Eph 6:5-8 | JFB | STEP | 5. Servants —literally, "slaves." masters according to the flesh —in contrast to your true and heavenly Master ( ). A consolatory him that the mastership to which they were subject, was but for a time [CHRYSOSTOM ]; and that their real liberty was still their own ( ). fear and trembling —not slavish terror, but (See on ; ) an anxious eagerness to do your duty, and a fear of displeasing, as great as is produced in the ordinary slave by "threatenings" ( ). singleness —without double-mindedness, or "eye service" ( ), which seeks to please outwardly, without the sincere desire to make the master's interest at all times the first consideration ( ). "Simplicity."

Ephesians 6:5-8

5. Servants—literally, "slaves."

masters according to the flesh—in contrast to your true and heavenly Master (Eph 6:4). A consolatory him that the mastership to which they were subject, was but for a time [CHRYSOSTOM]; and that their real liberty was still their own (1Co 7:22).

fear and trembling—not slavish terror, but (See on 1Co 2:3; 2Co 7:15) an anxious eagerness to do your duty, and a fear of displeasing, as great as is produced in the ordinary slave by "threatenings" (Eph 6:9).

singleness—without double-mindedness, or "eye service" (Eph 6:6), which seeks to please outwardly, without the sincere desire to make the master's interest at all times the first consideration (1Ch 29:17; Mt 6:22, 23; Lu 11:34). "Simplicity."

6. (Col 3:22). Seeking to please their masters only so long as these have their eyes on them: as Gehazi was a very different man in his master's presence from what he was in his absence (2Ki 5:1-18).

men-pleasers—not Christ-pleasers (compare Ga 1:10; 1Th 2:4).

doing the will of God—the unseen but ever present Master: the best guarantee for your serving faithfully your earthly master alike when present and when absent.

from the heart—literally, soul (Ps 111:1; Ro 13:5).

7. good will—expressing his feeling towards his master; as "doing the will of God from the heart" expresses the source of that feeling (Col 3:23). "Good will" is stated by XENOPHON [Economics] to be the principal virtue of a slave towards his master: a real regard to his master's interest as if his own, a good will which not even a master's severity can extinguish.

8. any man doeth—Greek, "any man shall have done," that is, shall be found at the Lord's coming to have done.

the same—in full payment, in heaven's currency.

shall . . . receive— (2Co 5:10; Col 3:25; but all of grace, Lu 17:10).

bond or free— (1Co 7:22; 12:13; Ga 3:28; Col 3:11). Christ does not regard such distinctions in His present dealings of grace, or in His future judgment. The slave that has acted faithfully for the Lord's sake to his master, though the latter may not repay his faithfulness, shall have the Lord for his Paymaster. So the freeman who has done good for the Lord's sake, though man may not pay him, has the Lord for his Debtor (Pr 19:17).