Ephesians 4:2

μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πρᾳότητος : with all lowliness and meekness. Statement of moral dispositions which should attend their walk; μετά conveying the idea of accompaniment, relation, association, while σύν suggests closer conjunction, fellowship, especially a fellowship which helps. Krüger (Sprachl., § 68, 13, 1) puts the distinction thus “ σύν τινι denotes rather coherence, μετά τινος rather coexistence ” (cf. Win.-Moult., pp. 470, 488). As in the case of πᾶσα σοφία (Ephesians 1:8), πᾶσα ταπεινοφροσύνη can mean only “all lowliness,” “all possible lowliness,” or “ every kind of lowliness,” not summa humilitas. The word ταπεινοφροσύνη is of very rare occurrence in non-biblical Greek, and when it does occur it has the sense of pusillanimity (Epictet., Diss., 3, 24, 56; Joseph., Jewish Wars, iv., 9, 2). It is not used in the OT; but in the NT it denotes one of the passive graces, unrecognised or repudiated in Græco-Roman ethics, which Christianity has glorified the lowliness of mind which springs from a true estimate of ourselves a deep sense of our own moral smallness and demerit (cf. Acts 20:19; Philippians 2:3; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5; Colossians 2:18; Colossians 2:23, of a false humility). πρᾳότης, or better πραΰτης (TTrWH) in the later form and without iota subscript; cf. Buttm., Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 26 (who regards the form πρᾷος as apparently “unknown to the language of the NT”); and Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 7 (who thinks there is not sufficient evidence to decide between πραότης and πρᾳότης). It means more than modestia (Vulg.), mansuetudo, ἀταραξία, gentleness, or equanimity, inasmuch as it has regard to our attitude towards God as well as towards men, and includes more than outward behaviour or natural disposition. It is a grace of the Spirit, the disposition of loving submissiveness in the first place to God and His dealings with us, and, as the consequence of that, of quiet restraint, mildness and patient abnegation of self in face of the provocations of others. It is a moral quality, therefore, with a far wider scope, a larger significance, a deeper and more vital relation to character than was thought of by the philosophers and moralists of the old world, who regarded it only as the opposite of ἀγριότης, savageness (Plato, Symp., 197 d), χαλεπότης, harshness (Arist., Hist. Anim., ix., 1), or ἀποτομία, roughness (Plut., De lib. ed., 18); cf. Trench, Syn., pp. 143, etc.; Schmidt, Synon., 98, 2. μετὰ μακροθυμίας : with long-suffering. This is best taken as an independent clause, which is developed in the following sentence. Some (Theod., Beng., etc.) attach both the μετὰ πάσης ταπ., etc., and the μετὰ μακρ. to the ἀνεχόμενοι clause. But this gives one long sentence, which obscures the transition from idea to idea and makes the several clauses less distinctive. Others (Calv., Harl., Rück., Ols., etc.) attach the μετὰμακρ. to ἀνεχόμενοι; but to make it part of that clause takes from the point of the μακροθυμία and disturbs the balance of the clauses, in which we have first the general idea of worthiness of walk, then certain particulars involved in that, and then the further explanation (in the ἀνεχόμενοι clause) of these various particulars or of the one last noticed. The term μακροθυμία means both endurance or constancy in presence of illness and trouble (Colossians 1:11; 2 Timothy 3:10; Hebrews 6:12; James 5:10), and, as here (cf. also Romans 2:4; Romans 9:2; 2 Corinthians 6:6, etc.), the abnegation of revenge in presence of wrong the opposite of ὀργή (Proverbs 16:32), ὀξοθυμία (James 1:19), etc., and akin to ὑπομονή (2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 6:6; Colossians 1:11; 2 Timothy 3:10; James 5:10-11). The word belongs to later Greek (Plut., Macc., etc.), and the LXX; but in neither has it the exact sense it gets in the NT. ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ : forbearing one another in love. Explanation and application of the μακροθυμία. By a natural and familiar irregularity which gives effect to the logic of the statement rather than to the construction the partic. reverts from the acc. to the nom. (cf. Colossians 1:10; Krüger, Sprachl., § 56, 9, 4). To attach ἐν ἀγάπῃ (Orig., Lachm., Olsh., etc.) to the following σπουδάζοντες is to make the ἀνεχόμενοι abrupt and bare, and to disturb the harmonious form of the participial sentences. The duty of mutual forbearance is to be practised in love. It was to be a loving forbearance a forbearance having its motive, its inspiration, its life, in love.