Colossians 4:1

Context

Colossians 3:18–4:1 contains a series of paired exhortations addressed to wives and husbands, children and fathers, and servants and masters. Scholars commonly call this passage a "household code." It opens at Colossians 3:18–19, and this verse forms its final part: a brief word to masters following a comparatively long exhortation to servants (3:22–25). Because the verse concludes the line of thought of chapter 3, some have observed that the chapter division would more naturally have come after it. The parallel passage is Ephesians 6:5–9.

According to tradition, the letter was sent to the church at Colossae by Paul while he was in prison (4:3, 4:18), although some scholars hold that a disciple of Paul wrote it in his name. Onesimus, mentioned in 4:9 of the same chapter, is generally identified with the runaway servant in Philemon. For this reason, the verse is often read alongside the story of Philemon and Onesimus.

Interpretation

• A reading in terms of mutual obligation: The Greco-Roman household management codes of the period dealt chiefly with the rights of the head of the household. This passage is notable for addressing servants directly as moral agents capable of receiving exhortation and for placing obligations on masters as well.
• A reading focused on the "Master in heaven": In Greek, "master" and "Lord" are the same word, kyrios. This reading takes the verse to mean that masters themselves are answerable to a higher Master. Linking it with the preceding verse, 3:25, "there is no respect of persons," it interprets the passage to mean that masters and servants will be judged by the same standard before God.
• A reading concerning the scope of "equal": The Greek word isotēs, rendered "equal" in the KJV, can mean both "fairness" and "equality." Accordingly, some interpret it narrowly as a call for fair treatment, while others hold that it also carries the equality expressed in Colossians 3:11, according to which there are no distinctions of status in Christ.

Questions of Application

No significant denominational differences in the interpretation of this verse are known. The question most often discussed is whether the verse endorses slavery.

In the nineteenth-century American debate over slavery, proponents of slavery cited the household code passages as evidence that the Bible sanctioned the institution. Abolitionists countered that the principles of equality before God and of love were ultimately incompatible with slavery, appealing to passages such as Galatians 3:26–29.

Today most churches and scholars read the passage as an exhortation given within the social institutions of the first century rather than as an endorsement of the institution itself. Interpreters differ, however, on how to assess the fact that the text does not directly criticize the institution. Some regard this as a limitation, while others see the text as having planted, within the circumstances of its time, principles that would undermine the institution from within.

Perspective: Korean Protestant practiceHow this idea is used in Korean churches, kept from the original Korean article.

In Korean Protestant preaching, the relationship of "masters and servants" is often applied by analogy to that between employers and employees or between supervisors and subordinates. In this usage, the verse serves as a text on the responsibility of those in authority and on workplace ethics.

Related Passages

• Ephesians 6:9
• Colossians 3:22–25
• Colossians 3:11
• Galatians 3:28
• Philemon 1:15–16