Ye masters, do the same things unto them - Act in the same affectionate, conscientious manner towards your slaves and servants, as they do towards you.

Forbearing threatening - If they should transgress at any time, lean more to the side of mercy than justice; and when ye are obliged to punish, let it be as light and as moderate as possible; and let revenge have no part in the chastisement, for that is of the devil, and not of God.

The words, forbearing threatening; ανιεντες την απειλην, signify to mitigate, relax, or not exact threatening; that is, the threatened punishment. The sense is given above.

In Shemoth Rabba, sect. 21, fol. 120, there is a good saying concerning respect of persons: "If a poor man comes to a rich man to converse with him, he will not regard him; but if a rich man comes he will hear and rehear him. The holy and blessed God acts not thus; for all are alike before him, women, slaves, the poor, and the rich."

Knowing that your Master also is in heaven - You are their masters, God is yours. As you deal with them, so God will deal with you; for do not suppose, because their condition on earth is inferior to yours, that God considers them to be less worthy of his regard than you are; this is not so, for there is no respect of persons with Him.

ye.

Leviticus 19:13 You shall not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him...

Leviticus 25:39-46 And if your brother that dwells by you be waxen poor, and be sold to you; you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant...

Deuteronomy 15:11-16 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, You shall open your hand wide to your brother...

Deuteronomy 24:14,15 You shall not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers...

Nehemiah 5:5,8,9 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children: and, see...

Job 24:10-12 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry...

Job 31:13-15 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me...

Isaiah 47:6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy...

Isaiah 58:3-6 Why have we fasted, say they, and you see not? why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold...

Amos 8:4-7 Hear this, O you that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail...

Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers...

Colossians 4:1 Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

James 5:4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries...

the same.

Ephesians 6:5-7 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart...

Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Luke 6:31 And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise.

James 2:8,13 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well...

forbearing. or, moderating.

Leviticus 25:43 You shall not rule over him with rigor; but shall fear your God.

1 Samuel 15:17 And Samuel said, When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel...

Daniel 3:6,15 And whoever falls not down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace...

Daniel 5:19,20 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew...

knowing.

Psalm 140:12 I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter...

Matthew 22:8,10 Then said he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy...

Matthew 24:48,51 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming...

Luke 12:45,46 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens...

John 13:13 You call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am.

1 Corinthians 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free...

your Master. Some read, both your and their Master.

1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints...

Philippians 2:10,11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth...

neither. See on

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Colossians 3:25 But he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done: and there is no respect of persons.

The Panoply of God
'Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.'--Eph. vi. 13. The military metaphor of which this verse is the beginning was obviously deeply imprinted on Paul's mind. It is found in a comparatively incomplete form in his earliest epistle, the first to the Thessalonians, in which the children of the day are exhorted to put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. It reappears, in a slightly …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

The Wide Range of God's Grace
'Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.'--Eph. vi. 24. In turning to the great words which I have read as a text, I ask you to mark their width and their simplicity. They are wide; they follow a very comprehensive benediction, with which, so to speak, they are concentric. But they sweep a wider circle. The former verse says, 'Peace be to the brethren.' But beyond the brethren in these Asiatic churches (as a kind of circular letter to whom this epistle was probably sent) …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians, Peter,John

The Sword of the Spirit
Difficulties meet us even in standing our ground; for the apostle, two or three times, bids us--"Stand." In the rush of the fight, men are apt to be carried off their legs. If they can keep their footing, they will be victorious; but if they are borne down by the rush of their adversaries, everything is lost. You are to put on the heavenly armor in order that you may stand; and you will need it to maintain the position in which your Captain has placed you. If even to stand requires all this care, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891