17 Bible Verses about Servants

As for Epaphroditus, however, my brother, my fellow-worker, my fellow-soldier, and your messenger to meet my wants, I think it necessary to send you him at once,

Join the ranks of those who bear suffering, like a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civil pursuits; his aim is to satisfy his commander.

PAUL and Timotheus, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, as well as to the bishops and deacons:

Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:

Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and for their knowledge of the Truth that goes with a religious life,

James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: greeting.

As for the secret symbol of the seven stars which you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp stands ??the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

To the angel of the church at Ephesus write thus: ??These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who moves among the seven golden lampstands:

You must serve one another, each with the talent he has received, as efficient stewards of God's varied grace.

And the Lord's servant must not be a man of strife; he must be kind to everybody, a skilled teacher, a man who will not resent injuries;

This is how you are to look upon us, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's secret truths.

[For a bishop must be above reproach ??he is a steward of God's house ??he must not be presumptuous or hot-tempered or a drunkard or violent or addicted to pilfering;

(It is Christ Jesus as Lord, not myself, that I proclaim; I am simply a servant of yours for Jesus' sake.)

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

Let all servants who are under the yoke of slavery remember that their masters are entitled to perfect respect ??otherwise it will be a scandal to the Name of God and to our doctrine.

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself;

Servants, be submissive to your masters with perfect respect, not simply to those who are kind and reasonable but to the surly as well ??19 for it is a merit when from a sense of God one bears the pain of unjust suffering.

Tell servants to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction all round, not to be refractory,

Now there was an army-captain who had a servant ill whom he valued very highly. This man was at the point of death; so, when the captain heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and make his servant well.

Once you found him a worthless character, but now-a-days he is worth something to you and me.

When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his menservants and a religiously minded soldier who belonged to his personal retinue,

For though I am a man under authority myself, I have soldiers under me; I tell one man to go, and he goes, I tell another to come, and he comes, I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve, stood before me,

James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: greeting.

God is my witness, the God whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I always mention you in my prayers,

Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God.

[Keep out of all incongruous ties with unbelievers. What have righteousness and iniquity in common, or how can light associate with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and Beliar, or what business has a believer with an unbeliever? What compact can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God ??as God has said, I will dwell and move among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

No one can serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other ??you cannot serve both God and Mammon.

No servant can serve two masters: either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other, you cannot serve both God and Mammon."

No, what I imply is that anything people sacrifice is sacrificed to daemons, not to God. And I do not want you to participate in daemons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of daemons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and also of the table of daemons. What! do we intend to rouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?

With the tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and with the tongue we curse men made in God's likeness; blessing and cursing stream from the same lips! My brothers, this ought not to be. Does a fountain pour out fresh water and brackish from the same hole? read more.
Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives? Or a vine, figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen; we have all been imbued with one Spirit.

Be sure that everyone, slave or free, will be paid back by the Lord and Master for the good he has done.

There is no room for Jew or Greek, there is no room for slave or freeman, there is no room for male and female; you are all one in Christ Jesus.

In it there is no room for Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man; Christ is everything and everywhere.

Tell servants to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction all round, not to be refractory,

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself; instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ, by rendering service with goodwill as to the Lord and Master, not to men. read more.
Be sure that everyone, slave or free, will be paid back by the Lord and Master for the good he has done.

Let all servants who are under the yoke of slavery remember that their masters are entitled to perfect respect ??otherwise it will be a scandal to the Name of God and to our doctrine. Those who have Christian believers as their masters must not take liberties with them because they are brothers; they must be all the better servants because those who get the good of their service are believers and beloved. This is what you are to teach and preach.

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master. Whatever be your task, work at it heartily, as servants of the Lord and not of men;

then poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, wiping them with the towel he had tied round him.

just as the Son of man has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Which is the greatest, guest or servant? Is it not the guest? But I am among you as a servant.

but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guise

immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine

Now in this matter of stewards your first requirement is that they must be trustworthy.

not to embezzle, but to prove themselves truly faithful at all points, so as to be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour in all respects.

He who is faithful with a trifle is also faithful with a large trust, and he who is dishonest with a trifle is also dishonest with a large trust. So, if you are not faithful with dishonest mammon, how can you ever be trusted with true Riches? And if you are not faithful with what belongs to another, how can you ever be given what is your own?

but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guise and appearing in human form, he humbly stooped in his obedience even to die, and to die upon the cross.

Hence, on entering the world he says, Thou hast no desire for sacrifice or offering; it is a body thou hast prepared for me ??6 in holocausts and sin-offerings thou takest no delight.

Out of jealousy the patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt; but God was with him, rescuing him from all his troubles and allowing him to find favour for his wisdom with Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him viceroy over Egypt and over all his own household.

Keep your loins girt and your lamps lit, and be like men who are expecting their lord and master on his return from a marriage-banquet, so as to open the door for him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the lord and master finds awake when he comes! I tell you truly, he will gird himself, make them recline at table, and come forward to wait on them. read more.
Whether he comes in the second or the third watch of the night and finds them thus alert, blessed are they! Be sure that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

"A nobleman," he said, "went abroad to obtain royal power for himself and then return. He first called his ten servants, giving them each a five-pound note, and telling them, 'Trade with this till I come back.' Now his people hated him and sent envoys after him to say, 'We object to him having royal power over us.' read more.
However he secured the royal power and came home. Then he ordered the servants to be called who had been given the money, that he might find out what business they had done. The first came up saying, 'Your five pounds has made other fifty, sir.' 'Capital,' he said, 'you excellent servant! because you have proved trustworthy in a trifle, you are placed over ten towns.' Then the second came and said, 'Your five pounds has made twenty-five, sir.' To him he said, 'And you are set over five towns.'

Keep on the watch then, for you never know what day your Lord will come. But be sure of this, that if the householder had known at what watch in the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. read more.
Now where is the trusty and thoughtful servant, whom his lord and master has set over his household to assign them their supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives! I tell you truly, he will set him over all his property.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with perfect respect, not simply to those who are kind and reasonable but to the surly as well ??19 for it is a merit when from a sense of God one bears the pain of unjust suffering.

Do you not know you are the servants of the master you obey, of the master to whom you yield yourselves obedient, whether it is Sin, whose service ends in death, or Obedience, whose service ends in righteousness?

(I use this human analogy to bring the truth home to your weak nature.) As you once dedicated your members to the service of vice and lawlessness, so now dedicate them to the service of righteousness that means consecration.

you were bought for a price; then glorify God with your body.

(for you were bought for a price; you must not turn slaves to any man).

PAUL, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God

So he sat down and called the twelve. "If anyone wants to be first," he said to them, "he must be last of all and the servant of all."

But you are not to be called 'rabbi,' for One is your teacher, and you are all brothers; you are not to call anyone 'father' on earth, for One is your heavenly Father; nor must you be called 'leaders,' for One is your leader, even the Christ. read more.
He who is greatest among you must be your servant.

so Jesus called them and said, "You know the so-called rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them: not so with you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever of you wants to be first must be your slave;

Remember what I told you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they hold to my word, they will hold to yours.

A scholar is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord; enough for the scholar to fare like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If men have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they miscall his servants!

Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than he who sent him.

The Son of man moves to his end indeed as it has been decreed, but woe to the man by whom he is betrayed!" And they began to discuss among themselves which of them could possibly be going to do such a thing. A quarrel also rose among them as to which of them could be considered the greatest. read more.
But Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles rule over them, and their authorities take the name of 'Benefactor': not so with you. He who is greatest among you must be like the youngest, and he who is chief like a servant. Which is the greatest, guest or servant? Is it not the guest? But I am among you as a servant.

Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus. Though he was divine by nature, he did not set store upon equality with God but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guise read more.
and appearing in human form, he humbly stooped in his obedience even to die, and to die upon the cross.

"A nobleman," he said, "went abroad to obtain royal power for himself and then return. He first called his ten servants, giving them each a five-pound note, and telling them, 'Trade with this till I come back.' Now his people hated him and sent envoys after him to say, 'We object to him having royal power over us.' read more.
However he secured the royal power and came home. Then he ordered the servants to be called who had been given the money, that he might find out what business they had done. The first came up saying, 'Your five pounds has made other fifty, sir.' 'Capital,' he said, 'you excellent servant! because you have proved trustworthy in a trifle, you are placed over ten towns.' Then the second came and said, 'Your five pounds has made twenty-five, sir.' To him he said, 'And you are set over five towns.' Then the next came and said, 'Here is your five pounds, sir; I kept it safe in a napkin, for I was afraid of you, you are such a hard man ??picking up what you never put down, and reaping what you never sowed.' He replied, 'You rascal of a servant, I will convict you by what you have said yourself. You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, picking up what I never put down, and reaping what I never sowed! Why then did you not put my money into the bank, so that I could have got it with interest when I came back?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the five pounds from him and give it to the man with fifty.' 'Sir,' they said, 'he has fifty already!' 'I tell you, to everyone who has shall more be given, but from him who has nothing, even what he has shall be taken. And now for these enemies of mine who objected to me reigning over them ??bring them here and slay them in my presence.' "

Keep on the watch then, for you never know what day your Lord will come. But be sure of this, that if the householder had known at what watch in the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. read more.
Now where is the trusty and thoughtful servant, whom his lord and master has set over his household to assign them their supplies at the proper time? Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives! I tell you truly, he will set him over all his property. But if the bad servant says to himself, 'My lord and master is long of coming,' and if he starts to beat his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with drunkards, that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know; he will cut him in two and assign him the fate of the impious. There men will wail and gnash their teeth.

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ,

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ,

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ,

by rendering service with goodwill as to the Lord and Master, not to men.

Whatever be your task, work at it heartily, as servants of the Lord and not of men;

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself;

Servants, obey your masters here below at every point; do not work simply when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, but serve them with a single heart out of reverence for your Lord and Master.

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself;

Be sure that everyone, slave or free, will be paid back by the Lord and Master for the good he has done.

remember, you will receive from the Lord the inheritance which is your due; serve Christ your Lord and Master,

It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!' So you are servant no longer but son, and as son you are also heir, all owing to God.

[Chapters he cuts away any branch on me which is not bearing fruit, and cleans every branch which does bear fruit, to make it bear richer fruit. You are already clean, by the word I have spoken to you. read more.
Remain in me, as I remain in you: just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, without remaining on the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, as I in him, bears rich fruit (because apart from me you can do nothing). If anyone does not remain in me he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers up; then the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire to be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then ask whatever you like and you shall have it. As you bear rich fruit and prove yourselves my disciples, my Father is glorified. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain within my love. If you keep my commands you will remain within my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain within his love. I have told you this, that my joy may be within you and your joy complete. This is my command: you are to love one another as I have loved you. To lay life down for his friends, man has no greater love than that. You are my friends ??if you do what I command you; & I call you servants no longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing: I call you friends, because I have imparted to you all that I have learned from my Father.

Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now the slave does not remain in the household for all time; the son of the house does.

What follows, then? Are we 'to sin, because we live under grace, not under law'? Never! Do you not know you are the servants of the master you obey, of the master to whom you yield yourselves obedient, whether it is Sin, whose service ends in death, or Obedience, whose service ends in righteousness? Thank God, though you did serve sin, you have rendered whole-hearted obedience to what you were taught under the rule of faith; read more.
set free from sin, you have passed into the service of righteousness. (I use this human analogy to bring the truth home to your weak nature.) As you once dedicated your members to the service of vice and lawlessness, so now dedicate them to the service of righteousness that means consecration. When you served sin, you were free of righteousness.

he rose from table, laid aside his robe, and tied a towel round him, then poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, wiping them with the towel he had tied round him.

rescuing him from all his troubles and allowing him to find favour for his wisdom with Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him viceroy over Egypt and over all his own household.

Let all servants who are under the yoke of slavery remember that their masters are entitled to perfect respect ??otherwise it will be a scandal to the Name of God and to our doctrine.

However he secured the royal power and came home. Then he ordered the servants to be called who had been given the money, that he might find out what business they had done. The first came up saying, 'Your five pounds has made other fifty, sir.'

Then the second came and said, 'Your five pounds has made twenty-five, sir.'

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself;

Tell servants to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction all round, not to be refractory,

See, the wages of which you have defrauded the workmen who mowed your fields call out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

The hired man, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, deserts them when he sees the wolf coming; he runs away, leaving the wolf to tear and scatter them, just because he is a hired man, who has no interest in the sheep.

he called them at once, and they left their father Zebedaeus in the boat with the crew and went to follow him.

But when he came to his senses he said, 'How many hired men of my father have more than enough to eat, and here am I perishing of hunger!

(for you were bought for a price; you must not turn slaves to any man). Brothers, everyone must remain with God in the condition of life where he was called.

Everyone must remain in the condition of life where he was called. You were a slave when you were called? Never mind. Of course, if you do find it possible to get free, you had better avail yourself of the opportunity.

But a slave who is called to be in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord. Just as a free man who is called is a slave of Christ

I am astonished you are hastily shifting like this, deserting Him who called you by Christ's grace and going over to another gospel. It simply means that certain individuals are unsettling you; they want to distort the gospel of Christ. Now even though it were myself or some angel from heaven, whoever preaches a gospel that contradicts the gospel I preached to you, God's curse be on him! read more.
I have said it before and I now repeat it: whoever preaches a gospel to you that contradicts the gospel you have already received, God's curse be on him! Now is that 'appealing to the interests of men' or of God? Trying to 'satisfy men'? Why, if I still tried to give satisfaction to human masters, I would be no servant of Christ.

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters here below with reverence and trembling, with singleness of heart as to Christ himself; instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ,

remember, you will receive from the Lord the inheritance which is your due; serve Christ your Lord and Master,

Where is the credit in standing punishment for having done wrong? No, if you stand suffering for having done right, that is what God counts a merit.

Let no one interfere with me after this, for I bear branded on my body the owner's stamp of Jesus.

For the Realm of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard; and after agreeing with the labourers to pay them a shilling a day he sent them into his vineyard. Then, on going out at nine o'clock he noticed some other labourers standing in the marketplace doing nothing;

Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves, and many will follow their immorality (thanks to them the true Way will be maligned); in their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments ??men whose doom comes apace from of old, and destruction is awake upon their trail. read more.
For if God did not spare angels who had sinned, but committing them to pits of the nether gloom in Tartarus, reserved them under punishment for doom: if he did not spare the ancient world but kept Noah, the herald of righteousness, safe with seven others, when he let loose the deluge on the world of impious men: if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorra to ashes when he sentenced them to devastation, and thus gave the impious an example of what was in store for them, but rescued righteous Lot who was sore burdened by the immoral behaviour of the lawless (for when that righteous man resided among them, by what he saw and heard his righteous soul was vexed day after day with their unlawful doings) ??9 then be sure the Lord knows how to rescue pious folk from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment till the day of doom, particularly those who fall in with the polluting appetite of the flesh and despise the Powers celestial. Daring, presumptuous creatures! they are not afraid to scoff at the angelic Glories; whereas even angels, superior in might and power, lay no scoffing charge against these before the Lord. But those people! ??like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin, done out of the profits of their evil-doing. Pleasure for them is revelling in open daylight ??spots and blots, with their dissipated revelling, as they carouse in your midst! ??14 their eyes are full of harlotry, insatiable for sin; their own hearts trained to lust, they beguile unsteady souls. Accursed generation! they have gone wrong by leaving the straight road, by following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who liked the profits of evil-doing ??16 but he got reproved for his malpractice: a dumb ass spoke with human voice and checked the prophet's infatuation. These people are waterless fountains and mists driven by a squall, for whom the nether gloom of darkness is reserved. By talking arrogant futilities they beguile with the sensual lure of fleshly passion those who are just escaping from the company of misconduct ??19 promising them freedom, when they are themselves enslaved to corruption (for a man is the slave of whatever overpowers him).

But he refused; he went and had him thrown into prison, till he should pay the debt.

and if he starts to beat his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with drunkards,

that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know;

Those who have Christian believers as their masters must not take liberties with them because they are brothers; they must be all the better servants because those who get the good of their service are believers and beloved. This is what you are to teach and preach.

Once you found him a worthless character, but now-a-days he is worth something to you and me.

Once you found him a worthless character, but now-a-days he is worth something to you and me.

instead of merely working when their eye is on you, like those who court human favour, do God's will from the heart like servants of Christ,

by rendering service with goodwill as to the Lord and Master, not to men.

no longer a mere slave but something more than a slave ??a beloved brother; especially dear to me but how much more to you as a man and as a Christian!

Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives!

Ought you not to have had mercy on your fellow-servant, as I had on you?'

Servants, be submissive to your masters with perfect respect, not simply to those who are kind and reasonable but to the surly as well ??19 for it is a merit when from a sense of God one bears the pain of unjust suffering.

and after agreeing with the labourers to pay them a shilling a day he sent them into his vineyard.

It is your vocation; for when Christ suffered for you, he left you an example, and you must follow his footsteps.

For though I am a man under authority myself, I have soldiers under me; I tell one man to go, and he goes, I tell another to come, and he comes, I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

not to embezzle, but to prove themselves truly faithful at all points, so as to be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour in all respects.

not to embezzle, but to prove themselves truly faithful at all points, so as to be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour in all respects.

not to embezzle, but to prove themselves truly faithful at all points, so as to be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour in all respects.

But when he came to his senses he said, 'How many hired men of my father have more than enough to eat, and here am I perishing of hunger!

Which is the greatest, guest or servant? Is it not the guest? But I am among you as a servant.

Tell servants to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction all round, not to be refractory,

Tell servants to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction all round, not to be refractory,

When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his menservants and a religiously minded soldier who belonged to his personal retinue,

Stay at the same house, eating and drinking what the people provide (for the workman deserves his wages); you are not to shift from one house to another.