Slaves

Ephesians 6:5-9
cf Colossians 3:22-4:1

I've said before that, although not every Bible scholar might agree, I think that the master-slave relationship described in the Bible is very analogous to Supervisor-Employee relationships today. I've already noted several passages that reference relating to supervisors, and many of those refer to masters and slaves. Two of the more prominent passages regarding how masters and slaves should treat each other are found in Ephesians and Colossians.

In both passages, Paul begins by exhorting slaves to obey their masters. Applying this to our situations, I believe this passage means that we as employees need to obey our supervisors. The next part of both passages is important--Not just when those supervisors are looking! Even when our supervisor has no way of knowing whether or not we are following his/her directive, we need to respect and obey. Another way to approach that is that we are to obey our supervisors, whether or not doing so will win their favor. Colossians 3 adds that we should obey with sincerity of heart. I take that to mean that following a supervisor is not about brown-nosing, making sure that everyone knows you're obeying. It's about day-in and day-out working with the knowledge that you're not in charge. And being ok about that. Both passages say that the reason you should do this is that, really, you're working for God. I think that's true in two ways. First, when you obey God's word, you show Him respect. So in that sense, obeying a supervisor is obeying God. But second, by being different from human nature, which says only obey when it will get you ahead, by being different from that, you demonstrate that you subscribe to a different standard. Some people won't appreciate that and may even laugh it off. But you never know when your differentness is planting a seed. It's within the context of obeying your master that we see, "whatever you do, work at it with all your heart." I think this means that you should not half-heartedly obey, but fully engage with what your supervisor has you do.