Charles Hodge on Ephesians 6:9

V. 9. Having enjoined on slaves their peculiar duties, the apostle turns to masters. Καὶ οἱ κύριοι, and ye masters. The force of καὶ here is—‘Not slaves only have their duties; you masters have your peculiar obligations.’ The duty of masters is expressed by the comprehensive words, τὰ αὐτὰ ποιεῖτε πρὸς αὐτούς, do the same things towards them. This does not refer exclusively to μετ᾽ εὐνοίας in the preceding clause, as though the sense were, ‘As slaves are to obey with kind feeling, so masters are to rule in the same temper.’ The reference is more general. Masters are to act towards their slaves with the same regard to the will of God, with the same recognition of the authority of Christ, with the same sincerity and good feeling which had been enjoined on the slaves themselves. Masters and slaves are men and brethren, the same great principles of moral and religious obligation govern both classes. In the parallel passage, Col. 4, 1, the expression is, οἱ κύριοι, τὸ δίκαιον, καὶ τὴν ἰσότητα τοῖς δούλοις παρέχεσθε, ye masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal. That is, act towards them on the principles of justice and equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as husbands, and as parents should be regarded. And these rights are not to be determined by the civil law, but by the law of God. "As the laws," says Calvin, "gave great license to masters, many assumed that every thing was lawful which the civil statute allowed; and such was their severity that the Roman emperors were obliged to restrain their tyranny. But although no edicts of princes interposed in behalf of the slave, God concedes nothing to the master beyond what the law of love allows." Paul requires for slaves not only what is strictly just, but τὴν ἰσότητα. What is that? Literally, it is equality. This is not only its signification, but its meaning. Slaves are to be treated by their masters on the principles of equality. Not that they are to be equal with their masters in authority, or station, or circumstances; but they are to be treated as having, as men, as husbands, and as parents, equal rights with their masters. It is just as great a sin to deprive a slave of’ the just recompense for his labour, or to keep him in ignorance, or to take from him his wife or child, as it is to act thus towards a free man. This is the equality which the law of God demands, and on this principle the final judgment is to be administered. Christ will punish the master for defrauding the slave as severely as he will punish the slave for robbing his master. The same penalty will be inflicted for the violation of the conjugal or parental rights of the one as of the other. For, as the apostle adds, there is no respect of persons with him. At his bar the question will be, ‘What was done?’ not ‘Who did it?’ Paul carries this so far as to apply the principle not only to the acts, but to the temper of masters. They are not only to act towards their slaves on the principles of justice and equity, but are to avoid threatening.Minarum enim et omnis atrocitatis hoc initium est, quod servos domini, quasi sua tantum causa natos, nihilo pluris faciunt quam pecudes. Ergo sub una specie vetat ne contumeliose et atrociter tracteatur.—CALVIN. This includes all manifestations of contempt and ill-temper, or undue severity. All this is enforced by the consideration that masters have a master in heaven to whom they are responsible for their treatment of their slaves. The common text has here the reading καὶ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ὁ κύριός—your master. Lackman, Rüickert, Harless, Meyer and others adopt the reading αὐτῶν καὶ ὑμῶν, of them and of you, i. e. your common master as in heaven.

It is thus that the Holy Spirit deals with slavery. Slaves are not commanded to refuse to be slaves, to break their bonds and repudiate the authority of their masters. They are required to obey with alacrity and with a sincere desire to do their duty to their masters, as part of their duty to Christ. Masters are not commanded as an immediate and imperative duty to emancipate their slaves, but to treat them according to the principles of justice and equity. It is not to be expected that men of the world will act in conformity with the Gospel in this, any more than in other respects. But believers will. And the result of such obedience if it could become general would be, that first the evils of slavery, and then slavery itself, would pass away as naturally and as healthfully as children cease to be minors.