Ephesians

Ephesians

Part 16: Slaves & Masters

Ephesians 6:5-9

Pastor Mark Driscoll 01hr:06mn Viewed 8,252 times in over 3 years

Slavery is a shameful page in the history of our nation and history of the American church. Many of the framers of our Constitution claimed to be Christians who considered white men to be created by God with inherent rights deserving representation. But, many were also slave owners who claimed black men deserved only 3/5 representation (as if they were less image bearers of God), an atrocity not corrected until the passage of the 13th Amendment.

Becoming a slave in Paul’s day was very unlike slavery in America primarily in that it was not a racial issue and slaves consisted of all races. A person became a slave by being so poor that they sold themselves into slavery to have a better life, were born into slavery, were abandoned as children and taken into slavery, sold into slavery by parents, taken in war, or were paying off an outstanding debt. This explains why the New Testament does not explicitly order the abolishing of all slavery, because such a decree would have promoted the abandoning of children and financial debts which would have been sinful. However, the New Testament does confront sins commonly committed by both slaves and masters which undermined slavery causing it to collapse.

Ephesians 6:5-9

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 9 Masters, 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.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotation information.

Downloads
Subscribe
Share