1 Peter 2:18

Servants . The word is not δοῦλοι , slaves,but οἰκέται , household servants, domestics. St. Peter may have used it as a less harsh term, in Christian kindliness and courtesy; or he may have chosen it purposely to include the large class of freedmen and other dependents who were to be found in the houses of the great. The frequent mention of slaves in the Epistles shows that many of the first Christians must have been in a condition of servitude. It was only natural that men should feel uneasy and irritable under the yoke of slavery as they came to learn the equality of all men in the sight of God, and to understand the blessed privileges and the high hopes of Christians. The apostles counseled submission and resignation to the will of God. Slavery was an unnatural institution; it must in time disappear under the softening influences of the gospel. But Christian slaves were to wait in faith and patience. The sacred writers use language of studied moderation, carefully avoiding any expressions which might be regarded as exciting to violence or revolutionary outbreaks. Be subject to your masters with all fear . The participle ὑποτασσόμενοι seems to look back to the imperative ὑποτάγητε in 1 Peter 2:13 ; the relation of slaves to their lords being one of the ordinances of man alluded to there (comp. Ephesians 6:5 , where St. Paul bids slaves to be obedient to their masters "with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ"). The holy fear of God, by whose providence they were set in that lowly station, would involve the fear of failing in their duty to their masters. All fear; not only fear of punishment, but also fear of neglecting duty. Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward . Servants must not make the character of their masters an excuse for disobedience; if their masters are froward ( σκολιοί , literally, "crooked, perverse"), still they must be submissive to the wilt of God.