Threatening (547) (apeile from apeileo = to threaten or menace) means a threatening or threat, a warning that one will punish another. In context the Christian master is to be careful not to "throw his weight around" and not to be abusive or inhumane.
Apeile is found 9 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (Job 23:6; Pr 13:8; 17:10; 19:12; 20:2; Isa. 50:2; 54:9; Hab. 3:12; Zech. 9:14)
Here are the 2 other NT uses...
Acts 4:29 "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond-servants may speak Thy word with all confidence,
Acts 9:1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
Vincent writes...
Note the article ("the"), the threatening customary from the master to the slave. (Vincent, M. R. Word Studies in the New Testament 3:405) (Comment: In other words Paul is referring to the well-known habit of masters to threaten their slaves).
Ellicott adds that...
St Paul singles out the prevailing vice and most customary exhibition of bad feeling on the part of the master, and in forbidding this, naturally includes every similar form of harshness.
Eadie writes
Now, however, not only was no unjust and cruel punishment to be inflicted, but even “threatening” was to be spared. The apostle hits upon a vice which specially marks the slave-holder; his prime instrument of instigation to labour is menace. The slave is too often driven on to his toil by truculent looks, and words and acts of threatening; and, by the sight of the scourge and the imitated application of it, he is ever reminded of what awaits him if his task be not accomplished. Masters were not merely to modify this procedure, but they were at once to give it up. The Lex Petronia had already forbidden a master on his own responsibility to throw a slave to the wild beasts, but no statute ever forbade “threatening.” (John Eadie, D., LL.D. The Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians)
KNOWING THAT BOTH THEIR MASTER AND YOURS IS IN HEAVEN AND THERE IS NO PARTIALITY WITH HIM: eidotes (RAPMPN) hoti kai auton kai humon o kuriovs estin (3SPAI) en ouranois kai prosopolempsia ouk estin (3SPAI) par' auto: (1Co 1:2; Php 2:10,11) (Acts 10:34; Ro 2:11; Col 3:25)
Paul has a parallel warning in Colossians writing that...
he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (See note Colossians 3:25)
Knowing - Since you know or because you know. In other words, Paul reminds the believing slave masters of a pattern of teaching that they would have been familiar with and to which he now appeals.
Knowing (1492) (eido) means to see with the mind’s eye, signifies a clear and purely mental perception. It describes one as having come to a perception or realization of something.
Their Master and yours is in heaven - This is the first basis on which Paul appeals to masters to cease threatening. They have the same Master and both are accountable to Him. In a sense masters are "fellow slaves" (if the earthly master has a Master, the earthly master is a "slave") of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such these earthly masters will render an account to their Master at His judgment seat (bema) including how they treated their slaves.
Wiersbe has an excellent summary statement writing that...
This is practicing the lordship of Christ. The wife submits to her own husband “as unto the Lord” (Ep 5:22-note), and the husband loves the wife “as Christ also loved the church” (Ep 5:25-note). Children obey their parents “in the Lord” (Ep 6:1-note), and parents raise their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ep 6:4-note). Servants are obedient “as unto Christ” (Ep 6:5-note), and masters treat their servants as their “Master in heaven” would have them do. Each person, in submission to the Lord, has no problems submitting to those over him. Jesus said the way to be a ruler is first to be a servant (Mt 25:21). The person who is not under authority has no right to exercise authority. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
Eadie comments
The Master in heaven is your Judge and theirs equally, and you and they are alike responsible to Him. Such an idea and prospect lodged in the mind of a Christian master would have a tendency to curb all capricious and harsh usage, and lead him to feel that really and spiritually he and his serfs were on a level, and that all this difference of social rank belonged but to an external and temporary institution. Could he either threaten or scourge a Christian brother with whom but the day before, and at the Lord's table, he had eaten of the one bread and drunk of the one sacramental cup? (John Eadie, D., LL.D. The Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians)
No (ou) signifies absolute negation. God is always impartial in His judging for it always a judgment based on truth (not just the externals but even the motives!)
There is no partiality with Him - This is Paul's second basis for appealing to earthly masters. The Lord to Whom slaves and masters are accountable is completely impartial. He keeps accurate records, and we will be judged by the perfect standards of heaven. This is also a reminder that earthly rank has no relevance in heaven. In regard to the treatment of slaves, Spirit filled masters should be impartial like their Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
KJV Bible Commentary writes that...
God does not have a double standard. He weighs the unfaithfulness in servants and the unkindness in masters in the same scales of divine equity and justice. (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary: Nelson)
O'Brien puts it this way...
The higher social status that masters have gives them no advantage whatever. He does not allow himself to be influenced by appearances. No ‘special deals’ can be made with him. Let masters, then, treat their slaves in the light of the fact that they are fellow-servants of this heavenly Lord. (O'Brien, P. T. The Letter to the Ephesians. W. B. Eerdmans. 1999 or computer version)
Paul has a similar thought in his exhortation to Timothy writing...
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. (1Ti 5:21)
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http://www.preceptaustin.org/ephesians_67-9.htm#Threatening
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