1 Timothy 6:1

This final chapter has a pungent paragraph on the reciprocal duties of slaves and masters (1 Timothy 6:1-2), stern warnings against senseless disputations and covetousness (1 Timothy 6:3-10), a beautiful admonition for the man of God to live a life worthy of the good confession (1 Timothy 6:11-12), a great Christological doxology (1 Timothy 6:13-16), instructions for the rich Christians in Ephesus (1 Timothy 6:17-19), and the final word to Timothy, concluded with a brief benediction (1 Timothy 6:20-21).

Let as many as are servants under the yoke count their own masters as worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine be not blasphemed. (1 Timothy 6:1)

Let as many as are under the yoke ... How many were these?

It is estimated that there were sixty million slaves in the Roman Empire at the time of the writing of this letter; and it is hardly necessary to detail the facts concerning their miserable lot.[1]

The ancient empire was built upon slavery, at that time a world-wide institution, recognized and practiced in every nation under heaven. That slaves formed a considerable portion of all the congregations of Paul's day may be inferred from the extensive teachings on the subject in 1 Corinthians 7:21-24; 12:13; Ephesians 6:5:8; Colossians 3:11,22; 1 Peter 2:18 and also in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

The holy gospel must have been especially welcomed and appreciated by slaves who, despite being at the bottom of the social and economic ladder, were nevertheless qualified to receive the glorious promises of Christian truth. "It must have been an unspeakable comfort to the poor slave."[2] In addition to large numbers of slaves being Christians, there is also the likelihood that some of them were even elders. "C. K. Barrett suggested that Paul may have had in mind elders who were slaves."[3]

Under the yoke ... There are two words in this little paragraph that carry inherent criticism of the institution of slavery. "Yoke" is one of them, and the other is "master," coming from a particular Greek word "[@despotes] (from which our "despot" is derived), meaning one who has dominion."[4] Nevertheless, there is no militant condemnation of slavery in the New Testament; and, of course, modern critics have been very unfair and unperceptive in commenting on this. See below:

CHRISTIANITY AND SLAVERY

For the apostles to have attempted to eradicate slavery "by preaching it as hateful to God and degrading to men would have produced rebellion and revolution in its darkest and most violent form; and Christ did not propose to break up such relations by violence."[5] There was also another side to the problem. If becoming a Christian had been equated with emancipation, the churches would have been overwhelmed with a flood tide of unregenerated men, seeking not Christ or holiness, but freedom from their chains, creating circumstances which would immediately have destroyed Christianity from the earth. "It would have been impossible for the Christian church to strike overtly in any effective way at the institution of slavery; but indirectly the church sounded the death knell of the institution."[6] This was done by teaching the dignity of man, the supreme value of the individual, and those very Christian graces admonished in this chapter.

In any kind of a revolution attempted by Christians, the entire movement would not only have been crushed; but horrible and extensive bloodshed, famine, death and pestilence would have prevailed. The great principle of Christianity looking to the reform of existing social evils is that of working "as leaven," and not as "dynamite."

Count their own masters as worthy of all honor ... This was the basic requirement for all slaves, upon penalty of death for violation; so the sanity of such instruction is apparent; but the new-found liberty in Christ would have tempted some, due to human nature, to despise their masters. Thus, the thought here is to the effect that Christianity makes anyone a better person, therefore a better employee, a better master, or even a better slave. And those slaves fortunate enough to have Christian masters were to be willing to extend even more and higher honor to them. Of course, the master, if a real Christian, would respond in kind, which would benefit his slaves, some of whom, no doubt, received their freedom as a result. The principle behind this was thus stated by White:

The Christian slave is to remember that the fact of his master being a Christian, believing and beloved, entitles him to better service, if possible, than that due to a heathen master ... If the spiritual status of the master be raised, the quality of the service rendered is not to be lowered, but rather idealized.[7]

Men may despise this ethic if they choose to do so, but it was this very thing that broke the back of the institution and lifted the yoke of slavery from the back of humanity.

That the name of God and the doctrine be not blasphemed ...

The name of God ... is here placed upon a coordinate basis with "the doctrine," showing the highest esteem in which the apostles held the sacred doctrine of the faith. The current downgrading of doctrine is hurtful, sinful and contrary to divine law.

Be not blasphemed ... The word "blaspheme" here has its general meaning of "spoken against." As Spence pointed out:

Any action on the part of professed servants of God which gives the enemies of the Lord an excuse to blaspheme, is ever reckoned in the Scripture as a sin of the deepest dye. Compare Nathan's words to King David (2 Samuel 12:14) and Paul's reproach to the Jews (Romans 2:24).[8]

[1] Paul F. Barakman, The Epistles to Timothy and Titus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1962), p. 68.

[2] A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 21,1Timothy (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 118.

[3] J. Glenn Gould, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. IX (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), p. 613.

[4] R. C. H. Lenski, St. Paul's Epistles ... 1Timothy (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1937), p. 694.

[5] David Lipscomb, Commentary on 1Timothy (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1942), p. 176.

[6] J. Glenn Gould, op. cit., p. 613.

[7] Newport J. D. White, Expositor's Greek Testament, Vol. IV (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 140.

[8] H. D. M. Spence, Ellicott's Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII, 1Timothy (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 209.