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.
So in Ephesians 5:21-24; Ephesians 6:1-3, Ephesians 6:5-8. 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, 1 Corinthians 14:35; Galatians 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:11, 2 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Timothy 2:11, 1 Timothy 2:12; 1 Timothy 6:1, 1 Timothy 6:2; Titus 2:5, Titus 2:9; 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.