Colossians 3:22 - Exposition

Ye servants (literally, bondmen ) , be obedient in all things to your lords according to the flesh ( Ephesians 6:5-9 ; 1 Timothy 6:1 , 1 Timothy 6:2 ; Titus 2:9 , Titus 2:10 ; 1 Corinthians 7:21-24 ; Romans 13:1 , Romans 13:5 ; 1 Peter 2:18-25 ). The duties of servants and masters are prominent here ( Colossians 3:22 - Colossians 4:1 ), in view of the emphasis thrown upon the lordship of Christ; and partly, no doubt, with reference to the case of the runaway slave Onesimus ( Colossians 4:9 ; Epistle to Philemon) "Servant" is δοῦλος , bondman, as in Colossians 1:1 and commonly in St. Paul. In 1 Peter 2:18 we have the milder οἰκετής , domestic. The vast majority of servants of all kinds at this time in the Greek and Roman world were slaves. In most districts the slaves were much more numerous than the free population. And they were undoubtedly numerous in the early Church. The gospel has always been welcome to the poor and oppressed. The attitude of St. Paul and of Christianity towards slavery claims consideration under the Epistle to Philemon; on this point see Lightfoot's 'Introduction.' Here and in Ephesians 6:5 (comp. Ephesians 6:7 , Ephesians 6:8 ) the apostle calls the master κύριος ("lord") in reference to "the Lord Christ" ( Ephesians 6:22 b, 24); elsewhere in the New Testament, as in common Greek, the opposite of δοῦλος is δεσποτής ( 1 Timothy 6:1 , 1 Timothy 6:2 ; 2 Timothy 2:21 , etc.), "According to flesh," that is, "in outward, earthly relationship" (comp. Romans 4:1 ): Christ is the Lord in the absolute and abiding sense of the word (similarly, "in the flesh" and "in the Lord," Philemon 1:16 ). Not with acts of eye service (literally, not in eye services ) , as man pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord ( Ephesians 6:6 ; Ephesians 5:21 ; 1 Thessalonians 2:4 ; Galatians 1:10 ; Matthew 6:22 ; Luke 11:34 ; James 1:5-8 ; Psalms 123:2 ; Isaiah 8:13 ; Revelation 2:23 ). "Eye service" is plural here, according to Revised Text; singular in Ephesians 6:6 . Here the word ὀφθαλμοδουλεία first oocurs in Greek, like ἐθελοθρησκεία ( Colossians 2:23 ). It strikes at the besetting sin of servants of all kinds. ανθρωπάρεσκος ("man pleaser") occurs in the LXX , Psalms 52:6 . The servant whose aim it is to please his earthly master in what will catch his eye, plays a double part, acting in one way when observed, in another when left to himself; with this duplicity is contrasted "singleness of heart" (comp. Romans 12:8 ; 2 Corinthians 11:3 ; ἀπλότης in 2 Corinthians 8:2 and 2 Corinthians 9:11 , 2 Corinthians 9:13 has a different application). "Fearing the Lord" more than the eye of his earthly lord, the Christian servant will always act in "singleness of heart;" for "the eyes of the Lord are in every place." In the same manner the apostle ("bondman of Christ Jesus," Colossians 1:1 ) speaks of his own relations to men and to the Lord Christ respectively ( 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 ; 2 Corinthians 5:11 ; Galatians 1:10 ; 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6 , etc.: comp. John 5:37-44 ). The reading "God" of Received Text is a copyist's emendation, a sample of a large class of corruptions of the text, where a word more familiar in any given connection is, more or less unconsciously, substituted for the original word.