What is the meaning of "eye-service" in Ephesians 6:6?

The Greek word for servants is bondservants or slaves. Yet God did not give them permission to rebel against slavery, but told them to obey their masters (vs.5-6). Certainly the same principle applies to employees in any business. They are to show honest concern to faithfully discharge every duty of their business relationships in sincerity of heart, as to Christ. "Not with eye service as men-pleasers" -- working only when being watched, and trying to gain special favor by deceit. The ultimate object of their honest hard work is to please the Lord, not men. For God is watching always and we should always practice obedience from the heart. If Christ is the Object of our service, then it will never become irksome. Even in the bondage of slavery, one could so please the Lord as to be well rewarded at His judgment seat (v.8). Every good thing is remembered by Him, whether one is in bonds or free.

It preserves, too, against the not uncommon fault which the apostle calls "eye-service." The Christian who is earnestly endeavouring to please the Lord will display as much activity and fidelity behind his employer's back as before his face. He will not idle his time because his master is away, or the foreman is in the next room. Neither will he put an extra polish on the boots he makes, because the soles consist largely of brown paper.

In verse 22 slaves are addressed, yet the principle applies also to employees and students in school. If even slaves are to be obedient, then certainly those who are well paid have more reason to obey; and students who are taught for their own good should recognize it is only sensible to be subject to their teachers. Their obedience is not to be "eye service," that is, service when the master is watching, but as being at all times under the eye of God, in sincerity of heart, which is the opposite of duplicity, influenced by the true fear of God.

(a) "Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers." The eye is not to be upon the countenance of the master. If it be, the temptation will of necessity be to please him, and thus to be a man-pleaser. The slightest duty is robbed of its value before God, if done to men instead of to Himself. That were to walk by sight, and not by faith.

Now one of the most powerful motives for piety and godliness is to have the fear of God before your eyes in every action, however insignificant it may appear. This is the principle applied by the apostle Paul as a corrective against eye service.

What do we find then is given as a safeguard against this men-pleasing eye-service? The elevating and ennobling thought that we serve the Lord Christ. Our work is for the eye of the Lord in heaven, not alone for the eye of the master on earth. Suppose it to be the common drudgery of the most menial of slaves, it should, nevertheless, be done for the Lord of all.

Next (ver. 5-8), the christian slaves are exhorted to obey their masters according to the flesh (such they were, whether converted or not), to obey them with fear and trembling, in singleness of their heart, as to Christ; not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each does, this he shall receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Is it not worthy of all note the extent and depth of the liberty that is in Christ? There is nothing violent or revolutionary; and yet the change is complete, absolute, final in its principle and character, though one has to grow in the appreciation and manifestation of it. And this growth is important morally, being part and parcel of Christianity practically viewed, where the very first blessing which God's grace bestows upon us in Christ appears not save to faith, has to be realized all through in the power of the Spirit through self-judgment, and is only ours in actual possession and display when that which is perfect is come in resurrection-glory. Still, how blessed, that if in one sense we have nothing, in another and just as real a sense we possess all things. On this truth faith has to lay hold and act; and among the rest, what a boon to the christian bondman! What a mighty motive for him, who, already consciously free in Christ in a liberty entirely superior to circumstances, has for that very reason such a scope for triumphing over his fetters and serving Christ in obeying the worst of masters if it were the Lord's will so to try him! Doubtless, the master too has his duties; but if he fail, what then? Is the slave absolved from his responsibility? How can this ever be a difficulty, if he obeys in simplicity as unto Christ? Does He fail? What a deliverance from every shade of dishonesty! — "not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ [how honourable the title which one shares with an apostle!], doing the will of God from the soul;" for such is the true word here. More than this: not only is there the call with goodwill to do service as to the Lord and not to men, but they are reminded that the day was coming when each, whether bond or free, should receive of the Lord for whatever good he might do. Ample wages then, be assured; for He, at least, is not unrighteous.

What can be wiser or more comforting to the christian slave than the word in 1 Cor. 7:20-24? If such yearned for their liberty, that they might serve the Lord more fully, they are told not to make a care of it, and are assured that "he that is called in the Lord being a servant (slave) is the Lord's freedman," while on the other hand, "he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant" (or slave). Here (Eph. 6) such are told to be "obedient to their masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as to Christ." Did they serve unreasonable and tyrannical men? How elevating and sustaining then to look beyond the man to the Lord, "knowing that whatsoever good thing any man does, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." If the reward fails here, it will assuredly be seen at the judgment-seat of Christ. Christians are not called to reform the world while passing through it; but to acquit themselves becomingly as heavenly men, in the midst of it all. The principles here laid down though addressed to slaves, apply with equal force to employed servants. Eye-service, men-pleasing, is abominable to the Lord, the rather is it His will that service be rendered heartily, and all done in the name of the Lord Jesus. What a view of our hearts we get, that we should need such a word!

We have lastly the address to servants and masters. To servants, who, in fact, were bondmen, slaves, the word is to obey their "masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling," not on account of anything in their relationship to these, but as serving Christ in it, in singleness of heart as to Christ. How everything is raised in character here! The hardship of bond-service is relieved at once by the ability to make it service to Him, where all service is perfect freedom; yet this, of necessity, makes it pains-taking service too. It will be of the best kind, "not with eye service as men-pleasers." If the desire were only to please these, it might be effected by what, after all, is superficial enough; but if we are, as all are, the bond-servants of Christ in spirit, "doing the will of God from the heart," we shall serve with good will "as to the Lord and not to men," and the compensation in due time may be looked for also. "Whatever good shall be done, ye shall receive of the Lord, whether a man be bond or free." Masters, on the other hand, have to remember that they have a Master in heaven. Scripture lowers the hills and raises the valleys. These also serve in their very position as masters of others. They must not, therefore, use their authority with harshness, remembering that their Master is in heaven, and that with Him there is "no acceptance of persons."

Nor is the obligation to obedience weakened by the character of the master. "Servants," writes the apostle Peter, "be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward." (1 Peter 2:18.) The service — obedience — in such a case will be far more difficult. There are masters who so win the hearts of their servants that these esteem their most self-sacrificing, even exacting, demands a pleasure. There are, on the other hand, masters who are habitually so inconsiderate that their slightest requirements are deemed a hardship. The temptation of the servant is to fly to obey the former; and to lag, sometimes even to refusal, to obey the latter. But, as this scripture shows, the duty of obedience is entirely irrespective of the master's character. To forget this would be both to forget that you serve the Lord Christ, and also to fall into the sin of eye-service, as men-pleasers, instead of as "the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men." (Eph. 5:6-7; see also Col. 3:22-23.)