378
Vi.
p Col. iii. αχριστῷ,] 6. μὴ κατ᾽ " ὀφθαλμοδουλείαν 2 ὡς “ ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι, ἀλλ᾽ ο
nly. ἃ . q Οοἵ. iii. 225 δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ,»
only; Ps. lii. 5. τ Col. iii. 23 only.
ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, 7. ἐκ "ψυχῆς
1For Χριστω, κνριω AL 17, 39, 47, Vulg.-ms., Copt., Chr.,. 3 οφθαλμοδουλιαν §§ DEFGLP 37, 120, 121, etc. ; ὀφθαλμοδουλειαν ABK and most. ὅτου Χρ. D°EKL, etc., Chr., Thdrt.; om. τον RABDFGP, al. plu., Bas., Euth.,
etc,
other lordship is subordinate. See espe- cially Goldwin Smith’s Does the Bible Sanction American Slavery ὃ; Kostlin’s Christliche Ethik, pp. 318, 480, etc. ; Mangold’s Humanitat und Christenthum ; Lightfoot’s Colossians and Philemon, pp. 319-329. ὑπακούετε, as in the case of children so in that of slaves obedience is the comprehensive name for duty, and this as a duty lying within the larger prin- ciple of the recognition and honour due to constituted authority (Rom. xiii. 1-7; 1 Pet. ii. 13-17). For τοῖς κυρίοις κατὰ σάρκα (TR, with DFKL, etc.), the better order is τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα κυρίοις (LT Tr VHRY, with ΒΜΑΡ, etc.), =“ those who according to the flesh are your masters” (RV), not “ your masters according to the flesh” (AV). In the Pastoral Epistles and 1 Peter the slave's master is called δεσπότης. The word κύριος, limited by the κατὰ σάρκα to the designation of a lordship which holds only for material interests and earthly relations, may per- haps have been selected here with a view to the contrast with the Κύριος whose lordship is absolute, inclusive alike of mas- ter and of slave, of earthly and of heav- enly relations.—pera φόβου καὶ τρόμου : with fear and trembling. The use of the same phrase with regard to Paul himself (1 Cor. ii. 3), the Corinthians (2 Cor. vii. 15), and the Philippians (Phil. ii. 12), is enough to show that nothing more is in view here than solicitous zeal in the dis- charge of duty, anxious care not to come short.—év ἁπλότητι τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν: in singleness of your heart. A clause qualifying the obedience itself; not the ‘fear and trembling,” in which case we should have expected τοῦ ἐν ἁπλότητι, etc. It states the spirit in which the obedience was to be rendered,—not in for- mality, pretence, or hypocrisy, but in inward reality and sincerity, and with an undivided heart. The noun ἁπλότης = the condition of being without folds, sim- plicity, as contrasted with pretence, dis- simulation, insincerity, in the NT is found only in the Pauline writings, and there seven times, with slightly different
shades of meaning (Rom. xii. 8; 2 Cor. viii. 2, ix. 11, 13, xi. 3; Eph. vi. 5 ; Col. iii, 22; in 2 Cor. i. 12 the preferable reading is ἐν ἁγιότητι). The phrase ἐν ἁπλότητι occurs again in the a and the last of these passages.—a@s τῷ Χριστῷ: as to Christ. That is, with on cbse regarded as rendered to Christ Himself; cf. ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ in v. 22, and see also Rom. xiv. 7-9.
Ver. 6. μὴ κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμοδουλείαν : not in the way of eye-service. TWH prefer the form ὀφθαλμοδουλίαν. Negative ex- planation of what ἁπλότης τῆς καρδίας means. κατά points to the principle or rule of action. The noun occurs only here and in Col. iii. 22; but ὀφθαλμό- δουλος is found also in the Constit. Apost., iv. 12. It is the service that is done only when one is under the master’s eye—an obedience to save appearances and gain undeserved favour, which is not rendered when the master is absent as it is when his scrutiny is on us.—ds ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι: as men-pleasers. ἀνθρωπάρεσκος is an- other non-classical word, occurring only in biblical and ecclesiastical Greek, and in the NT limited to this passage and Col. iii. 22; cf. Ps. ΗΠ, 6, ὀστᾶ ἀνθρωπαρέσ- κων in LXX, and Ps. Salom., iv., 8, 10.— ἀλλ᾽ ὡς δοῦλοι [τοῦ] Χριστοῦ: but as bond-servants of Christ. τοῦ is found in D*KL, etc., but not in BRQSAD*F, etc., and is omitted by LTTrWH. The con- trast is with ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι, servants of Christ, not pleasers of men. The δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ, therefore, is a clause by itself, only explained by what follows. Some, mistaking this, make it one sentence with ποιοῦντες, etc.; in which case it loses its force, and the emphasis is on the ποιοῦντες.-- ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ ψυχῆς: doing the will of God from the heart. Statement of what is appropriate to the ‘ bond-servants of Christ”. It belongs to the chafacter (ὡς) of the bond-servant of Christ to do the will of God, the God and Father of Christ, in his condition in life, and to do that not grudgingly or formally, but ex animo, with hearty readiness—éx ψυχῆς; lit,