🛡️WEB · Ephesians 6:9
What does Ephesians 6:9 mean?
"You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him."
— Ephesians 6:9 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men;
knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is bound or free.
You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Explanation
Ephesians 6:9 comes at the end of Paul's instructions on household relationships, following his address to servants (or "bondservants") in the preceding verses. Having just told servants to serve their earthly masters with sincerity and diligence as though serving Christ himself, Paul now turns to address the masters directly, telling them to "do the same things" — that is, to treat their servants with the same good will, sincerity, and service-mindedness that he just commanded of the servants. This mutuality is striking: Paul doesn't merely tell the party with less social power how to behave; he holds the powerful party to an equivalent standard.
The letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul, likely while imprisoned, to the church in Ephesus (and probably circulated among other churches in Asia Minor). In the Greco-Roman world, the master-slave relationship was a foundational social institution, and household codes describing the duties of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants were common in ancient literature. Paul adopts this familiar structure but transforms it by grounding every relationship in the lordship of Christ. Rather than simply reinforcing existing social hierarchies, he subtly undermines the assumptions behind them by insisting that both master and servant answer to the same heavenly Master.
The theological heart of this verse is the phrase "there is no partiality with him." Paul reminds masters that they themselves are servants of a greater Master in heaven, and that this heavenly Master does not play favorites based on earthly rank, wealth, or social status. This directly challenges the pride and
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