Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed.
Count their own masters as worthy of all honor ...  This was the basic requirement for all slaves, upon penalty of death for violation; so the sanity of such instruction is apparent; but the new-found liberty in Christ would have tempted some, due to human nature, to despise their masters. Thus, the thought here is to the effect that Christianity makes anyone a better person, therefore a better employee, a better master, or even a better slave.  And those slaves fortunate enough to have Christian masters were to be willing to extend even more and higher honor to them. Of course, the master, if a real Christian, would respond in kind, which would benefit his slaves, some of whom, no doubt, received their freedom as a result.  The principle behind this was thus stated by White: