The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 205

great joy to the world's suffering women. But blessings rest upon law. The nearer mnrriage is brought to God the more sacred its duties become. In vers. 18, 19 we have in n condensed form rules more fully set forth elsewhere (1 Cor. vii.; Eph. v.; Titus ii.; 1 Pet. iii.). We sec exhortations- !. To WIVES. Gathering together some of the precepts scattered throu!Th the Epistles, we find a fuller summary of the Christian wife's duties at home in 'ritus ii. 4, 5 (make home the happiest place in the world for both husband and children). In 1 Pet. iii. 1.,--6 a contrast is drawn between bodily and spiritual attire, between that which may please the eye of frivolous men and women 11nd that which" in the sight of God is of great price;" not the latest Paris fashions, but "the om11ment of a. meek and quiet spirit" (a lesson especially to Christian matrons to set a. safe example to their juniors). The "manner of life" prescribed in both these passages may be attained by a conscientious observance of the exhortation, "be in subjection." Every family must have one head. Though" Jove is the fulfilling of the Law," if the words "authority" and "subjection" are never to be beard in the home, it must be through a conscientious regarcl to mutual duties. This subjection is "fitting." "Doth not even nature i!self teach?" The satire poured on an imperious wife, and the sympathy felt for a. widow deprived of her stay, supply answers. Scripture teaches the pre-eminence of the husband as illustrated by various relations between the sexes: e.g. the order of creation (1 Tim. ii. 13), the derivation of woman (1 Cor. xL 8), her destiny (Gen. ii. 20; 1 Cor. xi. 7, 9), her share in the first transgression (1 'l'im. ii. 14) and penalty (Gen. iii. 16), and their relative position in the kingdom of grace (1 Cor. xi. 3). Thus submission is" fitting in the Lord." And the same words remind us of the only limit to it (Acts iv. 19; v. 29). T,l'o motives are suggested. 1. An ungodly husband may thus be won for Christ (1 Pet. iii. 1; 1 Cor. vii. 16). 2. An obedient wife is a living type of Christ'; obedient Church, and is thus a witness to the reality of Christ's authority in both tl1e family and the Church. II. To HUSBANDS. "In exhortations the scales should be equally poised" (Cbrysos- tom) as they are here. For what St. Paul has said to wives already suggests tu husbands: If our wh·es are to be such to us, "what manner of persons," etc. ·t (2 Pet. iii. 11). Turning to 1 Pet. iii. 7, we see some of the husband's duties. "Dwell with them" (ma.king home magnetic) "according to knowledge" (the highest wisdom you can gain for governing and guiding)," giving honour," etc. (the honour of esteem, of attention to the latest day of life, of confidence, etc.). These duties are summed ui, here in "love" (Rom. xiii. 10). St. Paul does not say, as the complement of ver. 18, "Govern them," but" Love them." The loving husband will secure the dutiful wifo. Motives are suggested both by reason and revelation. I. A wife is, by God's appoint- ment, pa.rt of our very selves (Eph. v. 31 and 28). Marriage is e. union of souls. "Bitter against them? "-against those we have taken into the very shrine of our Ii ves ~ Plutarch tells us, "They who did sacrifice at the rites of Juno took out the gall of the victim and threw it a.way, signifying by the ceremony that it was not fit that bile aud bitterness should enter into the married state." W. Jay quotes Eph. v. 29 thus:"' Nu man ever yet hated bis own flesh,' but many a monster bas done so." 2. A wifo is the weaker vessel physically, not spiritually. Further motives, addressed to the godly, are: 3. You are" heirs together of the grace of life." Disunion will hinder prayers (Matt. xviii. 19) and progress in your pilgrimage. 4. A husband's love is to be a copy of Christ's love (Eph. v. :l5-27), self-sacrificing, purifying, winning the allegiance of the whole nature. Learn: 1. The grave responsibility of entering the marriage relation. Take no ouo as a wife for whom you cannot cherish the love of esteem; or as a busbancl whom you cannot reverence as worthy of being a. guide and a stay. 2. The duty of Christians to marry" only in the Lord" (ver.17; 1 Cor. vii. 39). 3. The preciousness of e. spiritual bond which shall survive the dissolution of the marriage tie by death (Luke x.x. 35, 36).-E. S. P. Vere. 20 2I.-Cht1dren and parent,. The family and the Church, the natural and spiritual h~me, are the two most sacred associations on earth, having as their Head" the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Epb. iii. 15). The 1,trength of the nation and the welfare of the world are inseparably bound np with  202 THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE COLOSSIANS. [err. III. 1-25