paul’s exhortation doesn’t stop there, the focus of their submission needs to be as to Christ. Their work and service need to be conducted with fear and sincerity of your heart, because ultimately it should reflect the service to Christ. Much like the service to one another (5:21) and the respect shown to the husband by his wife (5:33), their service and their respect for their masters needs to be shown in the fear of Christ with a view towards heaven. Masters would control their slaves through fear, and Paul is saying that the fear they should have shouldn’t come from their masters but a fear of Christ. Because Christ is Lord of all, the Christian slave’s predicament needs to be focused upon Him. If all things are summed up in Christ (1:5,9,11) then He should be the focal point.
Eye-Service
Their service was not for “eye-service” or to become “man-pleasers”. Even in their service as slaves, the primary focus upon their work was to be to glorify God. God wants the heart of free men or slaves so that in everything they do, they do it to His glory. As they served in the household, they needed to abase themselves to their master, but even more so to Jesus. Their motive should be to do the will of God in whatever circumstances and to do it with their whole heart. While we cannot compare our employment to this form of slavery, we should however take a moment to reflect that if even a slave was to do all to the glory of God, how much more should we who are free in our labours!
A Reward from the Lord
Paul continues his address to the servants by stating that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. Ultimately, the reason that they should continue in obedience to their masters, was that they would eventually receive a reward, not from the owner of the house, but from the Lord. The idea of receiving what is due to you, is not only for the slave but for the free man as well. This is an OT concept found in Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12. At the end, this position of slavery will not matter since we are all one in Christ and will receive an inheritance from Him (Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
The Master’s Task
We now turn to the responsibility of the master. In the world of those living in Asia minor, the philosophy was that the slaves were largely the enemy of the house. Masters, for the most part, were abusive demagogues who kept their slaves in fear so that they would not dare disobey. But Paul here is saying something all together different. He’s commanding these masters to “do the same thing”. But what is this “thing” they are supposed to do? I believe that the “things” are similar to the “thing” in v.8. There is supposed to be goodwill shown to these slaves and it is to be done in the Lord. The first thing is to give up threatening. They are to be different than the Graeco-Roman masters. They were to be reminded that, at the end of the day, they were slaves too. These were, in essence, fellow slaves to the Lord and should be treated that way. The masters were accountable to the heavenly master and one day they would be responsible to give an account to that master for their comportment. What’s important to note about the heavenly master is that He is impartial. The masters would not receive a special treatment from the Lord and are accountable to Him.
The Moncton Herald 