Ephesians 6:1-9
Sometimes it’s hard to find anything to say with respect to Paul’s writings. I mean, how can you disagree with Children, obey your parents… (v. 1) or Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger… (v. 4)? Still, we might wonder about Paul’s counsel, Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling… (v. 5a, NASB), wondering if Paul’s advice was an endorsement for slavery or simply a recognition for reasonable living in the context of that first-century institution. Then again, in trying to bring Paul’s first-century writings into our 21st century lives, we are often encouraged to substitute “workers” for “slaves” and insert his words into our 21st century workplaces. But in doing so, we again wonder how fear and trembling fits into any 21st century workplace. As 21st century workers, can fear and trembling have any place in any work situation? I don’t think so; fear and trembling for workers are out of place today. Instead I would put the burden on supervisors and embrace today’s verse 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. Or, as Jesus put it, …whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26a-28)
Slava Bohu!
Thanks, Fred. I didn’t interpret this as endorsing or not endorsing slavery as much as talking about the relationships people are in.
But I do think “fear and trembling” can fit into a 21st century workplace, whenever workers are abused or marginalized and have limited or no redress or other employment options. Think of abusive customers (over masks!), businesses that don’t protect their workers (miners, PPE, etc.) predatory bosses, workers who are not paid on time or fairly, sex trafficking, slavery that does in fact exist underground, even here in the U.S. etc. To think that it isn’t out there may be that we are living in a safe bubble that doesn’t exist for everyone, here or elsewhere. Lord have mercy on us for forgetting our suffering brothers and sisters here in Versailles, Kentucky, the U.S., the world. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to love those abused as well as their abusers, to do what we can through your Holy Spirit to build right relations for all of us so that your kingdom grows here on earth and your Gospel is known throughout the world.
Hmmm… I guess I would have to say my interpretation of verse 5 (Slaves, obey your masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ—in my translation) is that the emotions mentioned are directed toward Christ and inspired by our relationship with him, not necessarily toward the masters, although the result is the same, perhaps, as far as service goes.
That said, I totally agree with you, Debbie, that we are called to fight for justice in this world, and that includes fighting injustice in the workplace here and worldwide, to which we are terribly blind!