The Great Chain of Commanded Blessing Text: Colossians 4:1
Introduction: The Gospel and Social Structures
We come now to the capstone of Paul's instruction on the Christian household. Having addressed wives, husbands, children, and fathers, and having just given a robust charge to slaves, he now turns his apostolic attention to the masters. It is a common and lazy critique of our egalitarian age to fault the Scriptures for not simply blowing up the social structures of the ancient world with a stick of dynamite. Our modern sensibilities, shaped as they are by the French Revolution more than by the Reformation, demand immediate, radical, and chaotic upheaval. Why didn't Paul just command the abolition of slavery?
The short answer is that God is not a Jacobin. He is a master builder, not a wild-eyed demolition man. The gospel does not work by detonating cultures; it works like leaven, like a mustard seed. It transforms societies from the inside out, from the heart outward, from the family outward. The gospel introduces a principle so potent, so revolutionary, that it makes the external relationship of master and slave ultimately irrelevant before it eventually makes it obsolete. That principle is that every man, master and slave alike, stands under a higher authority. Every man has a Master in heaven.
This single verse, Colossians 4:1, is not a capitulation to the status quo. It is the insertion of a divine virus into the operating system of every pagan social order. It redefines authority, not by abolishing it, but by grounding it in divine accountability. The pagan master was an absolute authority. His power was arbitrary. He could do as he pleased. But the Christian master is a man under authority. He is a steward, a middle manager, and he will have to give an account to the Owner of all things for how he managed the Owner's property, which includes every person under his roof.
Paul is not tinkering with the seating arrangements on the Titanic. He is teaching Christians how to build an ark. He is laying the foundation for a Christian social order, one household at a time. And the cornerstone of that order is the recognition that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that every earthly relationship must be recalibrated and reoriented around that central, unshakeable reality.
The Text
Masters, show to your slaves what is right and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
(Colossians 4:1 LSB)
The Charge to Masters (v. 1a)
The verse opens with a direct command:
"Masters, show to your slaves what is right and fair..." (Colossians 4:1a)
First, notice that the command is given. The Christian master is not left to his own devices, his own whims, or the prevailing customs of the culture. He is placed under apostolic instruction. His authority is a delegated authority, and therefore it is a defined and limited authority. The gospel brings every thought, and every household arrangement, into captivity to Christ.
He is commanded to provide them with what is "right and fair." The Greek words here are dikaios and isotes. Dikaios means "just" or "righteous." It is a legal term. The master has a legal obligation before God to treat his slaves justly. This is not a matter of being "nice" when he feels like it. Justice is not a suggestion; it is a requirement. This demand for justice completely shatters the pagan framework, where a slave was mere property, a tool with a voice, to whom nothing was "due" except what the master deigned to give.
But Paul adds another standard: "fair," or "equal" (isotes). This is a remarkable word. It means equity, fairness, impartiality. It does not mean that the master and slave have the same role or office in the household. The Bible is hierarchical, not egalitarian. But it does mean that there is a shared standard of humanity that must be honored. The master must grant to his slave the same fundamental fairness that he himself would want. You could say it this way: "Masters, apply the golden rule to your slaves." Treat them as you would want to be treated if your roles were reversed. This is the seed that, when it takes root in a culture, eventually strangles the institution of man-stealing chattel slavery. When you begin to see your slave as a man who is your equal at the foot of the cross, you cannot long see him as a piece of farm equipment.
So, what does this look like practically? It means providing adequate food, clothing, and shelter. It means not ruling with harshness or cruelty. It means respecting their marriages and families. It means providing them with rest on the Lord's Day. It means, as Paul will later urge Philemon, receiving a runaway slave back "no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother" (Philemon 16). This command to justice and equity was the beginning of the end for the brutal system of Roman slavery.
The Ultimate Motivation (v. 1b)
Paul then provides the theological foundation for this command, the ultimate reason why a master must behave this way.
"...knowing that you too have a Master in heaven." (Colossians 4:1b)
This is the great leveler. This is the truth that reorders the world. The earthly master may be at the top of the household org chart, but he is not at the top of the ultimate org chart. He is also a doulos, a slave. He has a Master, a Kurios, a Lord in heaven. And his Master is Jesus Christ.
This reality should produce two things in the Christian master: humility and the fear of the Lord. Humility, because he recognizes that his own position is entirely derivative. He is not an owner; he is an overseer. He is not autonomous; he is accountable. All his authority comes from the throne of Christ, and he will answer to that throne for how he used it. As Jesus told Pilate, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:11).
And this should produce a healthy fear. The master must constantly be asking himself, "How would my Master in heaven have me treat this servant, who is also His servant?" This is not the cowering fear of a slave before a tyrant, but the respectful fear of a son before a righteous father. It is the knowledge that the Master in heaven is not an absentee landlord. He sees everything. He is not partial. He does not grade on a curve. As Paul says in the parallel passage in Ephesians, "there is no partiality with Him" (Ephesians 6:9). The Master in heaven will not be impressed with your social standing or your net worth on the day of judgment. He will be concerned with your faithfulness.
This is the principle that sanctifies all authority. Whether you are a husband, a father, a pastor, a magistrate, or an employer, your authority is not your own. You are a man under authority. You have a Master in heaven. And the standard by which you will be judged is the standard by which you must govern: with justice and with fairness, reflecting the perfect justice and fairness of your Lord.
Conclusion: From Household to Civilization
It is easy for us, in our modern context, to read this and think it only applies to some long-gone social arrangement. But that is to miss the point entirely. The relationship of master and slave was the most foundational economic relationship in the Roman world. It was their labor force. The principles that Paul lays down here are therefore the principles for all Christian economics and all Christian leadership.
If you are an employer, you are a master in this sense. You are to give your employees what is just and fair. This means a fair wage for a fair day's work. It means providing a safe working environment. It means not ruling over them with threats or intimidation. Why? Because you know that you also have a Master in heaven, and He is watching how you run His business.
If you are in any position of authority, this verse applies to you. The Christian vision for society is not a flat, egalitarian desert. It is a great household, an oikonomia, with different roles, different responsibilities, and different stations. But it is a household where every level of authority is accountable to the level above it, and the entire structure is accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what a Christian social order looks like. It is a great chain of commanded blessing, flowing down from the throne of Christ, through magistrates, pastors, fathers, and employers, to all those under their care.
The gospel did not come to bring a political revolution that would merely rearrange the deck chairs. It came to bring about a spiritual transformation that would eventually build a whole new ship. It begins in the heart, with the recognition that you have a Master in heaven. It moves into the home, transforming how husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees relate to one another. And from the home, it flows out to transform the entire culture. This is how the kingdom of God advances. Not by riot, but by righteousness. Not by tearing down, but by building up, one justly ordered and mercifully governed household at a time, all under the watchful eye of our great Master in heaven.