Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:22-24, N.I.V.)

Some scholars estimate that half the population of the Roman empire were slaves. Since the majority of these slaves were people Rome’s armies had conquered, some of the slaves came from backgrounds of education while others did not. This meant that some were allowed to do skilled labor while others were relegated to manual labor. For example, Rome’s slaves could work as common laborers for mines, farms, and vineyards or they could work as physicians, tutors, or accountants.

Interestingly, when Christianity began to sweep over the empire, scores of slaves became Christians. Just as interestingly, scores of slave owners became Christians. This set up a challenging dichotomy for all involved. Should the Christian slave remain in his/her slot in life or say, “I am free in Christ” and rebel? And what about the Christian slave owner? Should he release all his slaves from their service and in so doing deal himself a heavy financial loss, not to mention a crippling blow to the upkeep of his home, property, and business interests? These were monumental questions with which the early Christians wrestled.

The apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of God and provided purposefully consistent counsel for the questions. That counsel went as follows:

• Jesus placed Himself in the role of a slave when He laid aside His glory in heaven, came to the earth in the likeness of man, and died a sacrificial death on the cross. That proved that being a slave didn’t prohibit a person from being used greatly in God’s service. (Philippians 2:5-8)
• Every Christian — whether that Christian was a slave or a free person — was an equal part of the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13; Galatians 3:26-28)
• Every Christian should think of himself or herself as being a slave to Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 7:22-23; Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 4:1)
• Christian slaves should continue to show their masters honor and not talk back to them, so that the God of Christianity and His teachings wouldn’t be misrepresented and blasphemed. (Romans 13:7; 1 Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:9-10)
• Christian slave owners should actually serve their Christian slaves rather than looking down on them. (1 Timothy 6:2)
• Christian slaves should remain in their place, continue to obey their masters in all things, and do quality work in complete honesty, as if they were rendering the service to Jesus Himself rather than to the masters. (1 Corinthians 7:20-22; Ephesians 6:5-7; Colossians 3:22-23; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:18-25)
• Even if the Christian slave’s owner did not appreciate the slave’s quality work and reward the slave for it, Jesus would grant the slave eternal rewards. (Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:24)
• Christian slave owners should treat their slaves well, giving them what was fair and not threatening them with punishment, knowing that their own Master (Jesus) was watching from heaven. (Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1)

It can been said that by addressing the issue in this way, Paul accomplished two things. First, he kept the Christian slaves from throwing the entire empire into chaotic upheaval. Such an upheaval would have gotten Christianity labeled as the religion of rebellion, and that reputation would have trumped the fact that Christianity is all about submission (submission to Jesus Christ). Second, with Paul’s God-inspired counsel, he provided the seeds for slavery’s eventual downfall. You see, when a master has to start treating his slave with kindness and seeing himself as a servant to that slave, that takes away the sadistic allure of him viewing that slave as his property.

But how can we, as Christians today, apply all these ancient passages to our lives? We can do it by pulling out some divine principles concerning the workplace. Therefore, I’ll offer a list of those principles as a close to this post. Consider each one carefully:

• Workplace Principle #1: We should understand that Jesus placed Himself in the role of a worker when He laid aside His glory in heaven, came to earth in the likeness of man, and did the work of God the Father. (see John 4:34; 5:36; 9:4; 17:4; 19:30)
• Workplace Principle #2: We should understand that each Christian has equal standing in Christ and we are all part of one body, and that applies to any Christian coworkers we might have.
• Workplace Principle #3: We should think of ourselves as being slaves to Jesus Christ and bring all areas of our lives, including the workplace, under His lordship.
• Workplace Principle #4: In the workplace, we should render appropriate honor to our bosses and in so doing cultivate a good testimony as a follower of Christ.
• Workplace Principle #5: In the workplace, we should always do the best job we can because we should see ourselves as doing our work for Jesus even more than for our employers.
• Workplace Principle #6: We should always keep in mind that even if our quality work goes unappreciated at our place of employment, Jesus will reward us handsomely for it in eternity.
• Workplace Principle #7: If God places us in a position of authority in the workplace, we should rule in humility and fairness, treat our workers well, and understand that a God-given role of authority is merely the God-given opportunity to be a servant to those over whom we rule.