PARENTS & CHILDREN\MASTERS & SERVANTS - EPHESIANS 6:1-9

 

Children

6:1-4

After addressing the marriage relationship, Paul addressed the parent-child relationship. He said for children to obey their parents. He said it is right to do and quoted the fifth commandment, which says that children should honor their parents. Exodus 20:12 says “honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5:16 restates the commandment. 

Obedience is part of a child’s honoring their parents. A child could hardly be said to honor their parents if they defy them. After the child becomes an adult, they must still honor their parents, giving them proper respect. 

Modern culture frequently turns this upside down. TV shows and movies portray old people as stupid. Parents, especially fathers, are portrayed as unwise and unduly restrictive on children who should be allowed to follow their own desires.

The Disney movies are notorious for this. In “The Little Mermaid”, for example, the daughter defies her father. She suffers some, but in the end gets what she wants. One of the other characters summarizes that a child has to follow her heart. The problem is, what a child wants and what is best for the child are often not the same thing. The parent is to keep the child from doing what is wrong and harmful and the child is to obey the parent, understanding that the parent is more experienced and is acting in the child’s best interest. 

Paul gives an additional instruction to fathers, telling them not to provoke their children to anger, but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. So, the point is the father does not make overly restrictive or arbitrary rules to enforce on the child, but raises them correctly as befits a Christian family. 

Slaves and Masters

6:5-9

Slavery was common in the Roman Empire. The peoples conquered by the Romans were enslaved. Others were enslaved in payment of debts. Slaves performed all kinds of jobs from the menial to professional..

Paul instructed Christian slaves to obey their masters in a sincere way. As with the submission of women to their husbands, slaves were to submit to their masters as if they were servants of Christ. Paul promised they would received good from the Lord if their services was good. 

Paul also instructed Christian masters, or slave owners, telling them to stop threatening their slaves with harm. He pointed out that the Lord was their master just as he was the master of the slave and that God showed no partiality based on this status. (9) 

Paul is sometimes criticized because he did not oppose slavery or demand its abolition. In this passage, however, we see the focus in on how the Christian household operates and how believers are to act in their households. 

Paul did make some statements regarding slavery in other passages. For example, in 1 Corinthians 7:21, he told slaves that, if they can gain their freedom, they should avail themselves of the opportunity. Paul instructed Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother rather than as a slave. (Philemon 16) He instructed slave owners to treat their slaves justly and fairly. (Colossians 4:1) 

Paul’s interest was not to seek upheaval of the political order, but to evangelize and to have the behavior of Christians witness to their changed lives. 

You can apply these principles to the employee\employer relationship. But, realize the burden on the slave was much greater. 

Paul has given us the standards by which we should live at home and at work. Living accordingly will witness to your faith and draw others to you.