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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Ephesians 5
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Eph_5:4 καὶ αἰσχρ . καί ] A D* E* F G, min. Sahid. Vulg. It. and Fathers of some importance: ἢ αἰσχρ . ἤ . Approved by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. and Rück., and rightly so; the Recepta appears to be an old alteration in accordance with Eph_5:3, where also it is only at the third vice that ἤ comes in. à * has καὶ αἰσχρ . ἥ , as also Syr. p.
τὰ οὐκ ἀνήκοντα ] A B à , 31, 67, 73, Clem. Antioch. Ephr. Cyr.: ἃ οὐκ ἀνῆκεν . So Lachm. and Rück.; commended also by Griesb. An interpretation, probably occasioned by the fact that the following ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εὐχαρ . was regarded as the contrast to τὰ οὐκ ἀνήκοντα .
Eph_5:5. ἴστε ] Elz.: ἐστέ , in opposition to far preponderant evidence. Defended, it is true, by Matth. (“pluribus Graecis in mentem venire poterat ἴστε ”), but evidently a mechanical miswriting or alteration; rejected also by Reiche.
ὅς ἐστιν εἰδωλολάτρης ] Lachm., following only B à , 67** lect. 40, Cyr. Jer., has ὅ ἐστιν εἰδωλολατρης , which Mill and Griesb. recommended. F G, Vulg. It. Goth. Victorinus, Cyprian, Ambrosiaster have ὅ ἐστιν εἰδωλολατρεία . By the latter the original ὅς ἐστιν εἰδωλολάτρης , which seemed to require an explanation, that it might not be misunderstood, was explained, and subsequently εἰδωλολάτρης was restored, whereby the reading of Lachm. arose.
Eph_5:9. φωτός ] Elz. Matth.: πνεύματος , in opposition to decisive witnesses. Gloss from Gal_5:25.
Eph_5:17. συνίεντες ] A B à , min. Chrys. ms. Damasc. Jer.: συνίετε . So Lachm. and Rück. Harless, however, has συνιόντες , after D* F G. The latter, though doubtless to be accented συνιόντες (see on Rom_3:11), is as the less common form to be preferred; the imperative is a gloss from the context, supported by no version.
Eph_5:19. πνευματικαῖς ] is wanting only in B, Clar. Germ. Ambrosiast., and is bracketed by Lachm. It might have been introduced from Col_3:16; but the evidence for its omission is too weak, and the omission might easily be occasioned by the homoeoteleuton.
ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ] Lachm. and Rück.: ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις , after important witnesses (not B). But the plural would in itself very naturally occur to the copyists, and still more from the comparison of Col_3:16.
Eph_5:21. Χριστοῦ ] Elz.: Θεοῦ , in opposition to decisive witnesses, among which D E F G, codd. of It. Ἰησοῦ , some before, some after the Χρ . Mill already rightly judges that φόβος Θεοῦ was the more current conception, whereby Θεοῦ (K: κυρίου ) was brought in; φόβος Χριστοῦ does not occur elsewhere.
Eph_5:22. After ἀνδράσιν , Elz. Scholz have ὑποτάσσεσθε , and Lachm. ὑποτασσέσθωσαν . The latter in accordance with A à , min. Copt. Vulg. Goth. Clem, (once) Basil, Damasc. Ambrosiast. Pelag. D E F G, lect. 19, It. Syr. have the Recepta, but before τοῖς ἰδίοις . These diversities only confirm the probability that the verb was originally wanting, as also B, codd. Gr. in Jer. Clem, (once) have no verb. The verb, deleted by Tisch. and rejected by Reiche, is an expedient to help the construction.
Eph_5:23. ἀνήρ (Elz.: ὁ ἀνήρ ) and αὐτός (Elz.: καὶ αὐτός ἐστι ) rest on decisive critical evidence; although Reiche again defends the Recepta, which is a smoothing of the text.
Eph_5:24. ἰδίοις ] is, following B D* E* F G à , min. codd. It., with Lachm. Tisch., to be deleted as an addition from Eph_5:22.
Eph_5:25. ἑαυτῶν ] is wanting in A B à , min. Clem. Orig. Cyr., Chrys. Deleted by Lachm. Tisch. and Rück. But if anything were added to γυναῖκας , it would be most natural to add ἰδίας from Eph_5:22. The ὑμῶν read in F G (Vulg. It. etc.: vestras) is an explanation of ἑαυτῶν , and tells in favour of this, the dropping out of which is to be explained from its superfluousness.
Eph_5:27. αὐτός ] Elz.: αὐτήν , in opposition to far preponderating testimony; altered from a failure to understand the emphatic αὐτός .
Eph_5:28. Lachm. has rightly adopted, on decisive authority, οὕτως καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες ὀφείλουσιν . B has the order οὕτως ὀφ . καὶ οἱ ἄνδρος .
Eph_5:29. Instead of Χριστός , Elz. has κύριος , in opposition to decisive evidence.
Eph_5:30. ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστ . αὐτοῦ ] is wanting in A B à * 17, 67** al., Copt. Aeth. Method. and perhaps Ambrosiast. Deleted by Lachm., suspected also by Mill and Griesb., defended by Reiche. The omission has arisen either from mere accident, by passing in the process of copying from the first αὐτοῦ immediately to the third, or more probably through design, from want of perceiving the suitableness of the words in the context, and judging their meaning inappropriate. If they had been added from the LXX. Gen_2:23, we should have found written ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ .
Eph_5:31. τὸν πατ . αὐτοῦ κ . τ . μητ .] Lachm. and Tisch. on preponderant testimony have merely πατέρα καὶ μητέρα . Rightly; the Recepta is from the LXX.
πρὸς τὴν γυν .] Lachm. and Rück.: τῇ γυναικί , in accordance doubtless with many and considerable witnesses (not B), but an alteration in conformity with the LXX. (according to A, Ald.) and Mat_19:5.
CONTENTS.
Exhortation to the imitation of God, to love, as Christ through His sacrificial death has loved us (Eph_5:1-2). Warning against unchastity, avarice, and other vices, inasmuch as they exclude from the Messianic kingdom (Eph_5:3-5). The readers are not to let themselves be deceived by empty words, and not to hold fellowship with the vicious; for, as those who from being dark have become Christianly enlightened, they are under obligation to walk accordingly, and to have no fellowship with the works of darkness, but rather to rebuke them, which is a course as necessary as it is salutary (Eph_5:6-14). They are therefore to be careful in their walk as wise (Eph_5:15-17), and not to become drunken, but to become full of the Holy Spirit, which fulness must express itself by alternate utterance in psalms and hymns, by singing praise in the silence of the heart, and by continual Christian thanksgiving towards God (Eph_5:18-20). Subject the one to the other in the fear of Christ, the wives are to render to their husbands true Christian subjection (Eph_5:21-24), and the men to their wives true Christian love (Eph_5:25-33), in connection with which, however, the wife owes reverence to the husband (Eph_5:33).