CHILDREN AND PARENTS; SERVANTS AND MASTERS

Ephesians 6:1-12 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

Counsel to Children and Parents

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

⁴Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Counsel to Slaves and Masters

⁵Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh,[48] with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; ⁶not by way of[49] eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul.[50] ⁷With good will rendering service, as to the Lord, and not to men, ⁸knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

⁹Masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

The Whole Armor of God

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹²For our wrestling[51] is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.

Where our religion is true, it will affect every relationship in life. The love of Christ must find its manifestation in the nursery and in the kitchen, in the workshop, and in subjection to the governing authorities (relative). But notice that its duties are reciprocal. We must give on our side, just as we expect others to give on theirs.

The first duty of children is obedience. They must be taught to obey because it is right, and their conscience bears witness to the rightness. Never plead with a child to do what is right, nor bribe it by a reward. Take your stand on that biblical (trained Christian conscience) sense of right and wrong, which is the foundation of morals and will be the foundation of the child’s whole life thereafter, when once its supremacy is established. This last point means, once the Child has come to accept the Bible as their moral compass, it will guide and direct by way of a trained conscience. But parents should help their children by removing irritation or passion from their own speech. Slaves formed a large proportion of the early Church. (With Christians and Jews it was servants not slavery like early America) Think of the principles now as employer emply. Their obedience must be explicit, and they were taught to believe that Christ took their faithful service to their earthly owner as service to Himself. But masters must ever deal with their servants as liable to be called to account by the great Master of all. The center of all authority is Christ, and He will demand an account of our treatment of every servant He has sent into our homes.