Ephesians 6:1-9

Ephesians 5:22 to Ephesians 6:9. Subordination in the Fear of Christ. The principle is illustrated by the relation (a) of wives to husbands, (b) of children to parents, (c) of slaves to masters. The writer does not attack existing social institutions slavery, the patria potestas, the dependent position of women. He accepts the relationships as they exist in the world he knows, and seeks to interpret them in the light of the gospel (p. 649). If he enforces upon wives, children, and slaves, the duty of subordination, he insists also upon the corresponding obligations of conjugal love and protection, parental nurture and admonition, kind treatment and forbearance towards slaves. All these relationships are now relationships in the Lord. That of husband and wife in particular is grounded in Christ's relation to His Church.