WWUTT 083 Bondservants and Masters (Colossians 3:22-25)

In Colossians chapter 3 and in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6, Paul talks about husbands and wives, parents and children, and bondservants and masters.

How does bondservants and masters fit into the family dynamics of marriage and parenting?

Well, we're going to talk about that today when we understand the text. You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to the sound teaching of the

Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

And don't forget our website, www .utt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In the book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul writing to the Colossian church, he has opened up this letter by preaching

Christ first and making sure that the Colossians understand that Christ is preeminent.

He is above all things, and we are to be completely satisfied in our

Savior. In Christ do we find all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And then once he has established this with the

Colossians, then he begins to address the threats of false teaching which have come about in Colossae.

Now, it is a threat of false teaching that comes from outside the church, unlike when Paul wrote to the Galatians and the false teaching was within the church.

Then in chapter 3, so first of all, talking about Christ, secondly, addressing false teaching.

Then we get to chapter 3 and Paul expounds on how this theology that he's been talking about is applicable to everyday life, basically the process of sanctification.

How do we walk in holiness? How do we display that we are citizens of the kingdom, that our lives are hidden with Christ in God?

And that's what we're reading about in Colossians chapter 3. So we see some basic commands on how it is that we are supposed to treat one another.

We're supposed to have compassionate hearts. We bear with one another, forgiving each other as the

Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Put on love, which binds everything together.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. We teach and admonish one another, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God and whatever we do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the

Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Then we have some interpersonal relationships going on, wives and husbands, children and parents.

And then the third context is bondservants and masters, and that is where we are today.

So in verse 17, where we read, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the

Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Understand that then as Paul gets into interpersonal dynamics, that we are supposed to love our spouse to the glory of God.

Wives submit to your husbands, giving thanks to God the Father through Christ. Husbands love your wives, giving thanks to God the

Father through Christ, right? You tracking with me? Verse 20, children obey your parents in everything, giving thanks to God the

Father through Jesus Christ. And fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged.

But as we also talked about yesterday, teach your children in the training and the instruction and the discipline of the

Lord and doing this, giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus Christ our

Lord. So today we get to that third context. 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. Whatever you do work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the

Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the

Lord Christ for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong that he has done and there is no partiality.

Lord, as we come into this text today, I pray that you will guide us and teach us as we study this together.

And we need your spirit to be able to understand and discern the word of the Lord. So by your spirit, illuminate these things for us and teach us what it means to do all things to the glory of God, giving thanks to God the

Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is in his name that we pray. Amen.

Okay. So what I just read to you was basically Colossians chapter three, verses 18 through 25.

And the comparison text that we've been using this week is in Ephesians chapter five.

So let's go back there together again, Ephesians chapter five. And as with the past couple of days, we will start in verse 15.

Now remember here that we have three contrasts followed by three commands and then three contexts.

And so here are the three contrasts that we read. And first of all, Ephesians five, 15, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

So there's the first contrast that we see there. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the

Lord is. That's the second contrast. And the third one in verses eight in verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Holy Spirit. And then following our three commands, addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart. We've read that also in Colossians chapter three. The second command is in verse 20, giving thanks always and for everything to God, the father in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Just read that also in Colossians chapter three. And then the third command in verse 21, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

And then the three contexts that follow that last command branch out of that command, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

And then we see those interpersonal dynamics, wives and husbands, children and parents, bond servants and masters.

And in all of these things, we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord, and they do this to the glory of God. Now, a husband submits to his wife also in the sense that he gives her the role of the example of submission.

So a husband is not to submit to his wife in the sense that he makes her the head of the household, because then he would actually be unsubmissive to her role and unsubmissive to God in what

God has designed the husband to be for in the marriage unit. He's supposed to be the head of the household.

So he would be living in disobedience in that sense if he were to submit to his wife as the head of the household, because that is not the way that God has designed the family.

The wife is to submit to her own husband as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its

Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

She is the greatest earthly example of how we are to be in submission to one another.

Husbands are supposed to be the great earthly example of the way that Christ loves his church, giving himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

So the husband, as the head of the household, displays Christ in the way that he sanctifies the church.

The husband sanctifies his wife. He is to be the spiritual provider. What does the head do for the body?

The head provides everything for the body, nourishes the body. It's the control center of the body.

Not that a husband is controlling over the wife, as we tend to understand that word control in our culture, but that the husband might guide his wife and lead her according to the scriptures and his whole household.

So this is not just husband with his wife, but also the way that a parent would lead their children.

A father leading his children in the training and the instruction of the Lord, which of course is the instruction that comes later on.

So skipping down to Ephesians chapter six, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

Honor your father and your mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the

Lord. As we read in Proverbs, whoever does not discipline their children hates their child.

We discipline our children in love. And Proverbs is very clear that this includes spanking.

And we have a what video about that, which I'll play for you here. Proverbs 13 24 says, whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Is the Bible seriously advocating spanking with this verse? Yes, it is. Physical discipline, corporal punishment, whatever you want to call it, it is a common instruction in the book of Proverbs because folly is bound up in the heart of a child.

But the rod of discipline drives it far from him. But understand the motivation behind this form of punishment.

It is not anger, but love. He who loves his son will discipline him. Spanking should not ever be something a parent uses to vent their anger.

It is to lovingly teach a child. Make sure your child understands why they're being punished. This will help to bring them to an awareness of their sin, then use that to point them toward the saving power of the gospel.

The harshness of the rod in Proverbs is not spared in the New Testament. Hebrews 12 uses the same words from Proverbs to describe the

Lord's discipline. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. If not for his discipline, we'd be illegitimate children.

All discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

It's true that there are a lot of cultural stigmas against spanking, but do not be intimidated. Spanking is not child abuse.

As Proverbs 23, 13 says, if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. In fact, when used lovingly and biblically, it will help to save your child from death when we understand the text.

And there you go. Our much controversial video on the subject of spanking. And appreciate

Todd Friel's ministry, Wretched, for playing that particular video. They've played it on their show before. OK, so we come back to Ephesians chapter six and now we're up to verse five.

We've talked about husbands and wives, children and parents. And here we talk about bond servants and masters.

Bond servants obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would

Christ. Not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the

Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the

Lord, whether he is a bond servant or is free. 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.

Tomorrow, we're going to look at these commands in a context of an employer employee relationship.

But for today, I want to look at this in the context in which it is given. Notice that Paul has talked first about husbands and wives, then parents and children.

And now he's getting to bond servants and masters. It seems like the third wheel. It looks like the odd one out.

Why in the world would Paul talk about these family dynamics and then get to bond servants and masters?

It's for this reason. So that masters would consider their bond servants family.

And so that bond servants would consider their masters family. Now understand me clearly.

This is not Paul endorsing slavery, not what he's doing very clearly.

In first Timothy chapter one, Paul says that those who enslave others will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So he does not endorse the institution of slavery. He wanted to systematically dismantle that unjust institution.

But here was the situation here. The Roman Empire, a third of its citizens, a third were bond servants.

So this was not something that was going to be quickly eradicated. You also have to consider that there were not many

Christians in Ephesus. There was probably just one church. So when Paul is sending his letter to the

Ephesians, he's addressing one church in Ephesus, which would have been just a few dozen people. It wasn't like a mega church.

Okay. So this wasn't something that was quickly going to be dismantled. It was going to be a systematic changing of the heart in Christ Jesus that would undo this master bond servant thing that was going on in the

Roman Empire. And one of the ways that Paul was encouraging this system to be dismantled was that bond servants consider their masters as family and masters consider their bond servants as family.

Paul does this with Philemon when he writes to Philemon about Onesimus, Onesimus had stolen something from Philemon and had fled and came into Paul's household where he was in Rome.

Paul led Onesimus to Christ and then sent Onesimus back to Philemon with the letters also to the

Ephesians and to the Colossians. And so at the same time that those letters are being delivered,

Onesimus is carrying this letter back to Philemon, who was probably living in Laodicea at the time.

So then when Onesimus arrives back in Laodicea, presents the letter to Philemon and Paul appeals to Philemon and when you go to Philemon and read it, and I would encourage you to do so very short letter.

But when Paul is appealing to Philemon, he says to him, I could tell you what to do.

As an apostle, I have the authority to tell you what to do. But here's the thing. I want to give you the opportunity to do the right thing.

And the right thing for you to do would be to receive Onesimus not as your slave, but as your brother, not to treat him as you have every right in the

Roman Empire to treat him as a slave, but that you would instead show the loving kindness of Christ to him as a brother of Christ.

He is no longer your slave. He is a brother. I have led him to the Lord. You are my child because I led you to the

Lord. And so Onesimus is my son as well in this way. And so that's basically how

Paul appeals to Philemon in that particular letter. So then here in Ephesians, when

Paul presents the bond servant and master dynamic in the context of family, he is saying this so that bond servants and masters would consider each other family.

But notice that he says here in verse five, bond servants obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling.

So there still needs to be this matter of respect. You still need to treat your master as though you know that he has the government granted authority to do to deal with you very harshly.

Now, of course, when we're talking about slavery in this context, we're not talking about slavery as we understand it from the

Civil War era prior to that or the North Atlantic slave trade. That's not the kind of slavery that we're talking about.

A bond servant. And you might be reading a translation where it says in Ephesians six, five slaves obey your earthly masters.

But here in the English Standard Version, it's translated as bond servant. It is from the

Greek word do loss, and it can have multiple meanings. The most common kind of bond servant was a person that owed a debt to somebody else.

So to work off that debt, they became their bond servant. So that's the most common kind of slave to another person.

But then there were also slaves in the sense that the Romans had conquered another group of people.

And so that people who were conquered became the slaves of those who conquered, you know, that sort of a thing.

There was some prejudice going on, some bigotry. There were those things as well. But for the most part, a bond servant was somebody that was paying off a debt to somebody else.

Bond servants could buy their own freedom and they could run for public office. We have that in the Roman record of people who had bought their freedom and then became governors themselves or entrepreneurs in a sense that they became owners of great plantations and had bond servants of their own.

So a bond servant could do that. When you're looking at it in the Civil War era of the United States, a slave couldn't do that.

They couldn't buy their own freedom. They were a slave because they were black. That was the way that worked in North America and in South America, most of the

Western Hemisphere during that period of time. So that's not the same sort of a thing that was going on here.

But a bond servant still had fewer rights than a person who was free, and they were treated as less than human.

This was one of the reasons why Paul wanted to dismantle this particular system. In the case of Philemon and Onesimus, because Onesimus had stolen from Philemon, Philemon actually had the authority to have

Onesimus killed. So this is one of the reasons why Paul says in Ephesians 6 .5, bond servants obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, understanding the kind of authority your master has.

But do this with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the

Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the

Lord. So ultimately, the kind of freedom that we're after is not a freedom that can be given to us by man.

It is the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus being freed from our sins, from our debt to God because of our sins, which the

Lord paid by nailing it to the cross of Christ. We remember back to Colossians.

So then as we go on here in verse nine, masters do the same to them.

So you also have Paul saying, masters, you need to treat your bond servants with fear and trembling, not thinking that your bond servant can do anything to you.

But you do this in service and in reverence to God. Stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him.

So even when it comes to adopting an attitude that is not bigoted or prejudice, we don't do this to look good in the eyes of the people around us.

We do this in worship to God, in glory to him, knowing that all people have been made in the image of God.

They are image bearers of God. So let us respect one another out of reverence to Christ.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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