knowing that whatever good any one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and forbear threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
Obviously, I don't have any slaves in my household, but there are people under me in regard to positions of authority and I am under people in the same way. What does Paul tell us about both of these stations in life? Previously I looked at those under authority and how we should respond in that place in life and now we will look at some principles on our responsibilities when we are the ones in authority.
It's theoretically possible to never be in a position of authority but highly unlikely. If that happens get a dog. I would say a cat but I'm pretty sure they are in charge, but if you have a child, if you are in charge of people at work, if you are a husband then God has put you in a place of authority. How should we respond. First of all, our goal should be to bring good to them and God in return will bring good back to us. Our employees, for example, should flourish financially and improve their skill sets to the point where another employer would snatch them up in a heartbeat not back at ground level but as a skilled worker. If that takes extra training classes at our expense, their skill and appreciation will reward us in the long run. If they quit and go elsewhere for a better job with more flourishing, we shouldn't be upset but glad for them and proud that we did our job as a person in authority.
Verse 9, I must say, is a bit perplexing when it comes to not threatening those under your authority. I must say that I have threatened my children with spankings or restrictions if they continued misbehaving and I'm not sure there was any other option. I have threatened my employees with firing if certain behaviors persisted and even followed through. I'm not sure that I had another choice. What could this mean? I think the hint may be in the word "forbear" before it. To me that means last resort. Bear with or be longsuffering with people. Do your best to solve it other ways. With kids misbehaving, say fighting with their siblings, try changing the environment that's leading to it before lashing out. In other words we shouldn't be known as a mean teacher, a grouchy parent, a boss that everyone is afraid of. That doesn't reflect who Jesus is.
The underlying principle is that we are all equal in Christ and frankly, not even in Christ. We are equal on the basis of being human beings created by God. Paul said, consider others in humility as more important than you. If we are in a position of authority and don't follow the above principles, we are more concerned about ourselves than others. If we pay minimally, if we want to keep our employees thinking they are dependent on us for their survival, if we want to keep watching our television show without the noise of our kids fighting, if we just want our students to behave and not bother us, we are focusing on ourselves and being unloving, prideful and selfish. We've all known parents (not necessarily our own), teachers, bosses like that. Let's in Christ, rise above that.
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