IT IS NOT ABOUT YOUR BOSS
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Opening Prayer
As I come to your Word today, Loving Father, I seek your heart, your truth, your wisdom, your power. I need you to show me more of who you are, more of how I can live in ways that bring you glory.
Read EPHESIANS 6:1–9
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”[a]
4 Fathers,[b] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Missionaries today need wisdom dealing with cultural challenges in the places where they share Christ and disciple from the Bible.
Many times I have heard it said that the best way to understand Paul’s words about slavery is to think of the modern workplace, so the text becomes about respecting your boss or treating your workers fairly. In the ancient world, slavery was common, as being employed is common today, but to compare the two in any way beyond this is wrong. Slavery meant you were owned by someone else, that your body was not yours, and that you were not able to decide things for yourself. This text should not be misused either to downplay the evil of slavery or, as has historically been the case, to support its horrors.
Many ask, why did Paul not simply condemn slavery? This is a valid question and one we must wrestle with. While we may wish Paul had done so, we must recognize that what he did say would have challenged the very fabric of the slave-master relationship in his time. He reminds the slave owners that they also have a master, God himself—and he shows no favoritism. While in this life, one may be a slave or may be a master, God will ultimately act to bring an end to this unjust system. Our question is: do we perpetuate or undermine systems of slavery today?
This is no small question. There is no simple or easy answer. One thing we can take from this passage is that the Lord of heaven and earth sees and knows both the slave and the slave owner. Just as God met the slave girl Hagar in the wilderness and she was allowed to name him as ‘the God who sees me’,1 and just as the slave boy Onesimus became a beloved brother,2 so God is with the oppressed today, and he acts to bring freedom, not oppression.
Apply
Spend time praying for the enslaved of this world and ask the Father to make us agents of liberation.
Closing prayer
Father, I pray for the liberation of every person who lives in slavery today. Bring your jubilee of freedom across the face of the earth.
1 Gen 16:13 2 Phlm 16
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