Ephesians 5:22–6:9

This Scripture shows that the position of the wife is one of subjection. The wife is indeed told to obey, but the ground of it is the place she holds. A word or two added in the translation has somewhat hidden this. We read, "As the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be." But leave out the word "let." The italics show it was added. Then we have a simple statement of fact: "As the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives to their own husbands in everything." This matters. The obedience asked of the wife then flows out of the position she is set in — the natural fruit of the relationship. In other words, obedience to her husband is not left to the wife's choice; it is to be given because of her relative place.

The apostle speaks of the place where the church has been set, that of subjection to her Head. He is not speaking of her actual practice. Sadly, how much self-will and losing sight of the Headship of Christ has spoiled that practice! But the truth stands: "the church is subject to Christ." He is her glorified Head. The Christian wife is to learn the great principle and act on it.

Such is the general principle. But then, you will notice, there is always a measure and a guard in every such word of Scripture. It is not simply said, "Therefore, let the wives be subject in everything to their own husbands," but "Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be." So Christ's own blessed way of caring for the church, and of dealing with it in its due subjection to the Lord, becomes the pattern for wives towards their own husbands.

There seems to be one limit to this statement. The words in Colossians show it: "Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord" (Col. 3:18). Suppose the husband's will interferes with the wife's own responsibility to the Lord. Suppose it clashes with the Lord's will as given in His word. If she must choose between obeying her husband and disobeying the Lord, then the Lord must have the supreme claim. With this one exception her submission to her husband must be complete.

Wives are told to submit to their husbands. Husbands are never pressed to keep their wives in subjection. The duty pressed on them is to love their wives.

The subjection of the believer to the Lord, or of the Church to Christ, is no curse or bondage. These are now the models for the wife's subjection. She is to be subject to her own husband, "as to the Lord," and as "the Church is subject to Christ." How beautiful to see a human relationship turned into a picture of the mystery — and a relationship that draws part of its character from the fall! In that mystery God displays His "manifold wisdom" to "the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places."

Husbands are not told to rule. That is not where they are likely to fail. They are told to love. Wives are not addressed this way. With them, love is not as likely to be weak as submission is. So what is put before the husband? "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Once we take this in, it lifts us above the merely natural level. God's own love is our heavenly pattern.

Natural affection is recognised here, but a far higher kind of love is brought in. It re-shapes an earthly relationship after a heavenly pattern. The past, present, and future love of Christ for the church are all brought to bear on the husband's duty to his wife.

The first thing of all is His own love, which nothing outside Himself caused. "He loved the church" — perfectly, as God loves, without limit. Here we see how complete His love is. "He gave Himself." He did not only do something for it: "He gave Himself!" ... The self-sacrifice of Christ was absolute: it was Himself, all He is, and all He was in His perfection. Everything in His nature was behind it: "He gave Himself."

He then gave Himself; and He could give no more.

Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. ... Christ loved the church in all its deep need, and gave Himself for it; then, having made it His own, He cleanses it and makes it fit for Himself. None of us is content when someone we love is not what we would wish. Christ will not be content until the church suits Him completely.

Husbands are to love their own wives by no lower standard than Christ's love for the church (v.25). He gave Himself for it. He did not just give many gifts; He gave Himself. If one is not willing to give himself for an intended wife, he ought not to marry her. Notice what this whole section stresses: love works for the greatest good of the one it loves, and it pays for that itself.

Think of a Christian husband who has spent a hard, stormy day resting his heart on Christ's love and warming himself in it. He does not come home and frown his wife into silence, submission, and obedience. He loves her into it. The only force he uses is his own example — his submission to Christ the Head, his dependence on Him, and his obedience to His Word.

Christ Jesus Himself is woven through every part of it. He Himself is the beginning, He Himself the end, He Himself all the way through. He gave Himself as the beginning; and He presents it to Himself as the end. Meanwhile He tenderly cares for the church.

But what is the object of Christ's love in the future? "That He might present it to Himself" — not to another. Not, here, to display it to the world, but "TO HIMSELF," "a glorious church." Yes, not a church in shame, but glorious, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "holy and blameless" (Eph. 1:4; 5:27).

In paradise, when God built the woman, He presented her to Adam: this is what will happen concerning the church; Eph. 5:27. He has given His life for her. He washes her by His word. He will present her to Himself glorious, with the same glory He Himself has as risen and glorified. This will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. The church is the bride united to Jesus in glory. She is justified, purified, and glorified. A bride in a lowly body is not fit for a Bridegroom in a glorious body.

This is the complete account of what Christ does: He cleanses the Church as well as sanctifies it. All defilement has to go, and in both cases God uses the washing of water by the word. But there is a third and future fruit of His love — "that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." There we have the complete blessing of the Church. Cleansing will no longer be in question. All the love of Christ will have its perfect effect, and the Church will be glorious according to His own likeness.

There are two things by which beauty is marred: spots and wrinkles. The first show defilement. The second come from passion, or from worry and age. Both are the effects of sin — the first directly, the second indirectly. If there were no sin in the world, there would be no spots and no wrinkles. Everyone dislikes wrinkles, clean or not. But only a clean person avoids spots. Someone with dirty habits does not mind them.

So at the rapture we shall all be without spot for ever. Second, we shall be without wrinkle, without any marks of decay. Third, we shall be fully holy in nature. Fourth, without blemish… These four marks mean we shall be stainless, ageless, sinless and blameless in the day that is coming when He presents us collectively to Himself. Nothing less than His own standard will do…

It will have no spot, that is, no defect of any sort. No wrinkle, that is, no sign of age or decay, "nor any such thing," that is, no other defect of any imaginable kind. Could language be stronger or more sweeping? How could that fit the idea that the Lord will catch up only some of the many who make up the church when He comes? In that case He would indeed present to Himself mutilated fragments rather than a church without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Yet they do give us a very different idea of the reality of things from what we often think when we come together, twenty or more of us, let us say, to break bread. All of us are very weak, all failing, all apt to make mistakes. Not one of us is anything to be proud of. We think, "What a poor lot we are!" And it is true. But when we read verses like these, we see that a work of the Lord is in progress upon us.

The Spirit of God here assumes a necessary way of nature, and assumes it with approval. That regard for one's self which each of us is ready enough to give has God's own approval. And then, on this very principle of nature, the apostle goes on to set out the Lord's nourishing care of the Church... So if I can understand my love for myself, I may understand Christ's love to me. My Lord owns the duty I owe myself as a duty He owes to me. He can only nourish and cherish me, as I would nourish and cherish myself.

He is now taking up the common instinct that men naturally avoid pain and take care of themselves. He is speaking only of the fact. He says: look upon your wife as a part of yourself. Anything that would wrong her is that much wrong done to your own body.

And what are nourishing and cherishing? Nourishing is food, and cherishing is warmth of affection. You have the truth ministered by the gifts the Lord gives — that is the nourishment, and saints need nourishment... not just the ministry of all that He is to our souls to form us like Himself; He also leaves out no detail of tender care for His own.

Not only has Christ a heavenly aim, but His love performs the work which, so to speak, is natural to it. He cares tenderly for the church here below; He nourishes it, He cherishes it. The church's needs, weaknesses, difficulties and anxieties are only openings for Christ to show His love... If the end is heaven, He does not leave the church abandoned here. She learns His love where her heart needs it.

It is a great comfort to know this is true of the Church as it is now, when we think of the ruin all around. Does Christ ever cease to nourish what belongs to Him? Impossible. In spite of all the ruin, He has the same care for His people.

Scripture never speaks of Him as Lord in relation to the Church. That clause in Ephesians 5:29, when read rightly, stands: "even as the Christ the Church." To the Church, whether seen as His body or His bride, He is head, not Lord. Lord of course He is; God made Him such... Headship and Lordship both belong to Him, but they are not interchangeable terms. As Lord, He stands apart from all others; as head, He is in close association with what He is joined to.

Christ's care of the church does not flow from prerogative only, but His care and tenderness are exercised over it... The love we have to learn is not supremacy in love, but caring, as it were, for Himself.

Christ's love in cleansing the Church is set here before the Christian husband. That is not so that he should set to work and do the same with his wife. It is so that he may, in a general way, learn from our loving Head in glory to show his love to his wife in tender concern for everything that touches her welfare... There are not a few who show great willingness (I do not say skill) for washing their wives' feet, but let them starve at the same time. If you do not know how to nourish and cherish your wife, as your own body, you are not fit to wash her feet.

What heights and depths this comparison holds! It shows that the debt of love is never paid, but always owed. And yet that love delights to own the debt, and to keep paying it, lavishing care and tenderness on her who has become one with him in God's view.

No one, he says, ever hated his own flesh; he nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. This is the precious side of Christ's love for the present time, which the apostle presents here. His love does the work which, so to speak, is natural to it. He cares tenderly for the church here below. Her wants, weaknesses, difficulties and anxieties are only opportunities for Christ to exercise His love.

Sanctifying and cleansing look on to the presentation in glory. Nourishing and cherishing belong to our journey on earth. His love not only looks on to the glory. It also watches over us on the way there, as we pass through this dark world from which He is absent. He knows the circumstances we are in and the trials we have to meet. He knows our weaknesses and infirmities. In them all He cares for us and meets our needs.

God Himself approves the regard for oneself that each of us is ready enough to give. The apostle says Christ acts towards us on this instinctive verdict of nature: a man is to love his own body. So if I can understand my love for myself, I may understand Christ's love to me. My Lord acknowledges the duty I owe myself as owed by Him to me.

We are, as it were, a part of Himself. We have our existence and our being from Him, as Eve had hers from Adam. He can say, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

We must not take this literally here. But could language set out the mystical union of Christ and His Church more clearly or more forcibly? These words come from Adam's cry of wonder when he woke from his deep sleep. That sleep pictures the death of Christ for His redeemed, so that He might have a Bride for His affections. When Adam looked at his bride he said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." That was literally true of Adam and Eve. It is used as a symbol of Christ and His Church.

The verse is sometimes applied to Christ's becoming man; but it is the reverse of that. It does not mean Christ taking our flesh and bone, but our being made members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. It is our relationship to Christ risen from the dead, not Christ's relationship to us as a man on earth. We are really a part of Himself, united to Him as He now is in the presence of God.

So it is clearly the raised and ascended man who is made head of the body, and set over all things. There was no such man until the ascension. So where people set up the church before Pentecost in their imagination, union loses all its reality and the church loses all true existence. "He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him." We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. All of this assumes the man Christ, and Christ ascended, when union is spoken of — and that is union by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Adam falls into a deep sleep. God takes a rib out of his side and builds a woman from it. Then God Himself marries our first parents. Is not this a beautiful picture of Christ and the church? He falls into the deep sleep of death, and through His death He forms His Bride. Thousands of years later the believers at Ephesus read in Paul's letter how a husband should behave towards his wife. Yet that was not the main thought. Paul used their earthly relationship as a picture of Christ and His church... But if we throw doubt on Genesis, we throw doubt on Ephesians too.

Marriage begins a new estate. Father and mother are to be loved and honoured still, but relied on no longer as protectors. The man departs from his state of dependence as a son to become himself the head of a new house.

Before a man marries, his chief relationship is that of a son. His responsibility is towards his parents. But when he marries he leaves his father and mother and holds fast to his wife. From then on she becomes his chief care, for he and she are no longer two but one flesh.

God established marriage as the first of human relationships. He makes it clear for all later generations that a man should leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is just as clear that the woman should leave her parents to become fully devoted to her husband. The word "cling" is beautiful here. It involves the reality of love, of devotedness and of faithfulness.

I hardly need to say that this verse rules out everything opposed to complete confidence in such a relationship. The husband, if he acts in the spirit of it, has no secret from the one who is part of himself.

The man who loves his wife loves himself, and he is to leave other relationships to be joined to his wife. The Apostle quotes from Genesis. But he states clearly that this is a great mystery about Christ and the church. Christ, as Man, left all relations with Israel according to the flesh to secure His church.

This is sometimes applied to Christ's becoming man, but it is the opposite of that. It does not mean Christ taking our flesh and bone; it means our being made members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. It is our relationship to Christ risen from the dead, not Christ's relationship to us as a man on earth... It is our union with Him, not His incarnation.

The mystery is no longer "hidden in God"; it is disclosed. You must always keep this in mind when you read about the mystery — it is now revealed and nothing is left in the dark. God sets the secret out in His own light, and He expects the simplest Christian to receive it. Could any words do more to destroy the common idea that a mystery means something we cannot understand, and that a godly person dare not look into?

Here we have a special part only: the union of the Church with Christ, as of His body, His bones and His flesh. This union sets the Church in its own special and wonderful place, when all was headed up in Christ in heaven and earth. It is a special mystery to itself.

The emphasis of the Apostle's language is very remarkable. All the mysteries of God are the subject of His stewardship. Even so, the only other place where he speaks of a great mystery is where he describes the coming of the Living One in flesh, and its effects, under the title of the "mystery of godliness." Only one wonder is greater: the Son of God taking our flesh. Next to it stands this mystery, which declares the Church to be the acceptable spouse of Christ.

The relationship of husband and wife is not simply a convenient illustration. Ephesians 5 makes it clear that God modelled marriage on what He had in His mind: the relationship of Christ and the church. That relationship of Christ and His church was in the Divine mind in eternity, and in time God set up the relationship of husband and wife.

The particular way God made Eve out of Adam gives marriage a special holiness. The husband is to cherish his wife as part of his own being. It also supplies a beautiful picture of Christ's relationship with the Church. As Adam was not complete without Eve, so Christ, though Head over all, is not complete without the Church... As Adam fell into a deep sleep, so Christ went into death. As Eve was formed out of Adam, so the Church is given life with Christ, and has His own life.

The word "sacrament" comes from the Latin sacramentum, the oath of loyalty taken by Roman soldiers. So it is a church term, not a Scriptural one. The Latin translation uses it for the Greek word mysterion, mystery. It does so in Eph. 5:32, where the Apostle speaks of marriage. From this, the Roman Catholic church makes marriage a sacrament. The absurdity of this is clear. If the Greek word mysterion always meant a sacrament, the usual church sense of the word would be gone. Think of "the mystery of the gospel," "the mystery of godliness," "the mystery of iniquity." And if it does not always mean that, then on what authority in Eph. 5:32?

The full union is still only a hope. Yet the Christian husband or wife believes that such a relationship exists, and that belief is to govern their feelings about the merely natural tie. Loving from principle, in the power of faith, is something different from obeying a natural instinct... Here we are taught that among Christians, Christ is to be the one rule that governs every relationship a member of His body may be called to fill.

The apostle's "nevertheless" is very important. It has wide application. Clearly the Holy Spirit saw the need for such a qualifying, moderating, regulating clause when, having commented on the heavenly side of the subject of marriage, He adds the words of this verse.

Are not husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, earthly relationships? Unquestionably. True, they are formed on a heavenly model and to be carried out after a heavenly pattern... Still they are relationships in nature, formed on the earth and to be carried out in daily life. There will be no such relationships in heaven.

Of what use is it for a man to speak of lofty theories about the heavenly relationship of Christ and the church while he fails every day of his life in his earthly relationship as a husband? His wife is neglected. She may be treated coldly or harshly. She is not nourished, cherished, sustained and ministered to according to the heavenly model of Christ and His church.

The marriage relationship is set forth in the highest possible light... We are to walk in this light, and so the Christian husband is to love his wife as he loves himself — no small standard, that! — and the wife to reverence her husband.

The wife, being "one flesh" with him, he must nourish and cherish her, even as Christ the church. What heights and depths this comparison contains! It shows indeed that the debt of love is never paid, but always owed. And yet love delights to recognise it, and to be always paying it, lavishing care and tenderness on her who has become one with him in the view of God.

The word "fear" is the same as the one translated "reverence" in Ephesians. It teaches that her behaviour should recognise the position the husband holds in God's order and appointment. There is no thought of slavish dread, but simply the loving reverence which seeks to please and fears to offend. This grows naturally out of giving her husband his true place — his place as her head. So when she gives him respect, she also honours God's appointment.

Let her see that she reverences or, literally, fears her husband... Whatever the confidence of a wife in her husband, it is surely a fitting thing for a wife to fear him. Nor is this in the least incompatible with love... Here it is the fear that dreads to offend, and earnestly seeks the husband's honour... The principle always holds. As nothing justifies a husband in not loving his wife, so nothing justifies a wife in not reverencing her husband.

She reverences her husband (it might read, "Fear the husband," Eph. 5:33), while she knows that he loves her as Himself.

We are not to forget that the husband is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to reverently fear her husband. Here lies the true secret of married happiness, and it is because these scriptural exhortations are not heeded that so much sorrow and distress are found in many homes.

The subjection of children to their parents is part of God's order as seen in nature. Under the law, God attached a special blessing to keeping the commandment that required this duty. Christianity takes up the obligation, but transplants it from natural ground to divine ground... So the obligation of children, like that of wives, is tied to "the Lord." It is not just what nature dictates, though that is perfectly right. It is the acknowledgment of the Lord's claims as represented in the parents. The Lord Himself, who "learned obedience," was the beautiful example of this. It is recorded that in His life on earth He went with His parents to Nazareth and "was submissive to them."

Each of us acknowledges Christ as Lord, and we are to carry out the responsibilities of every relationship in the fear of the Lord. The wife is to be subject to her own husband "as to the Lord" (v. 22). Children are to obey their parents "in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:1). Fathers are to train their children in the "admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Servants are to do "service as to the Lord" (Ephesians 6:7). And masters are to remember that they have a Master in heaven.

A Christian household runs easily where the young obey — above all, where they "obey in the Lord." Natural affection is sweet, and the lack of it is a sign of the dangerous last days. But it is not enough. Conscience is not enough either. It matters greatly in its place, but it is not an adequate guard, and it cannot be a spring of power. The Lord is. And how blessed it is when duty is clothed with Him and absorbed in Him!

Obedience is urged on two grounds. First, "For this is right" (Eph. 6:1). That is, God declares that obedience is a righteous thing for children to give their parents. It suits the place of a parent to command, and the place of a child to obey.

Even a little acquaintance with life shows that the first step in a downward career has often begun with disobedience to parents. Write the histories of all the poor prodigal sons and daughters who are now trying to satisfy their hunger with the "pods that the pigs ate." You will find that the root of all their misery goes back to self-will and refusal to submit in their father's home.

It is of the first importance to notice that children are set in direct personal responsibility to the Lord. They are placed under parental authority. At the same time they are under responsibility to Christ, and so they are to obey "in the Lord." This at once defines both the character and the limit of their duty. The commands of the parent, when rightly given, have God's authority behind them, so the child obeys not only the parent but also the Lord. On the other hand, no command could be binding if the child could not obey it in the Lord.

There may be very unusual circumstances in which a parent asks a child to do something morally wrong — stealing, cheating, or worshipping an idol. This would be a plain exception. In that case the child should refuse to obey the parent, firmly but without defiance. Ephesians 6:1 reads, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord." So the child should always obey unless he is told to disobey the Lord.

Obedience describes what children owe in conduct and action. "Honour" expresses something else — the settled feeling they should carry towards their parents. It is an unusually solemn word. It is the same word our blessed Lord uses when He says, "that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." (John 5:23.) … To honour their parents, children must not only accept their position and their right to control them. They must also value and deeply respect them, as those the Lord has set in their place of authority.

Children being subject to their parents is part of God's order as seen in nature. Under the law God attached a special blessing to keeping the commandment that laid down this duty. Christianity takes up the obligation, but moves it from natural to divine ground… So the duty of children, like that of wives, is tied to "the Lord." It is not merely what nature dictates, though nature is perfectly right here. It is the recognition of the Lord's claims, as represented in the parents. The Lord Himself, who "learned obedience," was the beautiful example of this. Scripture records that in His lifetime He went with His parents to Nazareth and "was submissive to them."… The law appears here not to show that believers are under it, but to prove the special value God attached to this duty. He even stepped outside the ordinary character of law by joining a promise to it — a promise that shows the link between this duty and earthly blessing.

A father may be hard and cruel, but his children are still to honor him. A mother may even be irresponsible, but her children are to honor her — that is, to show proper respect. This is not a legal commandment for believers today, yet Ephesians 6:1 shows it still carries moral weight. Our motive is not to submit to legal demands, but to delight in pleasing God.

The command to honour father and mother was the first commandment with promise, as the apostle says when writing to the Ephesians. Other commandments had the threat of death attached to them. This one carried the promise of long life on the earth. The apostle's reasoning is this: if a Jewish child was not only bound, but encouraged by such a promise, to deeply respect his parents, how much more should a Christian child obey them — not merely in the law, but in the Lord.

There is no real difficulty about the force and limits of this command. The relationship it deals with belongs to this life, and so does the promise. What the land was to the Israelite by natural descent, the word of grace now is to those who share in the heavenly calling. For them, godliness holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come (1 Tim 4:8).

There is no doubt a government of God going on through all the present time, and in it these things are fulfilled in a measure… As Christians, they may be taken from the earth when, simply as obedient children, they would have been kept on it. But the Christian's loss is gain, as we know.

The penalty announced against the "stubborn and rebellious son," who would not "obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother," may seem very severe to us. But it shows how much importance God puts on this fifth commandment. If everyone kept it faithfully, there would be very little breaking of the five commandments that follow it.

Children being subject to their parents is part of God's order as seen in nature. Under the law, God attached a special blessing to keeping the commandment that laid down this duty. Christianity takes up the obligation, but moves it from natural ground to divine ground... The law is not brought in here to show that believers are under it. It is brought in to prove how much value God placed on this duty. He even stepped outside the ordinary character of law by joining the command to a promise, and that promise shows the link between this duty and earthly blessing.

If that is how God valued a child's honour for his parents under law, is it worth less now — now that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ makes His nature known and calls us into the relationship of sons to Himself? Respect for that old word met with His approval and reward in the righteous government of God. He watched over and prospered those who honoured their parents. So did His revelation of Himself in grace loosen the obligation for His children? Did it make the love that prompts and sustains such honour less precious in His own eyes now?

The apostle quotes the commandment along with the promise God attached to it in the Old Testament. He does not quote it as something absolutely true for the present time, but to show how important God held it to be... The promise reads "that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth" — or "in the land," which the connection would rather suggest. There is no doubt a government of God going on all through the present time, and in it these things have a measure of fulfilment... As Christians, they may be taken from the earth when, simply as obedient children, they would have been kept on it; but the Christian's loss is gain.

Paul refers to this promise, which has often been a difficulty to some, as though temporal promises now belonged to a certain line of conduct. The citation only shows us how much God valued obedience under the law. However, I believe there is a blessing belonging to obedience to parents. But in the order of the government of God, in the ways of God with us personally in this world, there are important things which modify this.

There is no real difficulty about the force and limits of this command. The relationship it deals with belongs to this life, and so does the promise. What the land was to the Israelite by natural descent, the word of grace now is to the one who shares the heavenly calling. For such a person, godliness holds a promise for the life that is now, as well as for the life to come. It is well with us, and we know and enjoy the Father's favour, as long as we are walking as obedient children in His light.

Israel soon failed badly here. Absalom, son of David, rebelled against his father and tried to kill him, and his days were not long on the earth. A father may be hard and cruel, but his children are still to honour him. A mother may even be irresponsible, but her children are to honour her — that is, to show proper respect... Our motives are not to be those of submitting to legal demands, but of delighting to please God.

This next group in the household is unlike the others. Society, not nature, set up the relationship. The servants named here were slaves. Whether slavery is right or wrong, humane or cruel, is not the point here. Christianity takes people in the social position where it finds them, and shows how they may live Christ in that place. Its work is not to remodel society, but to teach the believer to display Christ.

Even if the care of God had not provided such an answer, one thing would still hold. Conditions are easier for servants now. To use that as a reason to deny their duty to their masters would be ungrateful and base. The ideas of liberty in our day have changed the state of husbands and wives, and of parents and children, almost as much as that of masters and servants. But wherever the relationship exists, the duty remains for each and all.

The same principle applies to employees in any business. They are to take honest care to carry out every duty of their working relationships faithfully, with a sincere heart, as to Christ. If Christ is the Object of our service, it will never become a burden.

As you might expect from the very name, the primary duty of the servant is obedience... and, as with children, the obedience required is almost unlimited... The only limit lies in their higher obligations to the Lord. Scripture does not state this outright, but it clearly implies it when it says, "You are serving the Lord Christ." Up to that limit the servant owes full obedience — so long as the command does not intrude on what he owes to the Lord as His servant... In truth it is the Lord's rule in the household, worked out through the master, whom He holds responsible for its order.

The words "with fear and trembling" do not in the least mean the slavish fear of man that lays a snare. That hardly needs saying. Such service could not be done "with a sincere heart," nor "as you would Christ." Besides, the next words rule this out too: servants are not to work only when watched, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ.

I would point to Philippians 2 and 1 Corinthians 2, and places like them. They show that we ought not to lower "with fear and trembling" to mere dread of punishment. It is a sense of our own weakness, joined with a sense of solemn responsibility before God.

The similar noun aplotees occurs eight times, and is translated in different ways: three times as "simplicity," twice as "singleness of heart," twice as "liberality," once as "bountifulness." It means literally "one-foldedness," a single, simple structure. So its meaning in Scripture is that there should be no hidden motive and no double-dealing in what a Christian does. He should be what people call "transparently honest."

Here again the obligation moves out of the range of the old creation and links to Christ in glory. Like wives and children, the servants are called to give their obedience "as you would Christ." That at once lifts their duties above the legal force of the old system and above the legal contract of today. Even a slave's duties gained dignity and sweetness the moment he could say, "I am doing this to please Christ, not for reward and not to escape punishment."

How good it is to know that our God graciously stoops to connect His name and His glory with the humblest duties of ordinary home life! This is what gives dignity, interest and freshness to every little act, from morning till night... It is not working for wages, but serving the Lord Christ.

"Not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers." The worker's eye is not to be on the master's face. If it is, he will be tempted to please the master, and so become a people-pleaser. The smallest duty loses its value before God if he does it for men instead of for Him. That would be walking by sight, and not by faith.

This guards against a common fault the apostle calls "eye-service." A Christian who wants to please the Lord works with the same energy and faithfulness behind his employer's back as in front of his face. He will not waste time because his master is away, or the foreman is in the next room. He will not put a fine shine on the boots he makes while the soles are mostly brown paper.

What then guards against this eye-service that only pleases men? The lifting thought that we serve the Lord Christ. Our work is for the eye of the Lord in heaven, not only for the eye of the master on earth. Even the dullest work of the lowliest slave is still work done for the Lord of all.

Here again the duty belongs no longer to the old order of this world, but to Christ in glory. Like wives and children, the servants are told to obey as they would obey Christ. That at once lifts their duties above both the force of the old law and the work contract of today. A slave's duties became noble and sweet at once if he could say, "I am doing this, not for reward, and not to escape punishment, but to please Christ."

So the servants stand in the Lord's presence. They are the servants of Christ. They are to do the will of God from the heart, and to keep their eye on the Lord alone. Remembering this is the secret of all happy, cheerful service and of all true obedience. It also frees them from depending on what their masters are like. Christian servants would avoid many traps if they kept this in mind.

Is it not worth noticing how wide and deep the liberty in Christ is? There is nothing violent here, and nothing revolutionary. Yet the change is complete, absolute, and final in its principle and character. A person still has to grow in valuing it and showing it. That growth matters, because it is Christianity worked out in practice… What a gift this is to the Christian slave! What a strong motive for a man who already knows he is free in Christ, with a freedom far above his circumstances.

The grace of God, which brings salvation to men of all ranks and degrees, does not need a change in a person's position in life. It teaches us how to make every position beautiful… People cannot help thinking of Christ when they see His people doing the hardest and most tiring work cheerfully, and without fault, for His sake. Self-interest pushes people to work well. A Christian should work better still, and more sincerely, out of love for Christ.

Nowhere is the honour of Christ so closely tied to the conduct of the believer as in the case of the servant. The hardships of his lot, and the injustice and cruelty he might suffer, only made the power of the life of Christ in him stand out more. And no one else receives so clear a promise of reward: "knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free." What comfort for the suffering slave! He can look past the drudgery and unpaid labour of his lot here, and know that faithful work done gladly for the Lord's sake is not, and never will be, forgotten.

Did they serve unreasonable and cruel men? How lifting and steadying it was, then, to look past the man to the Lord, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive it back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. If the reward fails here, it will surely come at the judgment seat of Christ. Christians are not called to reform the world as they pass through it, but to behave as heavenly people in the middle of it. These principles, though addressed to slaves, apply just as strongly to employed servants.

This principle applies to the poor slave, who is now Christ's servant and so truly free. Suppose the Lord has given him a lowly and trying service. That will be no dishonour to him in the day of final reward. Servant and master will stand together before their common Master. He will reward them not according to the place they filled, but according to the faithfulness with which they filled it. The Master then will be One who Himself took the very lowest place to serve us all.

All service, whatever its character, carries responsibility to the Lord, and here lies the encouragement. His eye is on the faithful servant. He marks his discouragements, trials and sorrows. He holds him up by His approval now, and by the hope of "the reward of the inheritance" he will receive at last from his Lord's hands. Soon He will settle accounts with all His servants. At His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10) each of us will receive what is due for what we have done in the body, whether good or bad.

Hope and fear each have their healthy influence as springs that regulate conduct. Verse 8 states the first of these clearly. It reminds the Christian slave, and encourages him in doing good: whatever good anyone does, he will receive it back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. On the other hand, the next verse warns the master that there is One in heaven whom he also serves, and who shows no partiality.

Not even the cup of cold water given in His name will be forgotten on that coming day. It is not in the heart of Christ to forget the least thing, however simple, done by the humblest of His disciples out of love to His name. And even if the service never gets done, He remembers the honest desire to serve and please Him. Love rewards, but working for reward and working for love are two different things. The labourer in the vineyard who worked for his coin got his coin, but he did not get his master's smile. It is the Christian's happy privilege to work for love.

A Christian master and mistress may realise in their consciences the authority of their Master in heaven, and in their hearts His goodness and kindness. As far as they do, they will "do the same things" to their servants that they wish their servants would do to them. They will give their servants "that which is just" — a matter of conscience towards Christ. And not only what is just, but also what is "equal" (or "fair"), as a matter of the heart in kindness.

Wilful neglect or careless work displeases a master. Everyone knows how strongly he is then tempted to speak harshly, and even to threaten punishment. How many masters have dismissed a valuable servant this way! Feelings rose, the words came out, and pride, it may be, refused to take them back. So the servant has left. The Scriptures show a better way — refraining from threats.

Masters should not use threats either. Threats usually come out of temper. If the master does not carry them out, his authority grows weaker. If he does carry them out to keep his authority, it often hurts both master and servant.

This verse should read, I believe, "their Master and yours is in the heavens." That adds a point of importance: both master and servant are responsible to the one Lord, and will stand together at the same judgment seat.

They will govern, and govern firmly, as they should, because God has entrusted their authority to them. But they will remember that those under them answer directly to their Master in heaven. Along with themselves, those servants are the Lord's servants. So in this respect there is equality, despite the difference in their positions on earth.

The words "knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven" make the principle clear. The Lord's authority limits the authority of masters, and indeed masters are subject to it. So masters are supreme in their own area, and may call for obedience that far. But if they try to push into the wider circle where the Lord alone is supreme, their servants are released from their obligations.

Earth recognises and permits social distinctions, but they have no existence in Christ's judgment. Even a Christian master might forget that. Master and servant will all answer to Him. A low position might cause discouragement; to that person He holds out the prospect of reward for faithful service. A high position might lead to oppression; to that person He holds out the judgment that will follow an abuse of power.

The Christian religion has found its way into the middle of evil, and given liberty where there was none. It has given liberty even to poor slaves, without taking them out of their state of bondage. The gospel does not touch that position. Paul acknowledges slavery as a right when he sends the slave Onesimus back to his owner. He tells that owner that in grace he would treat this slave as a brother.

Believing bosses should be just with their employees and give them fair wages. They should give what is just for the body, the soul and the spirit of the employee. These commands reflect the thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ for the workplace.