Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Colossians 3:22

φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον. An apparently unique phrase. Text. Rec. has the common expression φοβ. τὸν θεόν with אcDcK.

22. οἱ δοῦλοι, ὑπακούετε, Colossians 3:20, note.

τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα κυρίοις. For κατὰ σάρκα, describing earthly relationships, see Romans 9:3. The phrase both insists on the reality of visible facts (cf. Romans 13; Romans 1), and hints at there being something else, a Master not κατὰ σάρκα.

Chrys. explains it only in part, when he says that these masters are over their bodies only, and that only for a time, τὸ κρεῖττόν σου ἡ ψυχὴ ἠλευθέρωται, φησί· πρόσκαιρος ἡ δουλεία.

μὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοδουλίαις. || Ephesians 6:6†, και ὀφθαλμοδουλίαν. The plural suggests various acts of eye-service; cf. James 2:1; James 4:16. This is the earliest known example of the word.

ὡς�, cf. note on Colossians 1:10, ἀρεσκίαν.

|| Ephesians 6:6†. Earlier than this only Psalms 52(53):6, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς διεσκόρ πισεν ὀστᾶ�, where the LXX. appears to have read חָנֵף, “hypocrite,” instead of the Massoretic חֹנָךְ, and Pss. Song of Solomon 4:8; Song of Solomon 4:10, ἀνακαλύψαι ὁ θεὸς τὰ ἕργα� … ἐν τῷ ἐξαίρεσθαι … ἀνθρωπάρεσκον λαλοῦντα νόμον μετὰ δόλου, which brings out the flattery implied in the word. Mere obsequiousness may conceal contempt or malice (see Moule). Compare Galatians 1:10.

ἀλλʼ ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίαν. || Ephesians 6:5.

ἁπλοῦς is strictly “without folds,” “single” as contrasted with “plicate,” thus exactly opposed to πολύπλοκος; Job 5:13, βουλὴν δὲ πολυπλόκων ἐξέστησεν. By an easy transition it = in Plato, Rep. VIII. 4. 547 E, “non-compound.” Thus the substantive brings out the singleness of aim (cf. Matthew 6:22), the simplicity of will and purpose in the heart, in contrast to double motives. So 1 Chronicles 29:17, ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας προεθυμήθην πάντα ταῦτα: Wis 1:1, ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας ζητήσατε αὐτόν. Compare an inscription “found near Sunium, not earlier than the imperial period,” which after warning persons against sacrificing in the temple without fulfilling certain purifications, adds καὶ εὐείλατος γένοι [τ]ο ὁ θεὸς τοῖς θεραπεύουσιν ἁπλῇ τῇ ψυχῇ (Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 258).

φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον. See notes on Textual Criticism.

Serving your many earthly masters thoroughly because you fear the One. Only here has φοβεῖσθαι, when used of religious “fear,” Christ (Colossians 3:24) for its object. Compare Ephesians 5:21.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Colossians 3:22

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