Children and Slaves



Ephesians 6:1-9
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
3“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
4Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
5Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
6not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
8knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.
9Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

Paul ends his discussion of submission with words of instruction regarding children and slaves. (In Romans Paul uses these two groups again to teach us another lesson about belonging to the Lord, but that’s a conversation for another day.) He has dealt with community – the Body of believers that live together and serve one another. He has talked to the huge topic of marriage, where husbands and wives seek to give the other what they have been designed by God to need. Now he addresses those who depend upon us for everything – children and slaves.

First let me say here that Paul is not condoning slavery. He is merely giving instruction as to how to live in this sin filled world in a manner that speaks to the love of God. Slavery is a result of the sinful way we have messed up the world. And don’t kid yourself – slavery exists today as well. We are not so enlightened that we have managed to ban slavery worldwide. Even though we ended slavery (after a bloody war) here in this country, this practice is still found in the world. Paul’s point in this passage is that a person must still live in a manner that pleases God, even if they are a slave. We are taught here to do all things as if we are doing them for Jesus Himself. That means we submit first to God and then to anyone whom He has placed over us.

Paul also has wise words for parents. While it says “fathers” in verse 4, that word actually means parents. Children are to honor, respect, and obey their parents. That’s how it is in a sin-free world. We don’t live there. Children mess up all the time. Now Paul addresses how we deal with their messes. We do so in a manner that does not demean them, crush them, or endanger them. This takes thought, planning, and an unwillingness to play out our brokenness on them. While this is easier said than done, it surely worth striving for as we guide these little ones in the ways of the Lord. Again we come to the path of intentional living.

Ephesians 5:21 says “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Then he spends the next several verses tells us exactly how to do that. That submission touches every relationship in our lives, for we treat every person with the love and care that comes from Jesus Christ. His sacrifice bridges not only the gap that sin created between us and God, but also between us and others. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” There’s a phrase to repeat a few hundred times today!

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