1 Only bere χάριτι ἄδοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν τῷ Θεῷ - 17. καὶ πᾶν ὅτι ἐὰν
and Eph. ν. 4; Philm. 8 in Ν.Τ. m Only in Paul, exc. Rev. xiv.
13. iw. n Only here Κυρίῳ
and Rev. πρὸς αὐτάς.
viii. 11, x.
g icin τοῦτο yap εὐάρεστόν ἐστιν ἐν Κυρίῳ.
ο Only here and 2 Cor. ix. 2 in N.T.
in the Christian assemblies or the home. —tv τῇ χάριτι. Not with sweetness or acceptableness (iv. 6), which does not suit τ. Θεῷ or the emphatic position. It may be “by the help of Divine grace,” but more probably the ταν 3 is “with thankfulness” (De W , Haupt, Abb.), on account of the reference to thankfulness in vv. 15 and17. Thank- fulness finds expression in song.—év ταῖς καρδίαις. The reference is to the inner song of praise, which is to be the counter- part of the audible singing. What is meant is probably not singing from the heart, though cf. Matt. xxi. 37.
Ver.17. πᾶν...ἐργῷ: a nominative abso- lute.—wdvra is governed by ποιεῖτε (not ποιοῦντες, as Sod.), supplied from ποιῆτε.
αριστοῦντεφ. This is not some- thing additional to actions done in the name of Christ; but these actions are themselves expressions of thankfulness.
Ver. 18-iv. 1. ENFORCEMENT OF THE RECIPROCAL DUTIES OF WIVES AND HUS- BANDS, CHILDREN AND PARENTS, SLAVES AND MASTERS, WITH FREQUENT REFER- ENCE TO THESE DUTIES AS INVOLVED IN THEIR DUTY το CHRIST.—In this section the reference to the subject precedes that to the ruling parties, and the duty of obedience is emphasised to prevent false inferences from the doctrine that natural distinctions are done away in Christ. Holtzmann, Oltramare and Weiss think these precepts are added in protest against the false teachers’ asceticism. The fact that we have similar, and fuller, injunctions in Ephesians tells against this. Eph. v. 22 sg. and 1 Pet. iii. 6 may be compared.—Ver. 18. ἀνῆκεν has been taken as a perfect in sense of re sent (Luther, Bleek, Ol.), a view said by Winer to be “tas unnecessary as it is grammatically inadmissible” (Winer- Moulton,® p. 338). Usually it is taken as an imperfect, “45 was fitting,” and is thought (but this is very dubious) to imply a reproach. Probably ἐν Kvp. is to be joined to it, not to ὑποτ. (cf. ver. 20).
Ver. το. μὴ πικραίνεσθε: :.ε., do not
ποιῆτε ἐν λόγῳ ἢ ἐν ἔργῳ, πάντα ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου ᾿Ιησοῦ, εὐχαρισ- τοῦντες τῷ Θεῷ πατρὶ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ.
18. Αἱ γυναῖκες, ὑποτάσσεσθε τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ὡς | ἀνῆκεν ™ ἐν 19. οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ μὴ " πικραίνεσθε 20. τὰ τέκνα, ὑπακούετε τοῖς γονεῦσιν κατὰ πάντα,
21. οἱ πατέρες, μὴ “ἐρεθίζετε
be harsh or irritable. Bengel defines
πικρία as ‘“odium amori mixtum,” which is acute, but “odium” is too strong.
Ver. 20. κατὰ πάντα is omitted in Eph. vi. 1.
Ver. 21. ἐρεθίζετε: {.ε., irritate by
exacting commands and perpetual fault- finding and interference for interference’ sake. The consequence of such foolish exercise of authority is that the child be- comes discouraged ; in other words, his spirit is broken, and since what he does leads to constant blame, he loses hope of ever being able to please, animus pestis juventutis (Βεηρ.). Ver. 22. at greater length than that of the other family relations, probably on account of Onesimus. But Paul was much possessed with the need for keeping Christianity free from the suspicion it naturally created of undermining the constitution of society. So while δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος is a distinction which has vanished for Christianity, in the interests of Chris- tianity as a spiritual power social free- dom had to be cheerfully foregone till the new religion was able to assert its prin- ciple with success, An instructive parallel is the exhortation to submission to con- stituted authority in Rom. xiii. In Paul’s time slaves probably made up the larger part of the population of the επιρίτε.---τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα κυρίοις : op- ΒΝ to their spiritual Lord.—é@ahpo- λείαις : acts of eye-service (singular in Eph. vi. 6), i.e., service which is most zealous when the eye of the master or overseer is upon them. The word was perhaps coined by Paul.—ds ρεσκοι. It is the Christian’s first duty to lease the Lord, and this he can do only ν conscientious performance of his tasks quite apart from the recognition he receives from men. If the principle of his conduct is the pleasing of men, he will neglect his duty where this motive cannot operate. — ἁπλότητι καρδίας: ‘‘singleness of heart,” opposed to the