Ephesians 6:6

μὴ κατʼ ὀφθαλμοδουλείαν : not in the way of eye-service. TWH prefer the form ὀφθαλμοδουλίαν. Negative explanation of what ἁπλότης τῆς καρδίας means. κατά points to the principle or rule of action. The noun occurs only here and in Colossians 3:22; but ὀφθαλμόδουλος is found also in the Constit. Apost., Ephesians 4:12. 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. ὡς ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι : as men-pleasers. ἀνθρωπάρεσκος is another non-classical word, occurring only in biblical and ecclesiastical Greek, and in the NT limited to this passage and Colossians 3:22; cf. Psalms 53:6, ὀστᾶ ἀνθρωπαρέσκων in LXX, and Ps. Salom., Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:10. ἀλλʼ ὡς δοῦλοι [τοῦ] Χριστοῦ : but as bond-servants of Christ. τοῦ is found in [740] 3 [741] [742], etc., but not in [743] [744] [745] [746] * [747], etc., and is omitted by LTTrWH. The contrast 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 character (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 ἐκ ψυχῆς, lit, “from the soul,” cf. ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου “with all thy soul,” Mark 12:30. The ἐκ ψυχῆς is attached by not a few (Syr., Chrys., Jer., Beng., Harl., De Wette, Alf., Abb., WH) to the following clause. Tregelles, again, would attach both ἐκ ψυχῆς and μετʼ εὐνοίας to the ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ. But on the whole the simplest and most congruous connection is as it is given both in the AV and the RV. The addition of ἐκ ψυχῆς to the ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ is not superfluous; for to be true to the character of the bond-servant of Christ requires not merely the doing of God's will, but the doing of that will ex animo. But such definition is enough, and there is no need of the further description μετʼ εὐνοίας. On the other hand the μετʼ εὐνοίας is as pertinent as an explanation of the δουλεύοντες as ἐκ ψυχῆς is as an explanation of the ποιοῦντες.

[740] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[741] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[742] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[743] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[744] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[745] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[746] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[747] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.