Ephesians 6:1

Ephesians 6:1 @evn kuri,w|# {C}

The words evn kuri,w| are absent from several early manuscripts and patristic quotations (B D* G it^{d, g} Marcion Clement Tertullian Cyprian Ambrosiaster). It is difficult to decide whether they were added by copyists who recollected Ephesians 5:22 and/or Colossians 3:20 (î⁴⁶ a A D^c K P Y, apparently all minuscules, and the other versional witnesses), or were deleted from several witnesses in order to prevent the reader from supposing that the writer intended to limit or qualify the duty of obedience (rather than merely to characterize the spirit in which obedience is rendered). The longer text was preferred on the basis of (a) preponderance of external evidence, and (b) the likelihood that if the phrase had been inserted from Ephesians 5:22 it would have been w`j tw|/ kuri,w|, or if from Colossians 3:20 it would have stood after di,kaion. Nevertheless, in order to reflect the weight of the witnesses that lack evn kuri,w|, a majority of the Committee voted to enclose the words within square brackets.