Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 6:6

"not in the way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;" — Ephesians 6:6 (ASV)

Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers.—This verse is merely an expansion of the idea of singleness of heart. The word “eyeservice” (used here, and in Colossians 3:22) is peculiar to St. Paul, and to these passages; the word “menpleasers” is not found elsewhere in the New Testament but is used in the Septuagint; and the antithesis of “pleasing men” and “pleasing God” is not infrequent with St. Paul. (1 Thessalonians 2:4.)

To a slave, looking on his master’s authority as mere power imposed by the cruel laws of man, this “eyeservice” is found to be an all but irresistible temptation. It is only when he looks on himself as “the slave of Christ”—who Himself took on Him the form of a slave (Philippians 2:7) in order to work out the will of God in a sinful world and to redeem all men from bondage—that he can possibly serve from the heart.