Julius A Von Poseck

The first word, that follows after "wives" in both the above passages of scripture, is "submit." It is the same in the Epistle of the Apostle Peter. Those two words thus closely connected by the Spirit, express the mind and will of God as to the "wives" character and position. Subjection and submissiveness, indeed, form the character of every truly godly woman, especially of those in the sacred and blessed relationship of marriage. As I have spoken extensively on the meaning of the word: submission, and the difference between submission and obedience, I only say once more, that, though submission and not obedience, is given in Eph. and Col. as the prominent Christian feature of the wives, from the reasons already mentioned, yet obedience forms no less an essential part of the Divinely required demeanour and character of the Christian "wife," as we shall see presently in the passage from 1 Peter 3 previously alluded to. How, indeed, could any contrary thought be admitted into the mind of any, with the words of that solemn sentence of the Lord God, to which we have just listened, still ringing in our ears, as it were.