3. The phrase "servants under the yoke" means no more than obligation to perform service according to agreement or contract. He who had an engagement with an unbelieving master should perform his contract, or fulfill his obligation with scrupulous fidelity in order that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. The word "yoke" does not necessarily imply slavery. Our Savior said "take my _yoke_ upon you," but certainly he did not invite any one to become a slave. The word yoke is used in the scriptures to represent the ceremonial law; "dominion of Jacob over Esau, in the matter of his father's blessing;" political subjugation of the Israelites; the authority of king David over his subjects, etc., etc.; but not in a single passage in the scriptures, unless it be in 1st Tim. 6: 1, does it describe the state of a domestic slave, and the assumption that it means slave in this place is altogether without proof to sustain it. 4. There is one passage in the New Testament addressed to servants which has not yet been quoted. "Servants be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." 1st Pet. 2: 18, 19. In this passage _doulos_ does not occur, but _oiketes_, which some suppose, means _slave_. But of this evidence is wanting. The same word is used four times only in the New Testament, and is, in no case, translated slave. (See Luke 16: 13. Acts 10: 7. Rom. 14: 4. 1st Pet. as above.) In one place it is rendered household-servant, and it seems to be used to distinguish _house_-servants from others. "The word comes from oikos, a house."[11]