Ephesians 6:6

Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; (.) Seeking to please masters only so long as their eyes are on them: as Gehazi was very different in his master's presence from what he was in his absence, (2 Kings 5:1.) MEN-PLEASERS - not Christ-pleasers (cf. ; ). AS THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST - Christ's 'bond-servants' will not make 'men-pleasing' their aim. DOING THE WILL OF GOD - the unseen but ever-present Master: the best guarantee for serving faithfully your earthly master alike when present and absent....

5-9 The duty of servants is summed up in one word, obedience. The servants of old were generally slaves. The apostles were to teach servants and masters their duties, in doing which evils would be lessened, till slavery should be rooted out by the influence of Christianity. Servants are to reverence those over them. They are to be sincere; not pretending obedience when they mean to disobey, but serving faithfully. And they must serve their masters not only when their master's eye is upon them; but must be strict in the discharge of their duty, when he is absent and out of the way. Steady regard to the Lord Jesus Christ will make men faithful and sincere in every station, not grudgingly or by constraint, but from a principle of love to the masters and their concerns. This makes service easy to them, pleasing to their masters, and acceptable to the Lord Christ. God will reward even the me...

Verse Ephesians 6:6. _NOT WITH EYE-SERVICE_] Not merely in their presence, when their eye is upon you, as unfaithful and hypocritical servants do, without consulting conscience in any part of their work. _DOING THE WILL OF GOD_] Seeing that you are in the state of servitude, it is the will of God that you should act conscientiously in it....

NOR WITH EYE-SERVICE - That is, not with service rendered only under the eye of the master, or when his eye is fixed on you. The apostle has here adverted to one of the evils of involuntary servitude as it exists everywhere. It is, that the slave will usually obey only when the eye of the master is upon him. The freeman who agrees to labor for stipulated wages may be trusted when the master is out of sight; but not the slave. Hence the necessity where there are slaves of having “drivers” who shall attend them, and who shall compel them to work. This evil it is impossible to avoid, except where true religion prevails - and the extensive prevalence of true religion would set the slave at liberty. Yet as long as the relation exists, the apostle would enjoin on the servant the duty of performing his work conscientiously, as rendering service to the Lord. This direction, moreover, is one of g...

EXPOSITION EPHESIANS 6:1 CHILDREN, OBEY YOUR PARENTS IN THE LORD: FOR THIS IS RIGHT. The first duty of children is obedience, and "in the Lord," _i.e. _in Christ, this duty is confirmed. The ἐν Κυρίῳ qualifies, not "parents," but "obey," and indicates that the element or life which even children lead in fellowship with Christ makes such obedience more easy and more graceful. The duty itself rests on the first principles of morality—"for this is right." It is an obligation that rests on the very nature of things, and cannot change with the spirit of the age; it is in no degree modified by what is called the spirit of independence in children. EPHESIANS 6:2 Honor thy father and mother (which is the first c

NOT WITH EYESERVICE, AS MENPLEASERS,.... Doing nothing but when under the master's eye, and then pretending a great deal of diligence and industry, in order to ingratiate themselves into his affections, and neglecting his business when he is absent; whereas they ought to attend his service in his absence, as well as in his presence, and so seek to please him, which is commendable. BUT AS THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST; acting in like manner as the servants of Christ, who are not menpleasers; or as if they themselves were serving Christ, as indeed they are, when they are doing that which is the will of Christ: DOING THE WILL OF GOD FROM THE HEART; meaning not the will of God in a religious, but in a civil sense, yielding a cheerful and hearty obedience to their own masters....

Ephesians 6:1. _Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right._ Fitting by nature, and pleasing in the sight of God. Ephesians 6:2. _Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise: That it may be, well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of tire Lord._ For the duties are like birds with two wings, or like a pair of scales, balance for each side. There is the child's duty, but there is the parent's duty too. Ephesians 6:5. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear an

5. EXHORTATIONS TO SERVANTS AND MASTERS CHAPTER 6:5-9 The servants exhorted were slaves. Slavery existed throughout the Roman Empire at that time. Nowhere is slavery attacked in the New Testament, nor is there a statement telling believers that it was a sin to own slaves and incompatible with the gospel. Paul wrote a courteous letter to Philemon and sent it by Onesimus, the runaway slave, who probably had stolen money from Philemon, his master. The gospel is not here to reform the world, to meddle with social conditions and politics. The slaves here exhorted were Christians. They all belonged to the one body where there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free. They were in Christ, saved by grace and seated in Christ in the heavenly places. What did it matter if they were but slaves! Did not God's well beloved Son walk on this earth as a servant, yea, the servant of all! In all their bo...

EPHESIANS 5:22 TO EPHESIANS 6:9. SUBORDINATION IN THE FEAR OF CHRIST. The principle is illustrated by the relation (_a)_ of wives to husbands, (_b)_ of children to parents, (_c_) of slaves to masters. The writer does not attack existing social institutions slavery, the _patria potestas,_ the dependent position of women. He accepts the relationships as they exist in the world he knows, and seeks to interpret them in the light of the gospel (p. 649). If he enforces upon wives, children, and slaves, the duty of subordination, he insists also upon the corresponding obligations of conjugal love and protection, parental nurture and admonition, kind treatment and forbearance towards slaves. All these relationships are now relationships in the Lord. That of husband and wife in particular is g

CHILDREN AND PARENTS (Ephesians 6:1-4)...