Ephesians 6:5-8

6:5 Slaves, ¹  obey your human masters ²  with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, 6:6 not like those who do their work only when someone is watching ³  – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. ⁴  6:7 Obey ⁵  with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord ⁶  and not people, 6:8 because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this ⁷  will be rewarded by the Lord.

[6:5]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “Servants” (KJV). Though δοῦλος (doulos) is often translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[6:5]  ² tn Grk “the masters according to the flesh.” In the translation above, the article τοῖς (tois) governing κυρίοις (kuriois) is rendered in English as a possessive pronoun (i.e., “your”) and the prepositional phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka) is taken as modifying κυρίοις (indicating that the author is referring to human masters) and not modifying the imperative ὑπακούετε (Jupakouete, which would indicate that obedience was according to a human standard or limitation).

[6:6]  ³ tn Grk “not according to eye-service.”

[6:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “from the soul.”

[6:7]  ⁵ tn Though the verb does not appear again at this point in the passage, it is nonetheless implied and supplied in the English translation for the sake of clarity.

[6:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “serving as to the Lord.”

[6:8]  ⁷ sn The pronoun “this” (τοῦτο, touto) stands first in its clause for emphasis, and stresses the fact that God will reward those, who in seeking him, do good.