Colossians 3:18-4:1 –
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
4 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
Introduction
I’ve mentioned a number of times before that one of the features expositional preaching is that it means preaching the next passage, whatever that is. Sometimes it’s a passage I’d pick. Sometimes it directly addresses a felt need. And sometimes, like today, it addresses a subject I’d probably never even think of.
And that leads to one of the convictions of expositional preaching: God knows what we need better than we do. Sometimes we feel “needs” that aren’t really needs. And sometimes we don’t feel needs that really are. But all of God’s Word is always true and necessary for all of God’s people. The whole of Scripture alone is entirely sufficient to equip us to live lives pleasing to God. So, whether you knew it or felt it or not, we know we need to know a bit about slaves and masters because God’s Word tells us about slaves and masters.
As we make our way through these few verses, I think two things will stand out. First, I think you’ll quickly see that the wisdom of God is even more awesome than you realized. And second, I think you’ll quickly see that you needed this in ways you might not have realized.
The big idea of this passage is that as servants of Christ, our True Master, we can serve any earthly master with sincerity of heart. Once again, that’s our main takeaway as well.
Bondservants (3:22-25)
The first thing to get our heads around is that slavery was a significant part of the Roman world at the time Paul wrote this letter. It is estimated that between 20-30% of the Roman population at this time were bondservants.
More specifically, there were slaves/bondservants and masters in the Colossian Church. That is, ordinary homes had a husband (master), a wife, kids, and slaves/bondservants. That’s a big reason why Paul includes this instruction for those trying to figure out how to live in light of the preeminence of, and their new natures in, Christ. It was a part of their lives, there were aspects of it that seemed to be in particular contrast with a Christian view of humanity, and so Paul (under the Spirit’s inspiration) wanted to give guidance to this struggling church.
In addition, and probably the reason he gives so much attention to this particular relationship (in comparison to husband/wife and parent/child), is because Paul was sending this letter, along with his letter to Philemon, with Onesimus (4:9). Onesimus was the runaway bondservant who was the subject of Philemon. He had come to faith in Christ under Paul’s ministry and was being sent back to his master in compliance with this passage. This was no theoretical matter for Onesimus, the letter’s currier. And it’s no small matter as God gave us an entire book of the Bible addressing it.
At the same time, Paul’s instructions introduce a number of questions that are hard to miss or ignore. What exactly is a master and a bondservant? Does God mean Christian homes to include servants? Is this an endorsement of slavery? Is the master/slave relationship part of God’s creation, nature, and aim like husband/wife and parents/kids?
Bondservants
Let’s begin, then, by asking the straight-forward question: What is a bondservant? Is that like a slave? Is it more like an employee? This matters for us today in no small way because of the horrific connotations that come to peoples’ minds in light of 19th century slavery in the US. Is this that? And if so, it’s pretty hard to fathom Paul regulating it rather than explicitly and emphatically forbidding it for Christians.
I actually read a decent amount on this, this week. It surprisingly took more study than usual. In the end, I found the ESV translation committee’s explanation to be the most straight-forward and compelling. (You can find it in the preface of the ESV Study Bible if you have one.)
“A particular difficulty is presented when words in biblical … Greek refer to ancient practices and institutions that do not correspond directly to those in the modern world. Such is the case in the translation of … doulos (Greek), [a term which is] often rendered ‘slave.’ [This term], however, actually [covers] a range of relationships that require a range of renderings—either ‘slave,’ ‘bondservant,’ or ‘servant’—depending on the context. … For this reason, the ESV translation of the [word] … doulos has been undertaken with particular attention to [its] meaning in each specific context. … In New Testament times, a doulos is often best described as a “bondservant”—that is, as someone bound to serve his master for a specific (usually lengthy) period of time, but also as someone who might nevertheless own property, achieve social advancement, and even be released or purchase his freedom. The ESV usage thus seeks to express the nuance of meaning in each context. Where absolute ownership by a master is in view (as in Romans 6), ‘slave’ is used; where a more limited form of servitude is in view, ‘bondservant’ is used (as in 1 Corinthians 7:21-24); where the context indicates a wide range of freedom (as in John 4:51), ‘servant’ is preferred.”
From what I read, the ESV’s distinction between slave, bondservant, and servant is justified, but also pretty generous. The bottom line is that to be a doulos (slave/bondservant) in the Roman world was to belong to someone else, such that your kurios (master) had nearly total rights over you; he essentially owned you.
At the same time, however, the practical result of this longer-term “ownership” meant that it was in the master’s best interest to treat his bondservant fairly well, to make sure they were properly fed and housed, to be treated with a certain level of respect and dignity, so as to incentivize maximum productivity over time. Decent treatment is only further encouraged in light of the fact that the kind of bondservants Paul has in mind (evidenced by his inclusion of these instructions alongside marriage and parenting) typically lived in the home with their masters.
With all of that said, the kind of bondservitude that Paul is addressing wasn’t 19th century slavery in America, but it also isn’t a soft institution that a godly person would gladly participate in. Bondservants of this sort endured a wide variety of treatment, but it was entirely at the discretion of their masters, with no legal recourse.
Obey
Knowing, then, what you know about the imagio Dei, the gospel, the preeminence of Christ, our new natures in Christ, and Paul’s other instructions, what would you think Paul’s first charge to Christian bondservants might be?
Run away from this unjust institution, for you have one master who is Christ? Have nothing to do with this wicked practice, you have been freed in Christ? You are owned by Christ alone, have nothing to do with those who suggest otherwise? Go back and demand equal pay, equal rights, a 401k, and reasonable working conditions?
On the contrary, Paul’s first instruction to “bondservants” is to “obey” their masters. He then follows it up with a fairly thorough and certainly ceiling-raising explanation of what he meant by that. In other words, if the command to obey is surprising, then raising the bar for obedience is even more surprising still.
Your Earthly Masters
What’s the nature of the obedience Paul calls Christian bondservants to? As I’ve already alluded to, there is a decent amount that is obscured in our translation. One of the main things is the ESV’s inconsistent translations of doulos and kurios. In these few verses, doulos is translated as both “bondservant” and “serving.” While kurios is translated as both “master” and “Lord”.
To highlight the significance of this, listen again as I read our passage, translating it consistently.
22 Slaves (doulos), obey in everything those who are your earthly masters (kurios), not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Master (Kurios). 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Master (Kurios) and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Master (Kurios) you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are slaving (doulos) the Master (Kurios) Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
4 Masters (kurios), treat your slaves (doulos) justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master (Kurios) in heaven.
The reason this matters is because one of Paul’s main thrusts is to root his charges to earthly slaves/masters in their relationship with their heavenly master. That will become clearer as we make our way through the passage. For now, I hope you can see the consistent NT teaching concerning our earthly relationships: While our tendency is to think first in horizontal terms (in relation to the other person and what we believe they owe us/what we deserve from them), we honor Christ when think first in vertical terms (in relation to the way God treats us and in obedience to how He calls us to live).
The first aspect of the obedience Paul calls “bondservants” to, then, is to obey their “earthly masters” (setting up what he’s about to say regarding their heavenly Master).
In Everything
The second qualifying clause (“obey in everything …your earthly masters”) is almost identical to his charge to children (“obey your parents in everything”). He means, once again, that Christian bondservants are to obey every command given by their masters that does not require that which God forbids or forbid that which God requires.
Grace, as I hope to have already made clear, that’s always the case for Christians under any authority—whether employees under the authority of their boss’s, citizens under the authority of the governing authorities, members under the authority of elders, wives, under the authority of husbands, or kids under the authority of parents.
God alone has true authority. All earthly authority, therefore, is derivative; meaning that it is delegated by God and is, therefore, always subject to God. Christian servants must always obey their masters, but always with the understanding and conviction that God is their first and only true Master.
With Sincerity of Heart
That leads to the heart of Paul’s instructions to Christian bondservants. They are to obey their earthly masters in everything—and here’s the key—with “sincerity of heart” (22). He says essentially the same thing in v.23 as well, “Whatever you do, work heartily.” In 22, the word is literally “heart”. In v.23, it is “soul”. The idea behind both is the same—put your whole heart and soul into your work, Christian bondservants. Paul spends the most time on what he means by sincerity of heart/heartily. He does so by naming three things it doesn’t mean and four things it does.
Negatively, obeying earthly masters with sincerity of heart/heartily means not obeying by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, or merely for men.
- We cannot obey any authority as God intends, if we’re only doing so in such a way that appears to be sincere in motive and competent in nature. That’s what Paul meant by “not by way of eye-service”. Again, it’s the idea of only doing enough to pass the eye-test.
I remember disobeying this charge a number of times as a painter. Without going into all the details, I quickly figured out different ways to manipulate the payroll to consolidate any losses in a single job so as not to miss out on bonuses for the rest. That gave the appearance of excellence in 95% of my work, but in reality was definitely less. Likewise, it was fairly easy to paint over things I shouldn’t have (mold and failing paint, for instance) and make it look excellent for long enough to charge the customer. This was a as a non-Christian and it was only giving eye-service, not with sincerity of heart. - Likewise, Christian bondservants cannot obey heartily when it’s only to deceitfully please their masters. That is, there’s a difference between (1) gladly working hard and doing your best in such a way that serves your master well, and (2) working only to flatter your master, to only pretend to care about your master’s success. The second approach is what it means to insincerely work as a people-pleaser.
In a very on-point, parallel passage, Paul writes, “…am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant (doulos) of Christ” (Gal 1:10).
Christian bondservants want to please their masters in their work, but they cannot honor God and work as mere people-pleasers. As Paul highlights in Galatians, and as we’ll soon see in this passage, the God-honoring alternative is to work primarily for the pleasure of Christ. - Finally, negatively, and perhaps surprisingly (certainly to non-Christian masters), we cannot serve with sincerity of heart when we work only for our master. That is, even if we do the most excellent work, eager to be a blessing to our master, if it isn’t ultimately for our One True Master, we dishonor both. That’s the heart of what Paul meant when he commanded bondservants to work “not for men”. We are best for our masters when we work first for the Master.
Christian bondservants must not obey by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, or merely for men, Paul wrote.
Positively, then, obeying with sincerity of heart means working in the fear of the Lord, working for the Lord/serving the Lord Christ, trusting that you will be rewarded by the Lord, and as one ultimately accountable to the Lord.
- For a Christian bondservant to obey while “fearing the Lord” (that is, fearing their heavenly Master) simply means doing so with an ever-present awareness of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God. Exodus 20:20 contains Moses’ words to the Israelites who were overwhelmed by fear of God, having just seen “the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking” as Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’” Fear God so you don’t need to fear Him.
The best analogy I know of is to imagine yourself standing on the edge of one of the cliffs of the Grand Canyon. It is only when you have a proper fear of the more-than-a-mile drop that you need not fear as you look out at the vastness and majesty of the Canyon. A healthy fear keeps you back far enough not to fall off the edge, so that you are free to appreciate the glory of God’s creation.
That is the essence of Paul’s first charge to bondservants—you honor your heavenly Master and earthly master well when you work for them in the fearless fear of God. - His second is for them to work first “as for the Lord.” This is the opposite of the negative, “not for men”. In 3:17, he says it like this, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
The idea and application are straightforward. Our tendency is to put in the amount of effort and aim at a degree of excellence in our work that is commensurate with our level of respect for the person we’re working for.
Kids, imagine for a minute being asked to help sweep up a mess that your sibling made. How eager are you to do so and how important is it to you to do your absolute best? If you’re like me, the answer to both is “very little”. I probably would have made fun of my sister and told her to clean it herself. And if, for some unusual reason, I would have agreed to help, I’m confident that I’d have put in the least possible effort in doing so.
On the other hand, now imagine that your earthly hero (your favorite athlete or musician or artist or politician or general or, most likely I’m sure, pastor) asked you for the same help. Again, if you’re like me, that’s an entirely different situation. You’d consider it a privilege to help your hero clean up and you’d try your best to do so in a way that’d impress them. And if you have a category for that, how much more so would you be eater to work hard and excellently for Jesus?!
That’s Paul’s charge to Christian bondservants: Do everything you do as if you were doing it for Jesus; because you are! - Third, bondservants, it’s almost certain that you will receive very little, if anything at all, in the way of a reward or inheritance from your master on earth. If you put your hope in that, you’ll almost certainly be disappointed. It’s entirely possible that you’ll never even get an “atta boy” or a “thanks very much” or a “well done, good and faithful bondservant.”
It’s so easy, isn’t it Grace, to base our attitudes and actions on the praise of others; to, at the very least, base our perseverance on getting the response we think we deserve. We might try something once or twice, but we struggle to keep doing it if the person we’re doing it for isn’t sufficiently appreciative or at least kind.
At the same time, Paul demolishes and accepts that line of thinking. He demolishes it by essentially acknowledging that earthly masters don’t work like that. But he accepts it by offering certain praise and an even higher reward as motivation. In other words, Paul commands Christian slaves to obey their earthly masters in heart and soul, motivated by the promise that God will reward them for their faithful service way beyond and regardless of whether or not their earthly master does (Matthew 6:4).
This is true of our every work as well. We must not be motivated to work as God commands by the praise and reward of men that may not come, always fades, and is never perfect; but by the praise of God that always comes, lasts forever, and is entirely complete in every way. - Finally, fourth, Christian bondservants must obey their earthly masters, working heartily, in the knowledge that even if their poor work or poor attitude gets by their master on earth, it never escapes their Master in heaven. That is, even if their earthly masters fail to notice and discipline their incompetence or insubordination, it will never go unnoticed or undisciplined by God, “For [v.25] the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”
God sees and justly deals with all wrongdoing, either on the cross in Christ or in hell. It makes no difference if you are slave or master, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, male or female, young or old, black or white, there is no partiality in God. He does not judge by any outward appearance.
This is just as true for all of us who cut the cross-country course, or cheat on our school assignment, or bill for a few hours we didn’t work, or … Whoever is in charge of us on earth may miss it or misrespond to it, but we are not mainly working for him/her, we are working mainly for God who misses and misresponds to nothing.
The basic argument of this whole section is that Christian bondservants are ultimately bound to Christ. Everything we do on earth is ultimately for Christ. Therefore, we must not work for or respond to anyone on earth as if we were working for or responding ultimately to them. Once again, 3:17 ought to be ringing in our ears, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Masters (4:1)
While Paul’s instructions to Christian masters is short by comparison, as I mentioned earlier, we have an entire book of the Bible that describes God’s heart and mind for masters (Philemon). Short and to the point, then, Paul simply writes…
4 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
In Roman culture, servants were considered property and were treated as such. In Christian culture, servants are understood to be created in God’s image every bit as much as their masters and are to be treated as such: justly and fairly.
Likewise, in Roman culture, masters were considered owners and acted as such. But in Christian culture, every master is first a slave of Christ, and ought to act as such: humble, accountable, treating others as they are treated by God and would like to be treated by fellow man.
“If a Christian owned a slave, the highest duty to which that master could be called was not to set the other free but to love the slave with the self-giving love of Christ” (Moo, PNTC,372-373). This was a revolutionary idea. Rightly applied, it would flip the Roman world on its head. And that leads us to the final section and a few lingering questions.
Bondservants and Masters in the Kingdom of God
All of that leaves one key set of questions unaddressed: Is the master/slave relationship at all rooted in God’s creation, nature, and aim? Why does Paul seek to regulate (rather than abolish) this institution in Christian homes? Is all of this at least a tacit endorsement for slavery?
The fact that Paul regulates the master/servant relationship within Christian homes rather than prohibiting it is a hard pill to swallow, at least on the surface, and is certainly tough to make sense of in light of the gospel.
But there are three things to see that ought to shape our view of this.
Freedom Is the Heart of the Gospel
Unlike marriage and parenting, which are rooted in God’s creation, nature, and aim, slavery is the result of the fall and its abolition is the heart of the gospel. The first and main thing I want to draw your attention to, then, is that the notion of treating another human as if they were not created in God’s image is abhorrent to God and any institution that is built on that will be done away with entirely one day.
That’s why Paul condemns “enslavers” (people who enslave people) in the same way as he condemns the lawless, disobedient, ungodly, sinners, unholy, profane, parent-hitters, murders, hetero and homosexually immoral, and liars (1 Timothy 1:10). That’s not a company you want to keep. It is a sin for which Christ died and one that will be thrown into the pit of hell.
The other side of that coin, and even more to the point, is that the central message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came to free us from spiritual slavery.
John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Paul’s Instructions Effectively End Slavery
The second thing to see is that to the extent that Paul’s instructions are obeyed, is the extent to which slavery ends. Without explicitly commanding its abolition, God inspired Paul to give instructions to His people that would take all the oxygen out of the slavery air. The wisdom of God is wise beyond measure.
“The New Testament certainly does not endorse the institution of slavery; nor does it encourage Christians to buy or own slaves. It presumes that some Christians do own slaves, and encourages them to bring to bear on that relationship their Christian principles and values” (Moo, PNTC, 376).
And in this …
J.B. Lightfoot, 325, is “A principle is boldly enunciated, which must in the end prove fatal to slavery.”
Bruce, 197-98, is created “an atmosphere where it [slavery] could only wilt and die.”
Moule, 11, “Paul ‘applies an explosive charge to the whole institution.’”
Which is exactly what happened and continues to happen today wherever this biblical principle is followed. As the gospel takes increasing hold, these things will become unthinkable. In the meantime, God called His people to care well for those already in their charge, disrupting the system and serving as a light to the world.
But why go about it in such an indirect way? Why not just prohibit it explicitly? That leads to the final principle.
Our Response Matters More than Our Circumstances
The bottom line is that Paul never called for the freeing of bondservants as a mark of Christian faithfulness. Indeed, as I mentioned, we have an entire letter that applies Colossians 3:22-4:1 to master and bondservant. In that letter, Paul never even addresses the question of the Christian master freeing his Christian bondservant. In that, he helps us to see: (1) No matter our earthly station, our primary identity and allegiance are immutably rooted in Christ and (2) No matter our earthly circumstances, we can honor Christ in them, and so we must as our first priority.
(How we are to think of and respond to the unjust circumstances of another is a different issue altogether, one for another sermon.)
It continues to be an entirely counterintuitive (and sometimes, like here, shocking) reality that the NT gives essentially zero instructions for, or priority to, helping Christians change their circumstances. Its focus is exclusively on how we demonstrate that our hope is in Christ in our response to them (remember, Paul was in prison as he wrote Colossians and Philemon).
That is the heart of Paul’s related instructions in 1 Corinthians 7.
1 Corinthians 7:17, 20 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.
Very practically, then (1 Corinthians 7:21), “Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)
Why? (1 Corinthians 7:22), “For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main point of this entire section (Colossians 3:18-4:1) is that if we are to honor Christ in our circumstances, whatever they are, we must recognize Christ as master of our circumstances. Everything we encounter as followers of Jesus is an instrument of Jesus for our redemption. In that way, we can glorify God as a bondservant to a cruel master, a wife to a bad husband, and a child to unbelieving parents, every bit as much as we can as a missionary in a previously unreached land bursting with revival.
But what we can’t do is glorify God when we’re more interested in changing our circumstances than fixing our eyes on Jesus in them; when we’re more interested in escaping them than being faithful in them; when our hope is tied to fixing our circumstances more than trusting Christ’s promises for them.
The big idea of this passage is that as servants of Christ, our True Master, we can serve any earthly master with sincerity of heart. May we do so with increasing trust in our sovereign, wise, and good Master who is over them all and working unspeakable glory in them all.