“Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.”
King James Version (KJV)
6:1 Let servants under the yoke - Of heathen masters. Account them worthy of all honour - All the honour due from a servant to a master. Lest the name of God and his doctrine be blasphemed - As it surely will, if they do otherwise.
1Ti 6:1 Various Duties Enjoined SUMMARY OF I TIMOTHY 6: Duties of Servants. Life the Test of Doctrine. The Blessedness of Contentment. The Danger of the Love of Money. Charge to the Man of God. A Lesson for the Rich. Let as many servants as are under the yoke. Under the yoke of slavery. The slaves were as numerous as the free population, and many of the early Christians belonged to this class. Count their own masters worthy of all honour. There was danger that these converted slaves would despise their heathen masters. If they were to do so, it would create a great odium against the Christian religion and lead to attempts to extirpate it. Slavery was to be destroyed, not by putting a spirit of insubordination into slaves, but by putting a Christian spirit into masters.