Colossians Chapter 3 verse 18 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18 - Colossians 4:1. - SECTION VIII. THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF FAMILY DUTIES. We note that in each of the three family relations here dealt with, the subordinate party is first addressed, and the duty of submission is primarily insisted upon (vers. 18, 20, 22: comp. 1 Peter 2:13, 18; 1 Peter 3:1-6). So in Ephesians 5:21-24; Ephesians 6:1-3, 5-8. There may have been some special reason for this in the state of the Asiatic Churches or of Greek society in that region. But other indications show (1 Corinthians 7:24; 1 Corinthians 11:3-16; 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35; Galatians 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:11, 12; 1 Timothy 2:11, 12; 1 Timothy 6:1, 2; Titus 2:5, 9, 10; Titus 3:1) that the apostle perceived and sought to check the danger of unsettlement in the natural order of family and social life which often attends great spiritual revolutions, especially when they are in the direction of religious liberty. As in the case of Luther, the apostle's later teaching is largely directed against the antinomianism which resulted, by way of perversion and abuse, from the preaching of salvation by grace and of the sanctity of the individual believer (comp. introductory note to this chapter). Observe how the Lord and his authority are made to furnish a higher sanction for each of these natural duties. Verse 18. - Ye wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fit in the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-24; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; Titus 2:5; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35; 1 Peter 3:1-6; Genesis 3:16). On this duty the apostle dilates in the Ephesian letter, in illustration of its teaching respecting "Christ and the Church" (comp. the very different treatment of it in 1 Peter 3:1-7), The use of the article (αἱ γύναικες) in the nominative of address is frequent in New Testament, though not in classical Greek. Lightfoot thinks it Hebraistic. Ανηκεν stands in the imperfect tense (literally, it was fit), denoting a normal propriety (comp. Ephesians 5:4, Westcott and Hort; and for the general expression, 1 Corinthians 11:13, 14; Philemon 1:8; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Timothy 2:10; Philippians 4:8; Romans 1:29). Like all men of a sound moral nature, St Paul has a strong sense of natural propriety. The adjunct "in the Lord" belongs to "was fit," not "be subject" (comp. ver. 20). The constitution of nature, as we have learnt in Colossians 1:15-18, is grounded "in the Lord." In Ephesians 5:22-33 St. Paul shows that this inherent propriety has a deep spiritual significance; and he makes the subjection of the Church to her heavenly Lord a new reason for wifely submission.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers[6.Special Exhortation as to the relations of life. (1)THE DUTY OF WIVES AND HUSBANDS (Colossians 3:18-19).(2)THE DUTY OF CHILDREN AND PARENTS (Colossians 3:20-21).(3)THE DUTY OF SLAVES AND MASTERS (Colossians 3:22 to Colossians 4:1).] . . .