With goodwill render service, as to the Lord, and not to people,
Parallel translations
- WEB with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men;
- KJV With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
- BSB Serve with good will, as to the Lord and not to men,
- NKJV with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,
- NLT Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Work should be done with goodwill, as serving the Lord rather than men. A willing, cheerful spirit marks Christian service.
Overview
Paul continues that service is to be rendered 'with good will,' a ready and willing attitude, 'as to the Lord, and not to men.' This reorients ordinary labor toward Christ, lifting it to an act of devotion. The believer's true audience and master is the Lord himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Col 3:23And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,
- 1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
- Eph 6:5–6Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ;
- 2 Kgs 5:13His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’”
- Gen 31:38–40“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.
- 2 Kgs 5:2–3The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
- Gen 31:6You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 6:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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