Let as many bondmen as are under yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and the teaching be not blasphemed.
Paul turns to people at the bottom of the social ladder: those owned by another. He gives them a duty that touches God's own reputation. Why does the gospel, which puts master and servant on a level in Christ, tell the servant to honour his master instead of throwing off the yoke?
The verse starts with a picture from farming.
The harness that ties an animal to a cart or plough; and the beam that joins two animals together for any kind of work. It stands as a symbol of servitude and slavery.
Kelly notes two wrong attitudes a servant could take.
Some might praise up other masters; others might dislike or run down their own. Neither attitude comes from faith or suits a Christian. It is no question what their own masters might be: Jew or heathen, vain or proud, immoral or self-righteous, mean, ambitious, or anything else. If God's providence had placed them under a bondman's obligations, they were responsible to Him for counting them worthy of all honour — not because they deserved this or that praise, but simply because these men were their own masters.
Why honour a master who does not deserve it? Dennett points to another relationship God governs.
Servants are to pay their masters all the respect that fits their position. This has nothing to do with the personal character of the master. God tells us to honour kings, and all in authority, because of the office they hold. In the same way He commands servants to respect their masters because of their position.
Readers often expect the apostle to demand freedom instead.
Slavery is foreign to Christianity. But putting earthly wrongs right was not the Lord's object in His first coming; that will only happen when He comes again. So the will of God for His people now is to accept the conditions that mark their times, and in them adorn the doctrine and honour His name.
So what is a Christian to do with the place he finds himself in?
Christianity takes men in the social position in which it finds them, and shows how they may live Christ in that place. It is not busy remodelling society, but teaching the believer to show Christ. He was to be subject to the governing powers; and since these allowed slavery, he was to obey the laws here as in other matters, seeking freedom by lawful means if he could, but if not, being content with his lot.
Paul names God here, not Christ. Mackintosh asks why. He works from an older translation, which reads "God and His doctrine" where the ESV has "the name of God and the teaching."
Notice, it is "God and His doctrine." Why? Because it is a question of power. The name of Christ and His doctrine would put the master and servant on a level, as members of one body. In Christ Jesus there is no distinction. But when I go out into the world, I meet God's moral government, which makes one a master and another a servant. Any breach of that government will meet with certain judgement.
Dennett looks at both sides of that warning.
Christian servants are sometimes very lax; and when this is so, the name of God and His teaching is blasphemed on their account. But God is faithful. Whatever the difficulties of their position, if there is only dependence on Himself, He will sustain them. And if by their behaviour they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, He will cause the fragrance of the name of Christ to spread through them, all through the household in which they live.
The Lord Himself walked this road first.
He "took the form of a servant." Though He had every right to be free, He paid the tax rather than give offence. So the believing servant, under the cruellest and most tyrannical treatment, was to show out the life of Christ in him.
Paul does not treat this as a small matter.
The apostle condemns without reserve any man who taught a different teaching. To undermine the relation of a servant to a master was serious in his eyes, and no less so when people put forward fine excuses and grand-sounding claims. For the duty of subjection flows from the relation; and the faith of those involved strengthens it rather than relaxing it.
- Yoke. The word pictures an animal harnessed for work. In this verse it stands for real servitude.
- Honour. The servant owes honour to the master's position, not to his character. As with rulers, the office commands it.
- Place. Christianity does not remodel society. It teaches the believer to live Christ where he stands, seeking freedom by lawful means if he can, and content if he cannot.
- Name. God's name and His teaching are at stake. The household watches, and reads the servant's conduct.
- Warning. Paul condemns teaching that loosens this bond, however fine it sounds. Faith strengthens the duty; it never cancels it.
And they that have believing masters, let them not despise [them] because they are brethren; but let them the rather serve them with subjection, because they are faithful and beloved, who profit by the good and ready service [rendered]. These things teach and exhort.
Paul turns to a harder case: a servant whose master is a fellow believer. Does being brothers in Christ cancel the relationship of master and servant, or deepen the servant's duty inside it?
Having a Christian master looks like pure relief. But the position has its own dangers.
Having a believing master might seem to promise only comfort and blessing, and no doubt the difference in atmosphere would be great. But every position has its snares and difficulties. Believing masters and servants are just as likely to expect a great deal from each other as to be badly disappointed.
The danger is closeness: familiarity between brothers can wear away respect.
When the masters were believers, there was naturally more familiarity, for they were one in Christ. From this came the danger — for the flesh is crafty — that the servants might not treat their masters with the respect due to them. The apostle guards against this abuse of Christian love, and of the proper closeness and confidence that ought to exist between brothers. That closeness was, on the contrary, a reason for the servant to give all honor to his master, treating him with more love and with the same respect.
The temptation in the early church was to read equality in Christ as release from service.
In the early church it might easily happen that those "under the yoke" misunderstood the new truth. They might assert their equality with their masters, and, because they were one in Christ, be tempted to claim exemption from the service required of them. This instruction was meant to meet that temptation. It teaches that equal standing in Christ leaves earthly distinctions untouched. It is true that master and servant, if believers, are brothers. It is also true that, as far as this world is concerned, they are still master and servant. Christianity does not change or wipe out social arrangements and distinctions; it preserves and strengthens them.
The place decides it: one thing is true at worship, another at work.
The Spirit of God knows how ready the human heart is to take advantage of such circumstances. In the assembly of God, at the Lord's table, the believing master and servant are brothers and members of one body. Outside relationships have no place there. But in the shop or on the farm it is otherwise, and we do well not to forget it.
Commentators differ over who receives the benefit. One reading takes it of the master, who profits from the servant's good work — and he rejects the idea that the word points to God's kindness in Christ.
Faith does exalt the lowly and humble the proud. But it does not misuse fellowship in the Spirit to claim equality in the flesh. Instead, it teaches believers not to despise their masters because of what they know. It teaches them to serve all the more, because those who reap their good service are believing and beloved.
Others take the benefit as the Christian blessings the master shares in.
In the assembly the slave and the master were on common ground, equal before the Lord. There the slave might even be more prominent than his master, because of his spirituality or gift. But believing slaves were not to grow slack in their duties to masters who were believers. Instead, they were to serve them, because those masters were faithful and beloved and partakers of Christian benefits.
The tie between brothers is not a discount on work. It raises the standard.
If the master were a believer, the slave might be inclined to despise him for supporting the principle of slavery while he himself was a brother. But no — the slave was all the more responsible to serve his master, because the master was "faithful and beloved, partaker of the benefit." Learning to serve well is one of the blessed glories of true Christianity. "Teach and urge these things" — they are of no small importance.
The principle reaches into every arrangement where one person works for another.
It teaches the Christian to give full and proper pay to those he employs. It teaches the tradesman to give full measure, and avoid any trick that brings dishonest gain. It teaches the workman to give steady and honest work — as careful when no one is watching as when someone is. And if anyone has a believing master, or a believing servant, he must take no advantage of that fact, as 1 Timothy 6:2 shows.
- Privilege. A believing master is a real mercy, yet every position carries its own snare, and this one is familiarity.
- Danger. The snare is despising — using oneness in Christ as a licence to slacken respect and duty.
- Distinction. Equal standing in Christ leaves earthly relationships intact. At the Lord's table they are brothers; at work they stay master and servant.
- Motive. The very tie that could excuse laziness becomes the reason to serve more, because the one served is faithful and beloved.
- Reach. The same rule covers fair pay, honest measure, and work no one is watching. No believer may take advantage of another.