+I. A degree of submission is due to superiors.+--Superiors in age,
in knowledge and wisdom, in authority. Honour a virtuous
character wherever you see it.
+II. Mutual submission as it respects equals.+--All men have the same
immutable right to an equitable treatment from all with whom
they have intercourse. Mutual subjection ought to be seen in
families.
+III. There is a submission due to those who on some accounts may be
deemed inferiors.+--Superiors owe respect to those below them.
They should be easy of access, gentle in language, and
condescending in deportment.
+IV. This mutual submission ought to appear in Christian
Churches.+--_Ibid._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 22-33.
_Duties of Wives and Husbands._
+I. The duty of the wife is submission to her husband.+--"Wives
submit yourselves unto your own husbands."
1. _A submission defined by religious obligation._--"As unto the
Lord" (ver. 22). This submission implies no inferiority. Husband and
wife are equal before God, and each is separately responsible to Him.
The husband cannot love and serve God for the wife, nor the wife for
the husband; each stands related to Him as a distinct personality,
with distinct duties and responsibilities for each. God has the first
claim upon them both, and their relation and duties to each other
must be in harmony with that supreme claim. The submission demanded
is not the subjection of an inferior to a superior, but the
voluntary, sympathetic obedience that can be gracefully and
appropriately rendered only by an equal to an equal. "It is here that
Christianity, in contrast with paganism and notably with
Mahometanism, raises the weaker sex to honour. In soul and destiny it
declares the woman to be man, endowed with all rights and powers
inherent in humanity. It is one of the glories of our faith that it
has enfranchised our sisters, and raises them in spiritual calling to
the full level of their brothers and husbands."
2. _A submission recognising the headship of the
husband._--(1) Analogous to the headship of Christ to His Church.
"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head
of the Church" (ver. 23). (2) Unlike that headship inasmuch as Christ
is not only the head but also the Saviour of the Church. "And He is
the Saviour of the body" (ver. 23). As the Saviour His headship is
unrivalled and must be acknowledged by every member alike. The wife
must not think too much of her husband: there is One who is superior
to him, and who must be all in all to them both.
3. _A submission after the pattern of that of the Church to
Christ._--"As the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in everything" (ver. 24; cf. ver. 33). Religion
sanctifies all relationships and makes duty a joy. As the wife obeys
Christ in spiritual things, so she will obey her husband in all
things righteous. Mary, wife of Prince William of Orange and the
heir-apparent to the English throne, was asked what her husband the
prince should be if she became queen. She called in her husband and
promised him he should always bear rule; and asked only that he would
obey the command, "Husbands, love your wives," as she should do that,
"Wives, be obedient to your husbands in all things."
+II. The duty of the husband is to love his wife.+--1. _A love that
seeks to promote the highest spiritual interests of the wife_ (vers.
25-29). It must be a Christ-like, self-sacrificing, all-devoted love.
It is greatly within the power of the husband to help or hinder the
spiritual life of the wife. The man is apt to become so self-absorbed
and forgetful that he needs reminding of his duty to love and cherish
the one who should be dearer to him than any other. Assured of the
reality and unselfishness of her husband's love, there is no
sacrifice she will hesitate to make, nor will she spare any effort to
attain the Christ-likeness of character to which he may wish to lead
her. "One with Christ. This is the ideal Christian state. We have a
faint reflection of this in that which should be flesh. They are to
be as nearly as possible one person. Their thoughts, their interests,
their hopes, their aims are one. Marriage was given that it might be
a representation of the spiritual union between Christ and His
Church. The union of each separate soul with Christ is a fragment of
His union with the whole Church, and must partake of the same
character. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him."
2. _A love arising from the intimacy and sacredness of the marriage
bond_ (vers. 30-32).--Marriage is a union for life between one man
and one woman; consequently bigamy, polygamy, and voluntary divorce
are all inconsistent with its nature. It must be entered into freely
and cordially by the parties, with the conviction that one is suited
to the other, and to take the positions involved in the natural and
scriptural view of the relation. "Marriage," said Jeremy Taylor, "is
a school and exercise of virtue. Here is the proper sense of piety
and patience, of the duty of parents, and the charity of relatives;
here kindness is spread abroad and love is united and made firm as a
centre. Marriage is the nursery of heaven, hath in it the labours of
love and the delicacies of friendship, the blessing of society and
the union of hands and hearts. Like the useful bee, marriage builds a
house, unites into societies and republics, exercises many virtues,
promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good things to
which God has designed the present constitution of the world."
3. _A love strengthened by the observance of mutual duties_ (ver.
33).--Love manifested begets love, and strengthens with exercise. The
loving reverence of the wife follows on the frank and genuine love of
the husband. This was an epitaph in a churchyard inscribed by a
husband after sixty years of married life: "She always made home
happy." The Christian conception of love and marriage began a new era
in the world, and has exalted woman to her true place.
+Lessons.+--1. _Marriage is not to be lightly entered into._ 2. _Is
dignified as a symbol of the union between Christ and His Church._
3. _Binds the contracting parties to fidelity in observing the most
sacred vows._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._