ments, but is limited in all; first, by the nature of the relation; and secondly, by the higher authority of God. No superior, whether master, parent, husband or magis- trate, can make it obligatory on us either to do what God forbids, or not to do what God commands. So long as our allegiance to God is preserved, and obe- dience to man is made part of our obedience to him, we retain our liberty and our integrity.
V. 25. As the peculiar duty of the wife is submis- sion, the special duty of the husband is love. With regard to this the apostle teaches its measure and its ground. As to its measure it should be analogous to the love which Christ bears to his church. Its ground is the intimate and mysterious union which subsists be- tween a man and his wife.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Husbands should love their wives, καθώς, even as, i. 6. both because and as. As their relation to their wives is analogous to that of Christ to his church, it imposes the obligation to love them as he loves the church. But Christ so loved the church as to die for it. Husbands, therefore, should be willing to die for their wives. This seems to be the natural import of the passage, and is the interpretation commonly given to it. It has also its foundation in nature. Christ’s love is held up as an example and a rule. His love is indeed elsewhere declared to be in- finite. We cannot love as he loved, in any other sense than that in which we can be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful. Nevertheless, it cannot be