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1Ti_6:1-2. Precept regarding the conduct of Christian slaves.
ὅσοι εἰσὶν ὑπὸ ζυγὸν δοῦλοι ] δοῦλοι is added to explain εἰσὶν ὑπὸ ζ . Paul does not say simply ὅσοι εἰσὶν δοῦλοι , because he wishes to mark the oppressive circumstances of the condition of a slave. ζυγός is not used elsewhere in the N. T. of the yoke of slavery (in Herodotus: δούλιον ζυγόν ). The expression is not to be limited to those slaves who were oppressed more than usual by their masters, as Heydenreich thinks, quoting 1Pe_2:18. It is clear from the clause ἵνα κ . τ . λ ., as well as from the contrast in 1Ti_6:2, that Paul is thinking here of the slaves who had heathen masters.
τοὺς ἰδίους δεσπότας ] ἰδίους is so far emphatic, that it directs attention to the circumstance of the personal relation more than would be done by the usual pronoun.
πάσης τιμῆς (i.e. of all honour which is due to them as masters) ἀξίους ἡγείσθωιν (f. ἀξιοῦν , 1Ti_5:17); comp. the exhortations in Tit_2:9; Eph_6:5-8; Col_3:22-25; 1Pe_2:18.
In confirmation, Paul adds ἵνα μὴ τὸ ὄνομα κ . τ . λ .; comp. Tit_2:10. The meaning is correctly given by Chrysostom: ὁ ἄπιστος ἂν μὲν ἴδῃ τοὺς δούλους διὰ τὴν πίστιν αὐθάδως προφερομένους , βλασφημήσει πολλάκις ὡς στάσιν ἐμποιοῦν τὸ δόγμα · ὅταν δὲ ἴδῃ πειθομένους , μᾶλλον πεισθήσεται , μᾶλλον προσέξει τοῖς λεγομένοις .
τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ ] comp. Rom_2:24.
ἡ διδασκαλία ] the gospel, as the doctrine prevailing among Christians.—1Ti_6:2. οἱ δὲ πιστοῦς ἔχοντες δεσπότας ] The adversative δέ shows that the apostle is here speaking of other slaves than in 1Ti_6:1, viz., as he himself says, of those whose masters are πιστοί , not keeping their slaves as ὑπὸ ζυγόν , but treating them kindly and gently because of their πίστις . This last point is, indeed, not formally expressed here, but it is presupposed in μὴ καταφρονείτωσαν .
πιστούς is either to be joined with δεσπότας as an adjective, or to be taken as a substantive, δεσπότας defining it more precisely: “who have believers as masters.” The order of the words might give the preference to the latter view.
μὴ καταφρονείτωσαν ] καταφρονεῖν denotes here conduct towards masters in which the honour due to them is not given.
ὅτι ἀδελφοί εἰσιν ] These words are not the ground of the previous exhortation; they are the ground on which the δοῦλοι might be led to think their masters of little worth; not the slaves, but the masters, form the subject (de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, and others).
ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον δουλευέτωσαν ] μᾶλλον , equivalent to “all the more.”
ὅτι πιστοί εἰσι καὶ ἀγαπητοί , οἱ κ . τ . λ .] With ἀγαπητοί we must supply Θεοῦ (Rom_1:7; comp. Rom_11:28): “beloved of God;” this is supported by the close connection with πιστοί .
The subject is formed not by the slaves (Wetstein: intelligo non de dominis, sed de servis, qui dant operam, ut dominis beneficiant et bene de iis mereantur), still less by both slaves and masters (Matthies), but by the masters only. The only possible construction is this, that οἱ … ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι forms the subject, πιστοὶ … ἀγαπητοί the predicate; for the article shows that the words οἱ τῆς κ . τ . λ . do not give a more precise definition of what precedes. Most recent expositors (de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Plitt, also hitherto in this commentary) understand by ἡ εὐεργεσία the kindness which the slaves show to their masters by faithful service, and explain ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι as equivalent to “receive, accept;” but this explanation cannot be justified by usage.[198] In the N. T. the word occurs only in Luk_1:54 and Act_20:35, in the sense of “accept of some one.” This sense it has also in classic Greek, when it refers to persons; in reference to things, it means: “carry on something eagerly,” also: “make oneself master of a thing.” Hofmann accordingly is not incorrect in translating: “devote themselves to kindness, making it their business.” If we keep strictly to this meaning, as indeed we must, then the words οἱ τ . εὐεργ . ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι apply to the Christian masters in regard to their conduct towards their slaves, so that the meaning of the exhortation is: “Serve (your masters) all the more, that they, devoting themselves to kindness towards you, are believers and beloved (of God).” So rightly Theophylact: οἱ τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι , τουτέστι : οἱ δεσπόται οἱ φροντίζοντες τοῦ εὐεργετεῖν τοὺς δούλους ; so, too, Chrysostom, Grotius, Wegscheider, Leo, and others. De Wette, against this explanation, maintains that “it makes the predicate ‘believing, somewhat superfluous, because the masters, being kindly towards their slaves, are already showing their Christian faith in action.” He is wrong; for, on the one hand, εὐεργεσία towards slaves might be true even of heathen; and, on the other, Paul wishes to insist on the Christian belief of the masters as a motive for careful and faithful service. Hofmann is wrong in thinking that καὶ … ἀντιλαμβ . does not depend on ὅτι , but forms an independent clause in this sense, that the slaves who serve their masters willingly in distributing their alms, are beloved (viz. by their fellow-Christians). This view is opposed not only by the καί (for to what previous sentence is it to be attached?), but also by this, that whereas the ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι are the slaves, τῶν δεσπότων is arbitrarily supplied with εὐεργεσίας .
The apostle concludes the exhortations given in regard to the slaves with the words: ταῦτα δίδασκε καὶ παρακάλει , which Lachm. Buttm. and Tisch. wrongly refer to what follows; comp. 1Ti_4:11, 1Ti_5:7; the right construction is given by de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, and others.
[198] De Wette wrongly seeks to justify this meaning by saying that ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι also means: “perceive with the senses,” and that in Porphyrias, De Abstin. i. 46, it means: μήτε ἐσθίων πλειόνων ἡδονῶν ἀντιλήψεται . Though the Vulg. translates it: “qui beneficii participes sunt,” and Luther: “and are partakers of the benefit,” the word is taken in a sense foreign to it. The same is true of Heydenreich’s explanation: “ συγκοινωνοὶ τῆς χάριτος ” (Php_1:7), wherein he also arbitrarily takes εὐεργεσία as equivalent to χάρις .