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Eph_6:9. Καὶ οἱ κύριοι ] like καὶ οἱ πατέρες , Eph_6:4.
τὰ αὐτά ] the same. The master, namely, who treats his servants μετʼ εὐνοίας , does essentially (measured by the disposition as the inner essence of the act) the same thing towards the slaves as the slave serving μετʼ εὐνοίας does towards his master.
ἀνιέντες τὴν ἀπειλ .] Negative modal definition of the τὰ αὐτὰ ποιεῖτε πρὸς αὐτούς , especially to be laid to heart in the circumstances by the masters. By ἀνιέντες may be denoted either the abating, or the entire leaving off, giving up, of the threatening. In the former sense (Wis_16:24) it has been taken by Erasmus (“minus feroces minusque minabundi”), Vatablus, Zeger; but certainly the latter sense alone (comp. Thucyd. iii. 10. Ephesians 2 : ἔχθραν ἀνιέντας ) is appropriate to the τὰ αὐτὰ ποιεῖτε ; especially as τὴν ἀπειλήν (with the article) denotes not threatening in general, but the threatening, namely, “quemadmodum vulgus dominorum solet” (Erasmus, Paraphr.).
εἰδότες ] specifying a motive, as in Eph_6:8. Comp. Col_4:1; Barnab. 19; Constitt, ap. vii. 13. Inasmuch, namely, as they know that He, who is Lord as well of the slaves as of the masters ( καὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ὑμῶν , see the critical remarks), is in heaven (the exalted Christ), and with Him is no partiality, so that He gives to the master as such no preference over the slave as such: how should they not cease to comport themselves with their threatening, as though Christ were not the Lord of both in heaven—in heaven, whence at the judgment He will, without partiality, alike sustain the injured rights of the slaves, and punish the unchristian threatening of the masters, which, instead of operating by moral means, only terrifies by rude authority. Comp. Seneca, Thyest. 607:
“Vos, quibus rector maris atque terrae
Jus dedit magnum necis atque vitae
Ponite inflatos tumidosque vultus.
Quicquid a vobis minor extimescit,
Major hoc vobis dominus minatur;
Omne sub regno graviore regnum est.”
As to the notion of προσωποληψία , see on Gal_2:6.