A.T. Robertson Commentary


A.T. Robertson Commentary
"Nevertheless do ye also severally love each one his own wife even as himself; and [let] the wife [see] that she fear her husband." — Ephesians 5:33 (ASV)
Nevertheless (πλην). "Howbeit," not to dwell unduly (Abbott) on the matter of Christ and the church.
Do ye also severally love (κα υμεις ο καθ' ενα εκαστος αγαπατω). An unusual idiom. The verb αγαπατω (present active imperative) agrees with εκαστος and so is third singular instead of αγαπατε (second plural) like υμεις. The use of ο καθ' ενα after υμεις = " ye one by one " and then εκαστος takes up (individualizes) the "one" in partitive apposition and in the third person.
Let the wife see that she fear (η γυνη ινα φοβητα). There is no verb in the Greek for "let see" (βλεπετω). For this use of ινα with the subjunctive as a practical imperative without a principal verb (an elliptical imperative) see Mr 5:23; Matthew 20:32; 1 Corinthians 7:29; 2 Corinthians 8:7; Ephesians 4:29; 5:33 (Robertson, Grammar, p. 994). "Fear" (φοβητα, present middle subjunctive) here is "reverence."