《Eadie’s Commentary on Ephesians (Vol. )》(John Eadie) 04 Chapter Introduction Chapter 4

μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου—“with fear and trembling.” The words do not mean with abject terror, but with that respect and reverence which their position warranted. The strong language shows, according to some, that this “fear and trembling” are not before “fleischli lordes,” but before the one Divine Lord. The words occur 1 Corinthians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 7:15, Philippians 2:12, and in two of these places they seem to describe sensations produced by mere human relationships. The preposition μετά indicates that such emotions were to be the regular accompaniments of obedience:-

ἐν ἁπλότητι τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν—“in singleness of your heart.” While μετά in the first clause refers to the accompaniment of obedience, ἐν here, as usual, characterizes the internal element. “Singleness of heart” is plainly opposed to duplicity; ἁπλοῦς, quasi plicis carens. Tittmann, De Syn. p. 28; Beck, Seelenl. p. 166; Romans 12:8; 2 Corinthians 8:2; 2 Corinthians 9:11; James 1:5. The slave is ever tempted to appear to labour while yet he is loitering, to put on the seeming of obedience and obey with a double heart. The counsel of the apostle therefore is, that he should obey in singleness of aim, giving undivided effort and attention to the task in hand, for it was to be done-

ὡς τῷ χριστῷ—“as to Christ;” the dative governed by the verb ὑπακούετε. Obedience with all these characteristics was to be yielded to earthly masters as to Christ. As common and secular inducements can have but small influence on the mind of a slave, so the apostle brings a religious motive to bear upon him. See under Ephesians 5:22.

Verse 6

(Ephesians 6:6.) ΄ὴ κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμοδουλείαν, ὡς ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι—“Not in the way of eye-service, as men-pleasers;” κατά, Winer, § 49, d. The duty is explained, first negatively, and then positively. The two nouns have their meaning indicated sufficiently by their composition. The first of them, which occurs only elsewhere in Colossians 3:22, is an expressive term of the apostle's own coinage. In an allusion to this place the adjective occurs, μὴ ὡς ὀφθαλμόδουλος ἀλλ᾿ ὡς φιλοδέσποτος. Apostol. Const. 4.12, p. 98, ed. Ultzen, 1853. The second noun belongs to the later Greek. Psalms 53:5; Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 621. Eye-service is labour when the master is present, but relaxation and sloth so soon as he is gone, labour only- τῷ σχήματι. Theophylact. Need we add that this is a vice which slavery everywhere creates and exhibits? Hence the necessity for drivers and overseers, whips and collars, treadmills and dungeons. The slave has usually no higher aim than to please him who has in his hands the power of punishment and sale; and whether in deception, or in an ingenious show of obedience, or a cunning feint of attention, this one motive prevails-to prevent his master taking offence at him. But the apostle presents another and deeper inducement, which should lead to punctual and honest industry carried on to please the Lord in heaven. For the slaves were to work not as man's-

ἀλλ᾿ ὡς δοῦλοι χριστοῦ—“but as the slaves of Christ”-His by peculiar purchase and special proprietorship. The article in the Received Text before χριστοῦ is struck out on the authority of A, B, D¹, F, G, etc.

ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκ ψυχῆς—“doing the will of God from the soul.” Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; Colossians 3:23. This clause, according to some, is not to be joined with the one before it—“as the servants of Christ,” but with the first clause of the verse—“not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, . . . doing the will of God.” There is no reason to adopt such a view. Though they were slaves to a human master, they were to live and labour in the character of Christ's servants, the characteristic of whose industry is, that they do God's will from the heart. That sphere in which they had been placed was of God's allotment; and when they discharged its duties, they were to labour not to please men, as if simply doing man's bidding, but to please God, and under the idea that they were doing His will. Such an impression must create motives which no secular premiums or penalties could ever have originated.

But the connection of ἐκ ψυχῆς has been disputed. Numerous and eminent authorities join the words to the next verse. So the Syriac reads—“and serve them with all your soul.” Chrysostom adopts this disposition of the clauses, with OEcumenius and Jerome, followed by Bengel, Koppe, Harless, de Wette, Stier, and Alford, as well as by the editors Knapp and Lachmann. But we see no reason for following such a connection, as the keeping of the words in union with the preceding clause yields a good and appropriate sense. Colossians 3:23. The phrase ἐκ ψυχῆς signifies “heartily,” and stands in contrast with “eye-service.” Delitzsch, Psych. p. 160. The slave is to do the will of God from the soul-not reluctantly, and as if from mere conviction that it should be done. This cordiality is an essential element of Christian service. The limbs of the slave move with a reluctant tardiness and heartlessness; and such forced or feigned obedience is one of those inevitable results of slavery, against which the apostle is cautioning this class of his readers. But if the words ἐκ ψυχῆς be joined to the next verse, its first clause will then have the aspect of tautology, ἐκ ψυχῆς, μετ᾿ εὐνοίας δουλεύοντες. Had there been a καί connecting the two nouns, this exegesis might have had some probability. Harless distinguishes the two nouns thus, that ἐκ ψυχῆς points out the relation of the servant to his work, and μετ᾿ εὐνοίας characterizes the relation of the servant to his master. See Passow, Liddell and Scott, and Pape, sub vocibus; Xenophon, OEconom. p. 673; Cyrop. iii. p. 54; Elsner, ii. p. 228. But though such a distinction be just, it is no argument for connecting the two terms in one clause. It rather affords to us the best reason for separating them, because the clause to which we attach ἐκ ψυχῆς speaks of work to be done, and that cordially; while the next clause, to which μετ᾿ εὐνοίας belongs, turns attention to the master for whom this labour is to be performed. That master being Christ, goodwill to Him must characterize the performance of it.

Verse 7

(Ephesians 6:7.) ΄ετ᾿ εὐνοίας δουλεύοντες—“Serving with a well-affected mind,” that is, not only cordially, but higher yet-remembering that He whom you really serve is not a tyrant, but a generous master; for your service is done to Christ. It is no goodwill which the slave often bears to his master, his common feeling being the torment of his master's presence and the terror of his lash. Serving-

ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώποις—“as to the Lord, and not to men;” the phrase being in contrast with “men-pleasers.” The particle ὡς, not found in the Received Text, is now rightfully inserted, on the authority of A, B, D¹, F, G, and many other concurrent authorities. The spirit of their service was to be Christian. They were to remember Christ the Master, and in serving others were to serve Him-the Master not according to the flesh. In external aspect the service was to men, but in motive and spirit it was to the Lord. It is evident that if the slaves cherished such religious feelings, the hardships of their condition would be greatly lightened. Menander has also said- ἐλευθέρως δούλευε, δοῦλος οὐκ ἔσῃ—“serve freely, and you are no longer a slave.” The spirit of this paragraph, as Olshausen remarks, detractis detrahendis, should regulate all service. “Whatever ye do in word or in deed, do all in the name of Christ.” Or, as Luther says in a quotation by Stier, “when a servant-maid sweeps out a room, she can do a work in God.”

Verse 8

(Ephesians 6:8.) εἰδότες ὅτι ὃ ἐάν τι ἕκαστος ποιήσῃ ἀγαθὸν, τοῦτο κομίσεται παρὰ κυρίου, εἴτε δοῦλος, εἴτε ἐλεύθερος—“Knowing,” or “as ye know that whatsoever good each one shall have done, this shall he receive from the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” Lachmann, supported by A, D, E, F, G, etc., reads ὅτι ἕκαστος ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ, but Tischendorf reads as we have printed it. There are also many other variations which need not be noted, as they have sprung from emendation. The ὅ and τι are separated by a tmesis, and ἐάν stands after the relative for ἄν. Winer, § 42, 6, Obs.Instead of κομίσεται, which is supported by A, B, D¹, F, G, the Stephanic text has κομιεῖται, on what appears to be the minor authority of D⁴, E, K, L, and the texts of Basil and Chrysostom. The Received Text has the article τοῦ before κυρίου, but without sufficient evidence. τοῦτο, “this,” and not something else, the verb being in the middle, and really meaning “shall receive back for himself.” Colossians 3:24-25. The object of the apostle is, to encourage the slaves to the cultivation of those virtues which he has described. If they obeyed him, and became diligent and industrious, and served their masters with conscientious fidelity and goodwill, then, though their master might fail either to note or reward their conduct, they were not to be disheartened. For the one Master on high is also the Judge, and He will not fail to confer on them a recompense, not of merit indeed, but of grace. The hope of a future world, in which there would be a gracious recognition of their character and actions, would preserve them from impatience and discontent amidst insults and ingratitude on the part of thankless and “frowar d” masters. The Christian doctrine of rewards is too often lost sight of or kept in abeyance, as if it were not perfectly consistent with the freest bestowment of heavenly glory.

Verse 9

(Ephesians 6:9.) καὶ, οἱ κύριοι, τὰ αὐτὰ ποιεῖτε πρὸς αὐτούς—“And, ye masters, do the same things towards them.” καί indicates an immediate connection, for the duties were reciprocal. The master needed instruction as well as his slave, for irresponsible power is above all things apt to be abused. Plato has well said, that treatment of slaves is a test of character, because a man may so easily wrong them with impunity. The apostle had stooped to the slave, and he was not afraid to speak with erect attitude to the master. The masters are summoned to do the same things- τὰ αὐτά-to the slaves, as their slaves are enjoined to do to their masters. The language is general, and expresses what Calvin well calls jus analogum. They were to act toward their servants in a general spirit of reciprocal kindness, or as the apostle says in Colossians 4:1, they were to give them “that which is just and right.” The duty taught to the slave was earnest, conscientious, and religious service; the corresponding duty taught to the master was earnest, conscientious, and religious government. All the elements of service were to be also those of proprietorship. Such appears to us to be the general sense of the language, and such is the general view of Zanchius, Crocius, and Matthies; while Theodoret, Bengel, Harless, Meier, Olshausen, Rückert, Stier, and Meyer dwell, perhaps, too much on the mere εὔνοια already recommended. Many other commentators confine and enfeeble the meaning, by specifying too minutely the reference of τὰ αὐτά. The Greek commentators refer the words at once to δουλεύοντες in Ephesians 6:7, as if the apostle meant to say—“your slaves serve you, you are also to serve them.” Chrysostom shrinks, however, from this full form of putting his meaning. “The apostle,” he adds, “does not actually say it, but he means it”- ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ εἶπε, δουλεύετε, καίτοι γε εἰπὼν τὰ αὐτὰ τοῦτο ἐδήλωσε. Flatt restricts the reference to doing the will of God, that is, “so demean yourselves towards your slaves, that ye accomplish in reference to them the will of God.” De Wette refers to the clause τὸ ἀγαθὸν ποιεῖν in Ephesians 6:8, as if there were a paraphrastic allusion to the τὴν ἰσότητα.

ἀνιέντες τὴν ἀπειλήν—“forbearing threatening.” Chrysostom, Calvin, Harless, and Baumgarten take these words too vaguely, as if, sub una specie, they generally forbade contumelious treatment. The reference is more pointed. Bloomfield, preceded by the Syriac, on the other hand, presses too hard upon the clause when he understands it as signifying “remitting the threatened punishment,” and he bases his opinions upon two passages from Xenophon and Plutarch which call a menaced penalty, or the thing threatened, a threatening. The former of these two interpretations is forbidden by the use of the article. But, alas! threatening has always been the special characteristic and weapon of slave-owners. ᾿απειλή is a feature of mastership so well known, that the apostle defines it as ἡ ἀπειλή-that system of threatening which was a prevalent and familiar feature of slavery. Now, however, not only was no unjust and cruel punishment to be inflicted, but even “threatening” was to be spared. The apostle hits upon a vice which specially marks the slave-holder; his prime instrument of instigation to labour is menace. The slave is too often driven on to his toil by truculent looks, and words and acts of threatening; and, by the sight of the scourge and the imitated application of it, he is ever reminded of what awaits him if his task be not accomplished. Masters were not merely to modify this procedure, but they were at once to give it up. The Lex Petronia had already forbidden a master on his own responsibility to throw a slave to the wild beasts, but no statute ever forbade “threatening.” Homines tamen esse memento—“remember your slaves are men,” says Cato; but Lactantius goes further, and adds what Cato's pen would have shrunk from-eos et habemus et dicimus spiritu fratres religione conservos. And this is the motive-

εἰδότες ὅτι καὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ὑμῶν ὁ κύριός ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανοῖς—“knowing, as ye know, that both their and your Master is in heaven.” This reading has A, B, D¹, many minuscules, with the Vulgate, Gothic, Coptic, Clement, and Jerome in its favour, while F and G read αὐτῶν ὑμῶν, and L has ὑμῶν καὶ αὐτῶν. The readings have arisen from homoioteleuton and other causes. The Master in heaven is your Judge and theirs equally, and you and they are alike responsible to Him. Such an idea and prospect lodged in the mind of a Christian master would have a tendency to curb all capricious and harsh usage, and lead him to feel that really and spiritually he and his serfs were on a level, and that all this difference of social rank belonged but to an external and temporary institution. Could he either threaten or scourge a Christian brother with whom but the day before, and at the Lord's table, he had eaten of the one bread and drunk of the one sacramental cup?

καὶ προσωπολημψία οὐκ ἔστι παῤ αὐτῷ—“and there is no respect of persons with Him;” “and the takynge of persouns is not anentis God.” Wyckliffe. This compound substantive is imitated from the Hebrew idiom- נָסָאפַנִים . In the New Testament the word is always used with a bad sense. Matthew 22:16; Mark 12:14; James 2:1, etc. The Divine Master who bought them with His blood has no partialities. Strictest equity characterizes His judgment. Difference of worldly station has no influence with Him, but bond and free have a perfect parity before Him. The gold ring of the master does not attract His eye, and it is not averted from the iron fetter of the slave. Slaves may be denied justice in earthly courts; the law may, a priori, injure the bondman by acting upon the presumption that he is in the wrong, and his evidence may be legally refused as unworthy of credit: but there is a tribunal above, where the servant shall have equal position with his lord, and where the sentence pronounced shall be devoid of all that one-sidedness which has too often disgraced the judicial bench in matters between a master and his slaves.

Verse 10

(Ephesians 6:10.) τὸ λοιπόν, ἀδελφοί μου—“In conclusion, my brethren”-a reading of far higher authority than τοῦ λοιποῦ, adopted by Lachmann after A and B, and meaning—“henceforward.” Madvig, § 66. It is as if he said, What remains for me to tell you but this? The address, ἀδελφοί μου, of the Received Text is omitted by Tischendorf and Lachmann-an omission which the majority of modern expositors approve. The words are not found in B, D, E, and several of the patristic writers. They seem to have been introduced from other passages where they occur in connection with τὸ λοιπόν. 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:1. Olshausen says, that the apostle never in this epistle addresses his reader by such an appellation as ἀδελφοί, though as an epithet it occurs in the 23rd verse of this chapter.

The apostle now represents the church as engaged in an active warfare with the powers and principles of evil. Olshausen suggests that his residence in the Praetorium at Rome, where the equipment and discipline of soldiers were a daily spectacle, may have originated the allegory. Similar allusions are found in Isaiah 11:5; Isaiah 59:17; Psalms 18, 144; 2 Corinthians 10:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:8. The primary charge to the spiritual militia is-

ἐνδυναμοῦσθε ἐν κυρίῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ κράτει τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ—“be strengthened in the Lord and in the power of His might.” The verb is passive, not middle, as some suppose. It is a word peculiar to the Alexandrian Greek, and occurs in the Septuagint, Psalms 52:7, and in Acts 9:22; Romans 4:20; 2 Timothy 2:1; Hebrews 11:34. “In the Lord,” or in union with Him, is this strengthening to be enjoyed. The nouns of the last clause have been explained under Ephesians 1:19. Comp. Philippians 2:13; Philippians 4:13. The second clause- καί-further points out or explains the special blessings which result to the Christian warrior from his union with Jesus-he is strengthened in “the power of His might.” This command is one of primary necessity. No matter what armour is provided, how finely tempered, how highly polished, or how closely fitted it may be, if there be no strength in the heart-if the man have merely the dress of a soldier, with the spirit of a poltroon. And the valour is spiritual, as is the armour; for physical courage and intellectual prowess are often, alas! allied to spiritual cowardice. Moreover, soldiers have an invincible courage when they have confidence in the skill and bravery of their leader; and the power of His might, in which they are strong, has proved its vigour in routing the same foes which they are summoned to encounter. As the Captain of salvation, “He spoiled principalities and powers, and triumphed over them.” The order to the spiritual host is now given, as if with the stirring peal of a trumpet-

Verse 11

(Ephesians 6:11.) ᾿ενδύσασθε τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ—“Put on the panoply of God.” Stier regards the rest of this clause and that of the preceding verse as identical in inner meaning. The sense cannot indeed be very different, though the image before us is distinct-first, strength or courage, and then preparation in that strength to meet the enemy. πανοπλία is complete armour, as the name implies. Luke 11:22. It is also found in the Septuagint (2 Samuel 2:21; Job 39:20), and in 2 Maccabees 3:25; Judith 14:3. It denotes full armour, and not simply, as some erroneously suppose, “the equipment” of God. The specification of the pieces of armour proves that Paul meant panoply in its literal sense. In fact, as Meyer remarks, on this word lies the emphasis, and not on τοῦ θεοῦ, as Harless erroneously supposes. Did the emphasis lie on τοῦ θεοῦ, it might imply that other armour than this might be used in the combat. But the strength of the charge is-Do not enter into battle with such adversaries naked and defenceless, but take to you armour. Do not cover one portion and leave another exposed; do not assume the cuirass and neglect the helmet; but put on “the whole armour.” Do not resort to any arsenal of your own, for its armour is weak and useless; but put on the whole armour of God. “And furthermore, we must neuer leaue these armours as long as we be in thys worlde, for we shall alwayis haue batayle.” Taverner's Postils, p. 495; ed. Oxford, 1841. The genitive, θεοῦ, is that of origination: God provides the armour. Winer, § 30. It cannot mean, as Anselm dreams, such armour as God uses. Each of its pieces-its girdle, breastplate, boots, shield, helmet, and sword-is furnished by Him. It is armour forged on no earthly anvil, and tempered by no human skill. See Winer's Realwört.; Kitto's Cyclopedia; Smi th's Dictionary, sub voce.

πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς στῆναι πρὸς τὰς μεθοδείας τοῦ διαβόλου—“in order that ye may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.” The reading μεθοδίας has good authority, A, B, D¹, E, G, K, L. Winer, § 5, 4. The first πρός indicates purpose. Winer, § 49, h. But στῆναι πρός is, in military phrase, to stand in front of, with the view of opposing. Kypke (2.301) illustrates the phrase from Polybius, 4.61, and Antoninus, lib. vi. § 41. Loesner, Observat. p. 347. Xenophon makes this contrast- οὐκέτι ἵστανται, ἀλλὰ φεύγουσι. De Expeditione Cyri, 1.10, 1. The plural μεθοδείας seems to denote instances of the abstract singular-Ausdruck mannichfaltiger Arten und Fälle-of which usage Bernhardy gives examples, p. 62. ΄εθοδεία has been explained under Ephesians 4:14, and διάβολος has been considered under Ephesians 4:27. The great enemy of man, a veteran fierce and malignant, has a method of warfare peculiar to himself, for it consists of “wiles.” His battles are the rush of a sudden ambuscade. He fights not on a pitched field, but by sudden assault and secret and cunning onslaught. Vigilance, self-possession, and promptitude are therefore indispensable to meet him: and as his aim is to throw his opponents off their guard and then to surprise them, so there is need to be ever clothed in this complete armour of God. His “wiles” are seen in unsettling the mind of Eve by representing God as jealous of the first man and woman; in stirring up the warlike aspirations of David to take a military census and force a conscription as the basis of a standing army; in inflaming the avaricious and sordid spirit of Judas; and in his assaults on our Lord by an appeal to appetite, piety, and ambition.

Verse 12

(Ephesians 6:12.) ῞οτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα—“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” The reading ὑμῖν, commended by Griesbach, and adopted by Lachmann, Rückert, and Olshausen, has the authority of B, D¹, F, G, but ἡμῖν is supported by the preponderant authority of A, D³, E, K, L, etc., with other concurrent witnesses. Olshausen's argument for ἡμῖν proves the reverse of his position, for the temptation was to alter ἡμῖν to ὑμῖν, since the rest of the paragraph is delivered in the second person. The idea of a necessary combat on the part of man with evil of all kinds around him, is so natural, that we find it under various representations in classical writers. Homer, Il. 20.47, and especially Plato, De Leg. 10.906. This latter passage is regarded by some of the Fathers as parallel to the one before us (Clemens Alex. Strom. 593; Eusebius, Evang. Praep. 11.26), and as an echo from some old oracle of the Jewish scriptures.

The apostle has just spoken of the wiles of the devil, and he justifies the statement now- ὅτι—“because.” The article is prefixed to πάλη, not simply because the contest is already supposed in the preceding verse, but because it is the one contest in which each must engage-a contest of life and death. The noun πάλη occurs only here, and is not used by the Seventy. It signifies a personal encounter, and is rendered colluctatio in the Vulgate. The phrase “flesh and blood” denotes humanity, viewed in its palpable characteristics, and as opposed to such spiritual and uncompounded natures as the apostle describes in the following clauses. The terms do not point out humanity in its sinful or fallen state, but only in its ordinary and organized form. Matthew 16:17; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Galatians 1:16. The conflict which the apostle describes is no equal one with humanity, no wrestling on equal terms of potsherd with potsherd; and man being placed at this terrible disadvantage, there is therefore all the more need of the panoply of God. The common notion, adopted also by Stier, Passavant, and Burton, that the apostle means to say that we wrestle not only with the evil of human corruption, but against superhuman adversaries, cannot be sustained. Yet Bloomfield and Trollope without hesitation supply μόνον. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood-