Ephesians: Slaves, Be Obedient to Your Masters
Ephesians 6:5-6 - Work hard, because the Lord is watching, even if no one else is paying attention.
“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”
Ephesians 6:5-6 NASB1995
One of the modern criticisms of Christianity is that it allegedly “tolerated” or even encouraged slavery. This criticism reflects a complete lack of understanding of what it means to be a new person in Christ. Jesus was not a revolutionary who came to overthrow existing governments; He was the Son of God, the second Adam, brought to Earth to free everyone from their servitude to sin, regardless of their life circumstances, as long as they repent and believe in Him. This elevation of the dignity of humans created in the image of God subtly undermined the existing slave/master regime that ruled throughout the Roman and Greek empires. Historians estimate that there were over 60 million slaves in those empires and their lives were considered expendable.
Here is what William Barclay says about slaves during those times, as quoted in Precept Austin:
In law he was not a person but a thing. Aristotle lays it down that there can never be friendship between master and slave, for they have nothing in common;
“for a slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.”
Varro, writing on agriculture, divides agricultural instruments into three classes—the articulate, the inarticulate and the mute. The articulate comprises the slaves; the inarticulate the cattle; and the mute the vehicles. The slave is no better than a beast who happens to be able to talk. Cato gives advice to a man taking over a farm. He must go over it and throw out everything that is past its work; and old slaves too must be thrown out on the scrap heap to starve. When a slave is ill it is sheer extravagance to issue him with normal rations.
The law was quite clear. Gaius, the Roman lawyer, in the Institutes lays it down: “We may note that it is universally accepted over the slave.” If the slave ran away, at best he was death over the slave.” If the slave ran away, at best he was branded on the forehead with the letter F for fugitivus, which means runaway, at worst he was killed.
The terror of the slave was that he was absolutely at the caprice of his master. Augustus crucified a slave because he killed a pet quail. Vedius Pollio flung a slave still living to the savage lampreys in his fish pond because he dropped and broke a crystal goblet. Juvenal tells of a Roman matron who ordered a slave to be killed for no other reason than that she lost her temper with him. When her husband protested, she said: “You call a slave a man, do you? He has done no wrong, you say? Be it so; it is my will and my command; let my will be the voucher for the deed.” The slaves who were maids to their mistresses often had their hair torn out and their cheeks torn with their mistresses’ nails. Juvenal tells of the master “who delights in the sound of a cruel flogging thinking it sweeter than any siren’s song,” or “who revels in clanking chains,” or, “who summons a torturer and brands the slave because a couple of towels are lost.”
A Roman writer lays it down: “Whatever a master does to a slave, undeservedly, in anger, willingly, unwillingly, in forgetfulness, after careful thought, knowingly, unknowingly, is judgment, justice and law.”
Humans can be notoriously sadistic when other humans are debased in their eyes through customs and languages and laws. The examples of the racialist policies of the Germans and Japanese during WWII are excellent examples of this supremacist mindset. But you could ask why the institutions of slavery and indentured servitude were tolerated long after Christianity dominated the western world.
I can’t answer that without a long dissertation and extensive research, but I can point out that Christianity strongly influenced the abolitionists, who were successful in eliminating slavery in the British Empire (see this Bible Hub article about William Wilberforce). America also had vocal abolitionists and had to suffer through a terrible and costly civil war over the question of slave versus free men and women (usually described by the losing side as a question of “state’s rights”). In fact, the Republican political party was born out of the desire to eliminate this dreadful institution. Although this persistence of slavery in the early years of our republic is often pointed to as a example of why America is a troubled and unlovable country, those same critics rarely look at the current state of the world and try to resolve the fact that an estimated 40-60 million people are enslaved worldwide TODAY. This enslavement includes human trafficking, involuntary service to states (like North Korea), forced child labor and military service, and other variations of subjugation. This 2024 map showing the spectrum of slavery prevalence by country was found on Wikipedia:
The point that Paul is making in this admonition is that the believer is working for Christ, regardless of their life circumstances. They are to serve their masters (or employers) with fear and trembling and not with eye service, as men pleasers. Precept Austin has this definition of “eye service”:
Eyeservice (3787) (ophthalmodouleia from ophthalmos = eye + douleia = service) is literally "eye slavery" (!) which means working when the master is watching and loafing when he is gone! It is service rendered only for appearance sake. Slaves were under more temptation in this respect than paid laborers, since they had nothing to gain materially from diligence. This is service that is performed only to make an impression in the owner’s presence. It describes work done without dedication or a sense of inner obligation but primarily to impress and to attract attention. Our English idiom "brown nosers" is [an] appropriate epithet for those who perform their tasks in this manner only to curry favor or for appearances sake. Spirit filled believers steer clear of this subtle selfish attitude.
The AI image at the top shows an example of a servant or slave working diligently even when the master isn’t watching. His true master is the Lord and he works as hard as he can to please Him; a good side effect of that attitude is that he probably also pleases those he works for.
Let’s look at another commentary, from Enduring Word:
a. Bondservants, be obedient… as to Christ: The words “as to Christ” change our entire perspective as workers. It reminds us that our work can and should be done as if we were working for Jesus – because we are!
i. “The Gospel found slavery in the world; and in many regions, particularly the Roman and the Greek, it was a very bad form of slavery. The Gospel began at once to undermine it, with its mighty principles of the equality of all souls in the mystery and dignity of manhood, and of the equal work of redeeming love wrought for all souls by the supreme Master. But its plan was – not to batter, but to undermine… So while the Gospel in one respect left slavery alone, it doomed it in another.” (Moule)
b. Not with eyeservice: We are not to work with eyeservice (working only when the boss is looking) or as men-pleasers (those who only care about pleasing man), but with good will (a good attitude, not complaining) doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.
i. As to the Lord means that all our work is really done unto the Lord, not unto man. “Grace makes us the servants of God while still we are the servants of men: it enables us to do the business of heaven while we are attending to the business of earth: it sanctifies the common duties of life by showing us how to perform them in the light of heaven.” (Spurgeon)
c. Doing the will of God: In Greek culture manual work was despised and the goal of being successful was getting to the point where you never had to do any work. This isn’t how it is in God’s kingdom, where hard work and manual labor are honorable.
i. It should be said of every Christian that he is a hard worker and gives his employer a full day’s work for his pay; to do anything less is to steal from your employer.
d. He will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free: Paul relates a final reason for working hard for the Lord. God will return to us in the measure that we have worked hard for others; He will not allow our hard work to go without reward.
i. This connects to an interesting principle. When people are born again, their life changes and they become harder workers and less wasteful, and they are blessed thereby and become prosperous. But after becoming prosperous, we often allow our hearts to grow far from God, then God disciplines us with hard times, and then we repent – and then the cycle starts again. This is not a necessary cycle, but it is a common one.
The last part of the commentary is interesting - people that are born again become harder workers and less wasteful and are then blessed. But prosperity can allow our hearts to grow far from God. This cycle happens to many, so it is worth noting that prosperity should keep us even closer to God and to His kingdom here on Earth.
My next devotional examines Ephesians 6:7-8 - With good will, render service to the Lord.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Help me to do what I can to render aid to those still trapped in slavery in this “modern” age, even if it through contributions to organizations that fight human trafficking and involuntary servitude. All humans are free, indeed, through Your gifts of grace and redemption. Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
Precept Austin was accessed on 06/19/2026 to review commentary for Ephesians 6:5-6.
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com. Within the Enduring Word commentary:
Moule, Handley C. G. Ephesian Studies (London: Pickering and Inglis, ?)
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon The New Park Street Pulpit, Volumes 1-6 and The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)