Slaves and masters Paul did not support slavery Paul did not support slavery as it is commonly understood, in terms of the African-American slavery common a couple of centuries ago. Instead, he argued against the status quo in the letter to Philemon. In Philemon 1:15-16 he argues that a runaway slave should be received back as a brother in Christ, and not as a slave: “Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.” (Philemon 15–16, NIV) Workers and employers Instead, when Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:5-9 about the attitude of slaves to their masters, he had in mind more the attitude of workers to their employers. Many people today describe themselves at work like being slaves to their bosses. The principle is the same, even if the employment relationship is officially different. Employees – Who do you work for? Paul teaches that employees should consider that they work not just for their immediate boss(es), but for the Lord Jesus with all our heart. We should do everything to please him. Often, we don’t get praise from our bosses, and if we were working to get praise from them we could get frustrated quickly through lack of recognition of our efforts. The Lord rewards all our efforts too, so we will never lose out on the ultimate management appraisal. Employers – Who do you work for? Employers often act as if they are a law unto themselves, lording it over their employees with the threat of redundancy or demotion. But Paul tells Christian employers that they have to remember that they too have a boss in Heaven. (The context is towards believers, not employers in general, although the principles apply to all employers since they will have to answer to the Lord for how they treat their employees, whether they like it or not, Romans 2:4–11.) Do you need a change of employer? If we want to work for the best boss there is, we ought to live our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who ultimately treats us fairly, and who we can expect a fair and proper end of term appraisal from. The only problem is that because of our sin, no-one will receive the reward of eternal life because of their own efforts (Romans 3:10-20). However, we can have his righteousness, or his work record, in our employment file, and look forward to receive an eternal reward (2 Corinthians 5:21). The way to receive this is by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is not because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and merciful. When we do everything primarily for our heavenly employer we can be joyful and content, even if our immediate earthly superior gives us a hard time. And even if we happen to be technically unemployed, we can still be employed in the Master’s service in all that we do.