“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.”
Servants
“Servants” here is not the normal word for “slaves.” This word means a house slave. This person serves in a menial sense, as a house servant. These servants were domestic servants who lived with their masters and served in the house itself. Even though they were domestic servants, many of them were doctors, teachers, musicians, actors and stewards over great estates.
This role was relevant to a large number of Peter’s readers. Both servants and slaves made up a significant number of the early church members. During the writing of 1 Peter there were about 60 million slaves. Romans looked upon a slave as a “thing,” not a person. However, the lot of these slaves was not always wretched. Many of them were loved and treated as members of the family. Still, they remained “things” with nothing in the world to call their own, including themselves. The Romans thought that because they were the master of the world, they shouldn’t have to work; work was for slaves.
Into this situation Christianity came with its message that every person is precious in the sight of God. This was indeed good news. Within the church the social barrier was broken between slaves and citizens of the Roman Empire. Callistus, one of the earliest bishops of Rome, was a slave. In the church, it was quite possible for a slave to be the chairman of the board and his master a member of the congregation. This was a revolutionary idea.
This gave rise to the danger that the slave might take advantage of his master. He might shirk his work and do as he liked.
Principle:
God expects us to do our job not primarily for our employer but for God himself.
Application:
The problem of people taking advantage of their employers because they are Christians is still present with us. There are still people who trade on the goodwill of their bosses. Some think that because their bosses are Christians,they have the right to loaf on the job.
God expects Christians to be the best workers they can possibly be. Our Christianity should make us more conscientious than others. God wants us to recognize the authority of our employer. After all, no one forced us to take the job. We took it of our own free will.
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