the masters are also told to be slaves to their slaves, ‘as to the Master’. Presumably they are to exercise their authority in a way which is just as much a service to their slaves as the slaves’ work is service to them. Such advice taken seriously would mean that the continuing outward order of freedom and subjection would be inwardly transformed by the new Christian principle of freedom in mutual service (see the fourth point below). It should also be noticed that the way the master—slave relationship