368 EPHESIANS,

have their duties; you masters have your peculiar ob- ligations.’ The duty of masters is expressed by the comprehensive words, τὰ αὐτὰ ποιεῖτε πρὸς αὐτούς, do the same things towards them. This does not refer ex- clusively to per’ εὐνοίας in the preceding clause, as though the sense were, ‘As slaves are to obey with kind feeling, so masters are to rule in the same temper.’ The reference is more general. Masters are to act towards their slaves with the same regard to the will of God, with the same recognition of the authority of Christ, with the same sincerity and good ‘feeling which had been enjoined on the slaves themselves. Masters and slaves are men and brethren, the same great prin- ciples of moral and religious obligation govern both classes. In the parallel passage, Col. 4, 1, the expres- sion is, of κύριοι, TO δίκαιον, Kal THY ἰσότητα τοῖς δούλοις παρέχεσθε͵ ye masters, gwe unto your servants that which is just and equal. That is, act towards them on the principles of justice and equity. Justice requires that all their rights, as men, as husbands, and as parents should be regarded. And these rights are not to be determined by the civil law, but by the law of God. “As the laws,” says Calvin, “gave great license to masters, many assumed that every thing was lawful which the civil statute allowed; and such was their severity that the Roman emperors were obliged to restrain their tyranny. But although no edicts of princes interposed in behalf of the slave, God concedes nothing to the master beyond what the law of love allows.” Paul requires for slaves not only what is