Ephesians 6:2 Kommentar

In this chapter, I. The apostle proceeds in the exhortation to relative duties which he began in the former, particularly he insists on the duties of children and parents, and of servants and masters (Eph 6:1-9). II. He exhorts and directs Christians how to behave themselves in the spiritual warfare with the enemies of their souls; and to the exercise of several Christian graces, which he proposes to them as so many pieces of spiritual armour, to preserve and defend them in the conflict (Eph 6:10-18). III. We have here the conclusion of the epistle, in which he takes his leave of them, recommending himself to the prayers of the believing Ephesians, and praying for them (Eph 6:19-24).

INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS 6 In this chapter the apostle goes on with his exhortations to relative and domestic duties, and considers those of children and parents, and of servants and masters; and next he exhorts the saints in general to constancy and perseverance in the exercise of grace, and the performance of duty in the strength of Christ, and with the use of the armour of God described by him; entreats them to pray for him; gives the reasons of sending Tychicus, who brought them this epistle, and closes it with his apostolical salutation. He begins with the duties of children to their parents, which are submission and obedience to them, honour, fear, and reverence of them; the arguments engaging thereunto are taken from the light of nature and reason, from the command of God, and the promise annexed to it, Eph 6:1. Then follow the duties of fathers to their children, who are exhorted not to use them with too much rigour, and so provoke them to wrath, but to bring them up in a religious manner, that they may serve the Lord, Eph 6:4. Next he observes the duties of servants to their masters, which are subjection and obedience, which should be done with reverence of them, with simplicity of heart, as unto Christ, not with eyeservice, as menpleasers, but with the heart, and with good will, as doing the will of God, and as if it was to the Lord, and not men; to which they are encouraged by a promise of reward which is given without respect to bond or free, Eph 6:5. And masters, they are exhorted to do what is right and just to their servants, and not terrify them with menaces; to which they are moved by the consideration of their having a master in heaven, who is no respecter of persons, Eph 6:9. From hence the apostle passes to a general exhortation to the saints to behave with firmness and constancy of mind, though they had many enemies, and these mighty and powerful, and more than a match for them; relying on the power and strength of Christ, and making use of the whole armour of God, which he advises them to take, that they might stand and withstand in the worst of times, Eph 6:10, the several parts of which he enumerates, as the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, whereby the fiery darts of Satan are quenched, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit the word of God, and spiritual prayer of every sort for all saints, attended with watching and perseverance, Eph 6:14, which last part of the spiritual armour being mentioned, leads on the apostle to entreat the Ephesians to pray for him, that he might freely and boldly preach the Gospel; which he commends from the mysterious nature and subject of it, from his character as an ambassador for it, or for Christ, the sum and substance of it, and from his being in bonds for it; which showed how great an esteem he had of it, and how heartily concerned he was to preach it without fear, Eph 6:19. And then adds, that the reasons of his sending Tychicus, whom he describes by his relation to him as a brother, and his affection for him, and by his office as a minister, and his faithfulness in it, were, that they might be acquainted with his circumstances, in what state and condition he was, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual, and that their hearts might be comforted by him, Eph 6:21. And the epistle is concluded with the apostle's salutation; and the persons saluted are the brethren of this church, and all that love Christ Jesus sincerely; and the blessings wished for are peace, love, with faith and grace; the persons from whom they are desired are God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Eph 6:23.

Honour thy father and mother,.... This explains who parents are, and points at some branches of obedience due unto them; for they are not only to be loved, and to be feared, and reverenced, their corrections to be submitted to, offences against them to be acknowledged, their tempers to be bore with, and their infirmities covered; but they are to be honoured in thought, word, and gesture; they are to be highly thought of and esteemed; they are to be spoken to, and of, very honourably, and with great veneration and to be behaved to in a very respectful manner; and they are to be relieved, assisted, and maintained in comfortable way when aged, and in necessitous circumstances; and which may be chiefly designed. So the Jews explain "the honour" due to parents, by, &c. "giving them food, drink", and "clothing", unloosing their shoes, and leading them out and in (x). Compare with this Ti1 5:4; See Gill on Mat 15:4; which is the first commandment with promise: it is the fifth commandment in the decalogue, but the first that has a promise annexed to it: it is reckoned by the Jews (y) the weightiest of the weightiest commands of the law; and the reward bestowed on it, is length of days, as follows. (x) T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 61. 2. T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 31. 1, 2. Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 7. (y) Debarim Rabba, sect. 6. fol. 241. 3.

Now, although Marcion has erased (the next clause), "which is the first commandment with promise," still the law says plainly, "Honour thy father and thy mother.

That we must obey parents. In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians: "Children, be obedient to your parents: for this is right. Honour thy father and thy mother (which is the first command with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long-lived on the earth."

As a man in forming a body, places the head first, after that the neck, then the feet, so does the blessed Paul proceed in his discourse. He has spoken of the husband, he has spoken of the wife, who is second in authority, he now goes on by gradual advances to the third rank-which is that of children. For the husband has authority over the wife, and the husband and the wife over the children. Here he has not a word of discourse concerning Christ, not a word on high subjects, for he is as yet addressing his discourse to tender understandings. And it is for this reason, moreover, that he makes his exhortation short, inasmuch as children cannot follow up a long argument. For this reason also he does not discourse at all about a kingdom, (because it does not belong to the tender age of childhood to understand these subjects,) but what a child's soul most especially longs to hear, that he says, namely, that it shall "live long." For if any one shall enquire why it is that he omitted to discourse concerning a kingdom, but set before them the commandment laid down in the law, he does this because he speaks to them as infantile, and because he is well aware that if the husband and the wife are thus disposed according to the law which he has laid down, there will be but little trouble in securing the submission of the children. For whenever any matter has a good and sound and orderly principle and foundation, everything will thenceforward go on with method and regularity, with much facility: the more difficult thing is to settle the foundation, to lay down a firm basis. "Children," saith he, "obey your parents in the Lord," that is, according to the Lord. This, he means to say, is what God commands you. But what then if they shall command foolish things? Generally a father, however foolish he may be himself, does not command foolish things. However, even in that case, the Apostle has guarded the matter, by saying, "in the Lord"; that is, wherever you will not be offending against God. So that if the father be a gentile or a heretic, we ought no longer to obey, because the command is not then, "in the Lord." But how is it that he says, "Which is the first commandment"? For the first is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery;-Thou shalt not kill." He does not speak of it then as first in rank, but in respect of the promise. For upon those others there is no reward annexed, as being enacted with reference to evil things, and to departure from evil things. Whereas in these others, where there is the practice of good, there is further a promise held out. And observe how admirable a foundation he has laid for the path of virtue, that is, honor and reverence towards parents. When he would lead us away from wicked practices, and is just about to enter upon virtuous ones, this is the first thing he enjoins, honor towards parents; inasmuch as they before all others are, after God, the authors of our being, so that it is reasonable they should be the first to reap the fruits of our right actions; and then all the rest of mankind. For if a man have not this honor for parents he will never be gentle toward those unconnected with him.

A promise is attached to this commandment.… It is found in the Decalogue. It is the first command in the second table of the law. It was given to the people as they were leaving Egypt.

Because the first four commandments pertain to God, it is implied that they are contained in the first table. The second table pertains to humans, that they should honor their parents, not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness and covet none of their neighbors’ goods. These six commandments are viewed as written on the second table.

And by nature this is, he says, just, and it is commanded by the law. But how does he say that this is the first commandment? For this is not the first commandment, but rather: "thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery." But notice that he added: "with a promise." For those first commandments do not speak of a promise and a reward, because they contain a prohibition of evil, not a command to do good; and there is no reward for one who merely abstains from evil. But this commandment, since it concerns the doing of good, is the first to contain a promise. And the order is remarkable. As soon as the lawgiver turned people away from evil deeds, intending to lead them toward the doing of good works, he placed honor toward parents in the first place. For since they are the first benefactors to us after God, as the sources of life, it is only just that they be the first to enjoy our fruits.

Honor implies a manifestation of reverence to those who are over us; and since we have parents over us, the word "honor" is used. Hence he affirms: for this is just, honor your father and your mother. "He who honors his father shall enjoy a long life; and he who obeys his father shall be a comfort to his mother" (Sirach 3:7). That children ought to honor their parents is to be understood in three ways. They must venerate them as elders; show obedience to them as teachers; and give them sustenance as the ones who had nourished them when they were strong. He goes on to indicate the dignity of this precept, saying which is the first commandment. On the contrary, the first commandment is that the One God must be worshipped. I reply. The commandments were contained on two tablets. The first contained those whose reference was to God; the second those which referred to one's neighbors. On this second tablet the first commandment is to honor one's parents. And this is for two reasons. First, it is the only affirmative precept on the second tablet since it is natural for us to serve our parents, which is not true of our other fellow men, and hence there is no other affirmative command. Rather, nature dictates that a man should not harm his neighbors, and hence this is forbidden. Therefore, the first possesses a prior and greater obligation and so is the first. The second reason is that God must be honored as the source of our existence, and our parents also as the source of our existence. The Sixth Book of the Ethics points out that we have three things from our parents: existence, life and education. Thus it is fitting that after the commandments related to God, the first would be in reference to our parents. Or, first may refer to the promise which is annexed to this one only. There are two reasons for this. One is that men, in doing things for others, seek their own good; and they can expect no advantage from parents who have already grown old, unless a reward come from God. The second reason is lest anyone imagine that honoring one's parents was not meritorious because it is natural.

Children should obey their parents, that they may live long and be happy, Eph 6:1-3. Parents should be tender towards their children, Eph 6:4. Servants should show all obedience and fidelity to their masters, Eph 6:5-8. And masters should treat their servants with humanity, Eph 6:9. All should be strong in the Lord, and be armed with his armor, because of their wily, powerful, and numerous foes, Eph 6:10-13. The different parts of the Christian armor enumerated, Eph 6:14-17. The necessity of all kinds of prayer and watchfulness, Eph 6:18-20. Tychicus is commissioned to inform the Ephesians of the apostle's affairs, Eph 6:21, Eph 6:22. The apostolic benediction and farewell, Eph 6:23, Eph 6:24.

Honor thy father - See the notes on Exo 20:12, etc., where this subject, together with the promises and threatenings connected with it, is particularly considered, and the reasons of the duty laid down at large.

MUTUAL DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN: MASTERS AND SERVANTS: OUR LIFE A WARFARE: THE SPIRITUAL ARMOUR NEEDED AGAINST SPIRITUAL FOES. CONCLUSION. (Eph. 6:1-24) obey--stronger than the expression as to wives, "submitting," or "being subject" (Eph 5:21). Obedience is more unreasoning and implicit; submission is the willing subjection of an inferior in point of order to one who has a right to command. in the Lord--Both parents and children being Christians "in the Lord," expresses the element in which the obedience is to take place, and the motive to obedience. In Col 3:20, it is, "Children, obey your parents in all things." This clause, "in the Lord," would suggest the due limitation of the obedience required (Act 5:29; compare on the other hand, the abuse, Mar 7:11-13). right--Even by natural law we should render obedience to them from whom we have derived life.

Here the authority of revealed law is added to that of natural law. which is . . . promise--The "promise" is not made the main motive to obedience, but an incidental one. The main motive is, because it is God's will (Deu 5:16, "Honor thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath COMMANDED thee"); and that it is so peculiarly, is shown by His accompanying it "with a promise." first--in the decalogue with a special promise. The promise in the second commandment is a general one. Their duty is more expressly prescribed to children than to parents; for love descends rather than ascends [BENGEL]. This verse proves the law in the Old Testament is not abolished.