Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Ephesians 6:2

τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα : honour thy father and mother. Obedience is the duty; honour is the disposition of which the obedience is born. The authoritative terms of the OT Law (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16), given in the exact words of the LXX, are adopted in order to enforce regard for that disposition. ἥτις ἐστὶν ἐντολὴ πρώτη ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ : which is the first commandment in point of promise, ἥτις may have here a simply explanatory force (so Ell., who renders it “the which”; Abb., “for such is”) rather than the qualitative sense, or the casual, “seeing it is”. But even its explanatory use suggests a reason for the fulfilment of the commandment. The prep. ἐν is understood by some (e.g., Alf.) to be the local ἐν, expressing the sphere of the commandment, and so conveying the idea of being “accompanied by”. But more probably it expresses the simple sense of relation, “in regard of,” “in point of” (Mey., Ell.; cf. Win.-Moult., p. 488). πρώτη, like other ordinals, being specific enough in itself, dispenses with the article. But what is meant by this definition of the fifth commandment as the first in point of promise? The second commandment also has a kind of promise. But if that commandment is discounted because its promise is general, not peculiar to itself, but applicable to all, and if the fifth alone has attached to it a promise relevant to itself, why is it called the “first” and not rather the “only” commandment in point of promise? Some meet the difficulty by supposing it to mean the first in the second table (Mich., etc.). But in the second table it would still be not only the first but the only one of the kind; and if the Jewish division of the Decalogue, which assigned five commandments to each of the two tables, reaches thus far back, it would not be even in the second table. Nor can πρώτη be taken in the sense of first in importance; for it is never described as such (cf. per contra Matthew 22:38; Romans 13:9-10; Galatians 5:14). The most probable explanation is that Paul has not the Decalogue alone in view, but the whole series of Divine Commandments, Mosaic and later (Mey., etc.). Westcott and Hort notice another possible pointing, viz., πρώτη, ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ, = “the which is the first commandment, with the promise that,” etc. But this still leaves it unexplained why this commandment is called the first. The whole sentence is dealt with as a parenthesis by the RV. But this is to miss the real point of the statement, which is to advance from the duty of obedience (ὑπακούετε) enforced by its relation to the requirement of law (the δίκαιον), to the higher idea of filial honour as inculcated in the highest summary of Divine Law, the Decalogue. The ἥτις clause, therefore, is an integral part of the statement, and instead of being a remark by the way conveys an advance in the thought.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Ephesians 6:2

Old Testament

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