1 Peter 2:18

Servants [ο ι κ ε τ α ι]. Household servants. So Rev., in margin. Not a common term in the New Testament, occurring only in three other passages : Luke 16:13; Acts 10:7; Romans 14:4. Some suppose that Peter intended to cover by it freedmen and other dependents in the household, or that he uses it with a conciliatory purpose, as presenting the slave in closer relation with the family.

Gentle (ejpieikesin). A common derivation of this word is from eikw, to yield. Hence the meaning, mild, yielding, indulgent. But the true derivation if from eijkov, reasonable; and the word implies rather the not being unduly rigorous : "Wherein not strictness of legal right, but consideration for one another, is the rule of practice" (Alford). Compare Philippians 4:5, where, for moderation [τ ο ε π ι ε ι κ ε ς], Rev. gives forbearance, with gentleness in margin. According to Aristotle, the word stands in contrast with ajkribodikaiov, one who is exactingly just, as one who is satisfied with less than his due.

Froward [σ κ ο λ ι ο ι ς]. Lit., crooked. See Luke 3:5. Peter uses the word in Acts 2:40 (untoward); and Paul, in Philippians 2:15 (crooked). The word froward is Anglo - Saxon fream - ward or from - ward, the opposite of to - ward. (See untoward, above.) Thus Ben Jonson :

"Those that are froward to an appetite;" i e., averse. Compare the phrases to - God - ward (2 Corinthians 3:4); to - us - ward.