Context No. 195 of 4322 · Colossians
Context · Reflection
Colossians 3:17-25: in context
17Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 18Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them. 20Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord. 21Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged. 22Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. 23And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. 25But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.
Colossians closes with a household code, a form familiar from Greek and Roman moral writing, which typically instructed the male head of the house on managing wife, children, and slaves. Paul uses the form and changes what it does.
Every pairing here is two-directional. Wives, be subject to your husbands, and immediately, husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents, and then, fathers, do not provoke your children or they will lose heart. In the standard version of this form, only the subordinate party received instruction. Here the one with power is addressed in the same breath and given the harder assignment.
Then the section on slaves, which is the longest, and it is addressed to the slaves themselves as moral agents, which the conventional form does not do. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing you will receive the inheritance as your reward. And then: the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. In a household where the master could not be sued, that sentence is aimed upward. Paul is working inside an arrangement he does not here overturn, and putting the master under judgment. Where do I hold the power in an arrangement, and what would the two-directional version of my instructions say to me?
Sources
- The household code, a Greek and Roman moral form usually addressed only to the male head of the house
- Colossians 3:19 and 3:21: the reciprocal instructions to husbands and fathers
- Colossians 3:22-25: the address to slaves as moral agents, ending with a warning to the wrongdoer without partiality