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Ephesians 6:6 – Jesus, Our Boss

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Will

not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

Truth to Learn

We are to work at our jobs as if our boss was Jesus himself.

Behind the Words

The Greek word translated “eyeservice” is ophthalmodouleia, which is composed of ophthalmos, meaning “eye” and douleia, meaning “slavery” or “service.” Thus, this word literally does mean “eyeservice.” Ophthalmodouleia implies work that is being done only when someone is watching or work that is done only for appearance sake.

“Men-pleasers” is from anthrōpareskos. This word is made up of anthrōpos, meaning “man” and areskō, meaning “to be agreeable” or “to be pleasing.” This word describes the action of those who try to gain favor with others. The implication is that they are focused on pleasing other people instead of focusing on pleasing God.

The word “bondservants” is doulos, the same word Paul used in the previous verse, meaning “someone who, either voluntarily or involuntarily, is in a position of servitude to someone else and whose will is completely submitted to that of his or her master.”

Meaning Explained

Yesterday we learned that Christian slaves are to be obedient to their masters and they are to serve their masters with singleness of heart. In other words, they are to listen attentively to their masters, doing what they are told without attempting to deceive. In addition, based on what we learned yesterday, we can safely say that this message applies to anyone who works for someone else, anyone who has a boss. In 1Peter 2:18, the Apostle Peter tells us that we are to submit (under-rank ourselves) to our bosses:

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.

Between Ephesians 6:5, 6 and 1Peter 2:18 we can learn a lot about how we are to perform at our jobs. First of all, we are to listen attentively to our bosses, learning what we can from them and obediently doing what they ask (or tell) us to do. Second, we are to serve them with singleness of purpose. Third, we are to do our work for them as if we were doing the work for our Lord Jesus Christ, as His slaves. Fourth, we are to always be diligent at what we do, not just when someone is watching us, but at all times. Fifth, we are not to perform our jobs just to impress someone. Finally, we are to have a submissive attitude with regard to our boss. And we are to do so not just for the gentle bosses we might have, but to the harsh bosses as well. Incidentally, the Greek word translated “harsh” in the 1Peter passage above literally means “crooked.”

Whatever job we might find ourselves in, we need to recognize that God has placed us under the authority of our boss. Therefore, in a very real sense, we are doing our job for the Lord. We need to perform our work as if Jesus Christ was working right beside us. And – our Lord deserves the full credit for any success that we might have.

Application

Do you have a lousy boss? If so, remember that God has placed you under his (or her) authority and you need to perform your work for him (or her) as if Christ himself was your boss. Can you do that? Is so, you might be surprised at the results.

In God's service, for His glory,

Ephesians 6:5 – Obedient to Masters

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Will

Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ;

Truth to Learn

Christians are to be respectful and obedient to their bosses.

Behind the Words

“Bondservants” is from the Greek word doulos, which refers to “someone who, either voluntarily or involuntarily, is in a position of servitude to someone else and whose will is completely submitted to that of his or her master.”

The word translated “obedient” is hupakouō. In verse one of this chapter, we learned that this literally means “to hear under.” As used here it means “to listen attentively and obey.”

The word “masters” is translated from kurios, meaning “a person who is in a position of authority over you.”

“Fear” is from the Greek word phobos, which is related to the verb phebomai, which means “to flee from.” In Greek writing, Phobos has several nuances of meaning including: honor, respect, reverence, fear, or terror.

Tromos is the word translated “trembling.” It generally refers to “trembling of the body as a result of extreme fear.” When combined with phobos (as it is here), it is a reference to “great timidity or profound reverence, respect, or dread.”

The word translated “sincerity” is haplotēti. This word is derived from a (a particle of connection or union) and the base of plekō, meaning “to braid together.” Thus, haplotēti refers to the characteristic of not being divided, but being a single unit.

Meaning Explained

In the Roman society in which this letter was written, slaves made up between twenty and forty percent of the population. Bond slaves were considered legal property of their owner and they had no rights within Roman society. Most slaves were owned by individuals, but some were owned by the Roman people. Some of these public slaves did menial work while others did skilled office work such as accounting and secretarial duties.

A person became a slave in one of three ways: people who were defeated and captured by the Roman army, a Roman father had the right to sell his children into slavery, or a person could voluntarily surrender himself into slavery. In addition to bond slaves, there were household servants (Greek word oiketēs) who worked within a household but were not owned by the master of the house

The Apostolic teaching of the first century does not declare that slavery is wrong; however, within the church all members are considered equal. Paul’s teaching here and in Colossians 3:22 was specifically directed at bond slaves, but the Apostle Peter says the same thing to household servants in 1Peter 2:18.

Both Paul and Peter taught that servants and slaves were to be respectful and obedient to their masters, recognizing that they were under the authority of their master in the same way that all Christians are under Christ’s authority.

Application

All Christians are to be respectful and obedient to those who are in authority over them. Whether your boss is kind or mean, honest or devious, being sincerely obedient to him or her is the same as being obedient to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 9:12 – God’s Choice, God’s Reason

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Will

Romans 9:12 – God’s Choice, God’s Reason

it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”

Truth to Learn

God’s choice is not dictated by human characteristics.

Behind the Words

The word translated “older” is meidzōn, which is the comparative form of megas, meaning “great” or “large.” Meidzōn appears in forty-four different passages in the New Testament and in none of them does it carry the meaning “older.” It means “greater in stature, power, quality, or importance.”

“Younger” is from the Greek word elassōn, which is the comparative of mikros, meaning “inferior in worth, quality, size, or age.”

The word “serve” is translated from the verb form of doulos, indicating one who is a slave to another.

Meaning Explained

Paul now continues with his example of election. His reference here is to a passage in Genesis 25:21-23:

Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: “two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”

In today’s verse, as well as the Old Testament passage that is quoted, the language that is used indicates that the greater of the two (Esau) will be a slave to the lesser (Jacob). Age does not appear to be the distinguishing characteristic as much as power and importance (from a human perspective).

While they were still inside Rebekah, God declared that Esau would serve Jacob. This reference is not specifically to the persons of Esau and Jacob, but to their descendants, for Easu never was a slave to Jacob; rather, it is a reference to their posterity. While the descendants of Esau (the Edomites) were a larger and stronger people than the descendants of Jacob (the Israelites), they were defeated and finally subjugated by Israel.

If we read the Old Testament accounts in Genesis 25, 27, 29, and 30, we see that Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright and out of his parental blessing from their father Isaac. We also see that Jacob conspired against his father-in-law Laban to gain the stronger and better of Laban’s sheep. Jacob was constantly scheming to get the better of others. But all along, his success was not because of his cleverness; rather, it was because God chose to bless him. And it clearly was not because Jacob deserved God’s blessing; it was strictly because God chose to bless Him.

Application

The really incomprehensible part of God’s election is His reason for choosing some unto blessing and not others. It is reasonable to believe that God has some basis for his choosing, but we are never told what it is. What we do know about this election is that it is based on God’s choice, not ours. That’s Paul’s point throughout this entire passage in the book of Romans.

In God’s service, for His glory,

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

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Romans 6:16 – Obedience by Submission

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Will

Romans 6:16

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Truth to Learn

We all obey whatever master we submit ourselves to.

Behind the Words

The word translated “slaves” is doulos, meaning “one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will being altogether consumed in the will of the other. It refers to a person who has no rights of his own; one who exists only as the property of someone else.”

Meaning Explained

Paul has made a number of points in the past five verses:

· Count yourselves to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God

· Do not let sin reign in your mortal body

· Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present your members as instruments of righteousness to God

· Sin will not have dominion over you

We know what we should do but sometimes we can’t figure out how to do it. In the current verse Paul is beginning his explanation of how to do it. In answer to his own rhetorical question, he uses a word picture that everyone in the Roman Empire at that time would understand: slavery.

The whole concept of slavery was well known because it was widely practiced. The Romans saw slavery as an integral component to developing and building its society. The institution of slavery permeated all of Roman culture. The Italian economy depended on abundant slave labor, with slaves constituting 40 percent of the population. It even reached a point in the third and fourth centuries after Christ when slaves outnumbered citizens five to three. At the time that Paul wrote this letter it was simply a way of life.

Slaves were considered property; they had no rights and were subject to their owners’ whims. If they did not obey their masters, they were subject to punishment, including beatings, although the murder of slaves was forbidden.

In light of this, now consider what Paul is saying about not letting sin reign in our bodies. He says, Don’t you know that the one whom you obey is your master and you are his slave? The difference for the Christian, however, is that we have already determined who our master is. He says we used to be the slave of sin, which produces death, but now we are the slaves of obedience as a result of our righteousness.

Paul says this in answer to his rhetorical question because the born again Christian is not the slave of sin since he or she has been declared righteous and, therefore, is now the slave of God. And God, as our master, wants us to produce acts of righteousness demonstrating the fruit of our salvation. Therefore, we can’t continue to live in sin because we are not under the Law (which produced sin) but under grace (which produces righteousness).

Application

Are you living the life your master wants you to live? The answer, of course, should be yes. But, the real question is – Who is your master? Who are you submitted to?

In God’s service, for His glory,

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

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Romans 6:7 – Freed by Death

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Will

Romans 6:7

For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Truth to Learn

The death of our sin nature freed us from the bondage of sin.

Behind the Words

The word translated “slaves” in the previous verse is the Greek word douleuō, which is the verb form of doulos, meaning “one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will being altogether consumed in the will of the other. It refers to a person who has no rights of his own, one who exists only as the property of someone else.” Therefore, douleuō means “to be a slave.”

The word translated here as “freed” is the word dikaioō, which means “to justify” or “to declare righteous.” The word is expressed in the perfect tense. As we pointed out a couple verses back, the perfect tense in Greek refers to completed past action with a resultant state of being, where the emphasis is on the resultant state of being. The word following dikaioō, however, is apo, meaning “from.” When used in this way, the word dikaioo refers to our having been “freed from something” with the emphasis on the resultant state of being (we have been and, therefore, are now free from sin).

Meaning Explained

In the previous verse Paul told us that since our old man (our sin nature) was crucified with Christ, we should not serve sin. He is telling us that previously (before our salvation) we were not willingly serving sin but we were under bondage as a slave to sin. We had no choice but to obey our sinful lusts because of our sin nature. That is, we had no free will when it came to deciding whether we would obey our sinful nature or not, we had to!

Now that we have crucified our sin nature, however, we no longer have to be subject to sin. That’s what Paul is saying in the current verse, “he who died (our old man) has been freed from sin.

So, the point that Paul is making is, since our old man was crucified with Christ and is now dead, we are no longer forced to be a slave to our sin nature or to sin. We are now freed from that slavery. Do you see the point? We no longer have to obey our sinful impulses. We now have a choice. That is, we can choose to obey God or to obey our sin nature. Before we were saved we did not have this choice.

Does that mean that we always choose to obey God? Unfortunately, the answer is no. All too often, we choose to obey our sin nature instead of obeying God. That, as Paul taught us in the previous chapter, is where grace comes in. Even though we follow our own desires instead of God’s moral law, we have been declared righteous and we need not fear the wrath of God. But … we should not continue in our sinful ways. Our sin nature has been crucified so we have a free will to choose good over evil.

Application

This entire chapter of Romans is about recognizing that we are freed from the slavery of sin. We have a choice every day whether or not we will voluntarily submit ourselves to God. If we don’t submit to God then we will be submitted to sin, there is no middle ground.

Whom do you want to be submitted to?

In God’s service, for His glory,

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