A Word for Masters (Colossians 4:1)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2017 7:59 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  “A Word for Masters”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 4:1

            Message of the verse:  1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.”

            In this section in John MacArthur’s commentary he only has two short paragraphs and so this SD will not be very long.

            I can say that when I looked up the Greek words for “master” that both times they are used in this verse they are the same Greek word:  “2962 κύριος kurios koo’-ree-os

AV-Lord 667, lord 54, master 11, sir 6, Sir 6, misc 4; 748

1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord

1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing

1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master

1a2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor

1b) is a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master

1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah”

            Masters are to treat the slaves that they have with fairness because they realize that they have a Master in heaven who is watching over them.  Those masters of slaves who do not treat their slaves with justice and fairness will one day have to answer to the Lord for their actions.

            When we looked at Colossians 3:11 earlier we learned that slaves and masters are spiritually equal in the Lord:  “a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”

            We can take this example into our time period and understand that the masters spoken of in 4:1 speaks of the employer who has the employee working for them and that employer should treat his employee the way he would want Christ to treat Him, for after all Christ is the Head over both the employer and the employee alike.

            John MacArthur concludes this section:  “If all Christians displayed the characteristics of relationships as embodied in the principles of this text, the results would be dramatic.  Believers would indeed become lights shining in the darkness.”  In speaking of the “relationships as embodied in the principles of this text” Macarthur is talking about husbands and wives along with parents and children, and masters and slaves.

5/29/2017 8:17 PM