Bondmen, obey masters according to flesh, with fear and trembling, in simplicity of your heart as to the Christ;
The letter turns from parents and children to servants — people who worked under another person's authority. The instruction is startling. It is not a call to escape, but a call to serve a human master as if you were serving Christ.
The verse gives no hint of a call to change the system these servants lived under.
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.
Paul wrote to slaves. Does the verse still bind an employee who is free to resign?
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 principles reach into ordinary paid work today.
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.
Obedience is the servant's first duty. It has one limit.
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 phrase sounds like cringing before a powerful man. The rest of the verse rules that out.
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.
Read alongside the other places Paul uses it, the phrase carries a different weight.
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 word behind "sincere" is also used for generous giving. Its root meaning shows why.
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."
The last words of the verse change the character of the work itself.
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."
That principle carries into the smallest jobs of daily life.
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.
- Place. Christianity does not rearrange your circumstances first. It takes you where you are and teaches you to display Christ there.
- Limit. The master's authority is earthly. Obey it almost without limit — but it stops where the Lord's claim begins.
- Fear. Not dread of punishment, but a sense of your own weakness and of solemn responsibility before God.
- Heart. A sincere heart is undivided: no hidden motive, no double-dealing.
- Master. Working as for Christ lifts the job above force and contract. The humblest task becomes service to the Lord Himself.
not with eye-service as men-pleasers; but as bondmen of Christ, doing the will of God from [the] soul,
Paul is writing to household slaves whose whole working day was under someone else's eye, and his words hit a habit anyone with a boss knows: working well when watched, then slacking when not. Behind it lies a bigger question — who is the real Master of a Christian's daily work?
The fault named here begins with where a worker's attention rests. One writer traces it to the direction of the servant's gaze:
"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.
The test is simple and hard to dodge. It reaches the work nobody checks:
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.
The verse does not just forbid a bad motive. It gives a better one. Because the worker belongs to Christ, the audience for his work changes:
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.
"Doing the will of God from the heart" changes what the work is. It is no longer a transaction with an employer but obedience offered to Christ:
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."
Once a worker's eye is on the Lord, his work no longer rises and falls with the quality of his employer:
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.
Paul tells slaves to serve well rather than to throw off their chains. One writer sees in this not defeat but a deeper freedom the believer already has:
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 change is inward, so the job itself stays the same. That is what makes the witness visible:
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.
- Eye. Eye-service means the worker's eye is on the master's face. Then even the smallest duty loses its worth before God, because he does it for men. That is walking by sight instead of faith.
- Heart. The cure is not closer watching but a new audience. The work is for the Lord's eye in heaven, so it looks the same behind the employer's back as in front of it.
- Master. Serving the Lord Christ lifts duty above contract and force. The slave who could say "I am doing this to please Christ" found his tasks noble and sweet.
- Freedom. This freedom is real, yet it starts no revolt. The Christian worker is already free in Christ, above his circumstances, and so no longer depends on what his employer is like.
- Witness. Grace changes no one's job. It teaches us to make that job beautiful, so people cannot help thinking of Christ when they see hard, tiring work done cheerfully for His sake.