Colossians 3:22 22Slaves, obey in everything your human masters, not with eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Verses 22-25 are addressed to slaves, although the application can be far wider than this. Slaves were another group often found in the Romans Empire. In some places, there were more slaves than free people. People became slaves through birth or conquest. Some slaves were treated well as members of a household, but others labored hard and had short lifetimes. Based on the many references to slaves in Paul’s letters, it appears that slaves were a significant part of the early church. It is impossible to know how slaves heard the gospel and became believers, but perhaps through the witness of other slaves, through other members in the household, or during visits to the marketplaces where they could have heard Christian evangelists sharing the gospel. Since Paul is addressing Christian households in this letter as far as we can tell, then these slaves may have had masters who were also believers. Paul will give directions to Christian masters in 4:1.
One other interesting historical item behind this letter is the possible relationship of this letter to the runaway slave, Onesimus, who is the key theme of the letter to Philemon. Philemon lived in or near Colossae. It is possible that this letter was sent at the same time as the letter to Philemon. So, slavery was an important topic to this church and those associated with it.
Paul’s exhortation is exhaustive with the words in everything. Because Christian slaves obey Christ as Lord, they should carry this dedication over to their earthly lords (kyrios). Paul gives two negative descriptions of how they should not relate to their masters and two positive descriptions of how they should. First, they should not obey just to make things look good. Eye-service (ophthalmodoulia) is a compound word that means doing something to look impressive. It appears in the similar passage in Ephesians 6:6. The second description further develops the first. People-pleasers (anthrōpareskoi) is another compound word that has a similar meaning of doing things to impress other people. Doing things to please others is not necessarily a bad thing, but Paul is trying to point out that this can be done with the wrong motive of selfishness and not actually seeking to be genuinely helpful. The old self bound under sin is driven by selfish motives, but a tremendous change takes place that reaches to our inner most being.
The third description shifts to the right motives that come from a heart that has been transformed by God’s grace. Sincerity (aplotēti) is having nothing to hide because a person is honest and upright. Obedient and loving slaves should be models of Christ who lived in perfect holiness and love. This sincerity and honesty must come from the heart where God’s grace works and not fabricated by human ingenuity and effort. The last motive connects the sincerity to the sanctified life, which is marked by fearing the Lord. Worship and reverence to God will help a slave respect and honor his or her master.
Although slavery is officially banned in most countries of the world, the principles that Paul gives in these verses fit well in situations where a person works for another person. Some jobs are almost like slavery. The more difficult the situation, sometimes the more difficult it is to honor and obey those who are over us. The only way this obedience is possible is because of what God is doing within us to change us to become like Jesus. It may require great humility and self-crucifixion to honor those over us. These may have been difficult words for slaves in Paul’s day to accept, especially when they had the new idea that Christ brings freedom. We are free in Christ spiritually, but often we cannot gain the type of freedom we hope for physically. When in those situations, we must live in fear of the Lord and ultimately trust ourselves to God’s care.
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