The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 224

Vers. 22_~24.-.The duti«; of wives._ In enfo_r~ing relative duties the apostle reminds us that religion ~kes hold of all posS1ble cond1t1?ns and callings of men. Religion is the great formative grace for men. We are set m a curiously various scheme of rela- tions, in which the two principles of union and subjection are beautifully blended. The three relations in which these principles are seen in operation are peculiar to family life. The "l'.'i.fe is first mentioned, then the children, then the servants. Religion rounds out the life of the family in a lovely completeness. Consider- !. THE DUTIES OF WIVES. They are all summed up in the one word-subjection. It is singular that the apostle does not command the wife to love her husband as the husband is commanded to love bis wife. Her love is commanded elsewhere (Titus ii. 4), but not here. It has been observed that what is instinctive is not enforced, but only "l'."hat is necessary to hallow and direct our instincts. The husband is to be the head; yet he is not commanded to govern ; but he is commanded to love, as the means of securing subjection or submission on the part of the wife. She, again, loves more naturally and more passionately than man;. her love is no subject of co=and, it is taken for grantei ; and the apostle commands her to obey and honour her husband as tlie besi expression of this love. Jeremy Taylor says, "He rules her by authority, f>he roles him by love; she ought by all means to please him, and he must by no means displease her." Her great· duty, then, is subjection. Let us see what it in,.:ilves. L It is not seroihule. It is not like the obedience of servants to masters, nor even like that of children to parents. It is a submission that recognizes the husband's rule as just, tender, and wise. 2. It is a wise and loving obedience. Wives are "to be obedient to their own husbands" (Titus ii. 5). Sarah is quoted by another apostle as an example of this obedience (1 Pet. iii. 1-6). It wa.s necessary to empha- size this duty at a time when Christianity gave woman a new position of dignity and privilege, and when there might have been a temptation on the part of Christian wives who had unbelieving husbands to assert an authority over them inconsistent with the ori,,,uine.l. institution of marriage. There is to be no dual authority in the family. The gospel made them both" heirs together of the grace of life," as it made" both male and fem.ale one in Christ," yet, even in religious or ecclesiastical matters, she was not to usurp authority over the man, but "to be in silence" (1 Tim. ii. 12). 8. It is an obe,dience wiihin limits, though the wives are enjoined to be subject to their husbands "in everything," that is, in everything within the due sphere of a husband's autho- ritt, for they are not to obey him in anything contrary to God and his Law. They are to obey God rather than man. 4. It i.s an obe,diencefashumed in its conditions and spirit upr.-n tl.e ruhjedion of t~ Church to Christ. " A.B the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the lriT"es be to their own husbands in everything." This implies that the wife's obediEDce is not to be forced or feigned, but springing naturally out of her affection to her husband, her dependence upon him, and her recognition of the just grounds of his superiority. 5. It implies fear, ur_ ,:ever~.. "Let the wife se~ that sh~ reveren?e her husband" (ver. 83) not desp1Smg him In her heart, as :Michal despised DaV1d (2 Sam. vi. 16), but, like' Sarah, calling her husband "lord" (1 Pet. iii. 6). '!'he chaste conversation of the wife is to be "coupled with fear" to assert its own power. II. THE REASONS FOB THIS SUIIMISSION. 1. The husband's recognized headship in tluJ original institution of ma~e. "_T_he head of the _woman is ~he !°an" (1 Cor. xi. ~). Her obedience therefore, while a rehg10us duty, has its foundation m nature. (1) '!he man was first' formed. "Adam was first formed, then Eve" {l Tim. ii. 18). (2) The man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man (1 Cor. xi. 9). (8) 'fhe woman was first in transgression. "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the trans~ession" (1 Tim. ii. 14). (4-) The woman is the "glory of the man," but "the ma;; is the image and glory of God" (1 Cor. xi. 7). 2. Her dependent position. A.B the" weaker vessel," she needs protection, while he far excels her in those qualities which entitle to command. Yet his superiority in the8e re~pccts is consu;tent with his inferiority to the woman in gentleness, patience, sympnt\,y, luve, adicacy of sentiment. 3. The fitness of things. :5hc iH "to be subject to her own OU, V, 1-33.) THE ll;i'1b1'LE TO THE EPHESIANS. 225