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These words were once read by a reader of The Berean Expositor to an extremist in
social matters who explained passionately, "The man who wrote that was a devil". The
brother said, "Well, what do you say of the man who wrote this?" and read verse 9, "and,
ye masters, do the same things unto them". We do not know his reply, but it is obvious
that the apostle was no champion of class warfare. That there are crying evils among
servants and masters no one can deny, but the child of God is not left here to reform or
to patch up, but to witness for the truth, to endure what may come as a result and to leave
his case with the Lord:--
"Knowing that whatsoever good things any man doeth, the same shall he receive of
the Lord, whether he be bond or free" (Eph. 6: 8).
We have had a very unscriptural idea based upon this verse presented to us. It is this.
Only the good we do will be dealt with by the Lord in that day, for this verse says
nothing about any bad thing we may have done. The good will be recognized, the evil
will have been forgiven. That is a very "comfortable" doctrine no doubt, but as Col. 3:
24, 25 writes upon the same theme and to the same people dispensationally it cannot
hold:--
"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve
the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done:
and there is no respect of persons."
Masters are exhorted in Ephesians to "do the same things" which in Colossians
becomes "give that which is just and equal", which is not incipient communism, but
refers to the relation of wages to service, that it must be equitable. Further, the master is
exhorted to "forbear threatening", a matter of even greater difficulty than to-day, when
the slaves were the personal property of their masters and without redress.
Behold, the dreamer!
Those of us who have received the truth of the mystery and who have sought to carry
out as far as possible its teaching have to submit to the misunderstandings of our fellows,
and among the charges made against us is that we have exchanged realities for dreams,
that we are no longer a practical force, etc. We wonder how many husbands and wives
when faced with Eph. 5: would dare to speak of our teaching as unpractical and only
stuff for dreamers? We wonder how many fathers, surveying their children's progress,
would deny the practical teaching of Eph. 6:, to say nothing of the servants and the
masters that are forming into hostile camps even though professing the same faith?
The world has a proverb, "Charity begins at home", and if home life and business life
were permeated with the spirit of Eph. 5: and 6: the church life and gospel testimony
would look after itself. God is not served by multiplying meetings and neglecting the
claims of home. God is not served at the expense of faithful daily service or at the
expense of faithful recognition. In many things we offend all. Let us for the remainder