1 Peter 2:18

The duty of Servants to Masters (cf. Camb. Gk. Test. Col. p. lxviii.; Lightfoot Col. 317 ff.)

Slavery was interwoven with the texture of society under the Roman Empire. To prohibit slavery would have been to tear society into shreds, and bring about a servile war with its certain horrors and doubtful issues. The Gospel therefore nowhere directly attacks slavery as an institution. It lays down universal principles which were ultimately to undermine the evil, but there is not a syllable which could appeal to the spirit of political revolution. Yet the numbers of the slave population were enormous, and their lot was often intensely hard. The slave had no recognized relationships, no conjugal rights. He was absolutely at his master’s disposal; for the smallest offence he might be scourged, mutilated, crucified or thrown to the beasts. When men in such a position were for the first time taught that “there is no respect of persons with God, that in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free,” that masters and slaves are brothers in Christ, they might easily have been excited to assert their liberty in a spirit of open rebellion or sullen discontent. St Peter therefore, like St Paul in Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22; 1 Timothy 6:1, instructs Christian slaves to regard service to earthly masters as part of their service to God.

18. οἰκέται, literally members of a household so domestic servants, including perhaps freedmen as well as slaves, δοῦλοι, which is the word used by St Paul. In the Pentateuch, however, and in Proverbs οἰκέτης is frequently used in the LXX. to translate the same Hebrew word which is rendered δοῦλος in other books. In the N.T. οἰκέτης occurs only in Luke 16:13; Acts 10:7; Romans 14:4.

ὑποτασσόμενοι. Cf. Lightfoot on Colossians 3:16, “The absolute participle being (so far as regards mood) neutral in itself, takes its colour from the general complexion of the sentence.”

Here the participle is a virtual imperative referring back to ὑποτάγητε in 1 Peter 2:13 (see J. H. Moulton Gram. 180 ff.). This is a very common use in 1 Pet. e.g. 1 Peter 3:1 ὑποτασσόμεναι, 1 Peter 3:7 συνοικοῦντες, 1 Peter 3:8-9 where participles and adjectives stand side by side (cf. Romans 12:9-19 with imperatives and infinitives added), 1 Peter 4:8; 1 Peter 4:10 and (?) 1 Peter 2:12 ἔχοντες.

For St Paul cf. Colossians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 9:11; 2 Corinthians 9:13; Ephesians 4:2-3; for papyri see J. H. Moulton, p. 223.

ἐπιεικέσιν (see Mayor on James 3:17). In the LXX. ἐπιεικής occurs only in Psalms 86:5 of God being “ready to forgive,” and this agrees with the definition given in Aristotle (Eth. vi. 11) τὸν ἐπιεικῆ μάλιστα φαμὲν συγγνωμονικόν, and (Eth. 1 Peter 2:14) it is contrasted with strict justice. So (Rhet. i. 13, 17) it is explained in the sense of “merciful consideration” which does not insist upon the strict letter of the law. In Homer it means “seemly,” “decorous” as opposed to ἀεικής. So Plato uses it of respectable, well-behaved people; in Rep. 397 D it is applied to one who had been described as μέτριος—a moderate man, so also Thuc. i. 76. Thus in Plato and Aristotle it was used colloquially in the sense of σπουδαῖος or ἀγαθός.

In the N.T. it is twice joined with ἄμαχος 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2, and in James 3:17 with εἰρηνική and εὐπειθής. In Acts 24:4 Tertullus begs Felix to hear him of his clemency (ἐπιεικίᾳ). In 2 Corinthians 10:1 St Paul beseeches his readers by the πραΰτητος καὶ ἐπιεικίας of Christ rather than by the “boldness” of stern magisterial methods. In Philippians 4:5 τὸ ἐπιεικές may mean readiness to forego one’s rights, the special duty urged in chap. 2.

So here it probably means “considerate” masters who do not enforce their rights tyrannically.
Thus, although etymologically ἐπιεικής was connected with εἰκός = what is fit and reasonable, its later meaning seems to have been influenced by a supposed connexion with εἴκω = “I yield.”

σκολιοῖς. In LXX. of crooked paths or perverse persons. In N.T. Luke 3:5 (from Isaiah 40:3); Acts 2:40 and Philippians 2:15 (from Deuteronomy 32:5) “a crooked generation.” Here it means unfair, awkward to deal with.