Colossians 3:18-25

Wives Submit Yourselves To Your Husbands

This is good because it is fitting for the Lord. A lot of wives do not like to hear this because it is not in their nature to submit to their husband. Gen 3:16

Genesis 3:16 (NASB95)

To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

The Hebrew word for desire means to stretch out after. The woman will want to control the man and change the man but the man will rule over her.

Submission is not devaluing yourself but elevating yourself in the eyes of God. Jesus is the prime example He existed as God but submitted to the Father. He was of no less value than the Father but submitted Himself tot the authority of the Father. Phil. 2:5-10

Philippians 2:5–10 (NASB95)

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Because Jesus submitted himself to the Father the Father highly exalted Jesus to the point that their is no one greater than Him.

Wives should submit to their husbands not for the sake of the husbands benefit, but because it is fitting to the Lord.

God created the husband to be the head of the household. He designed it this way to establish authority and obedience. As long as the wife voluntarily submits to the husband the family will receive the blessings God intends for the family.

When the wife takes the role of the authority in the family it is outside the design of God. It will not function well and will likely lead to chaos and strife in the home. When the family functions as Gods as He intends it has the blessing of peace.

Husbands Love Your Wives

MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary

Though the husband’s authority has been established (vv. 22–24), the emphasis moves to the supreme responsibility of husbands in regard to their wives, which is to love them with the same unreserved, selfless, and sacrificial love that Christ has for His church. Christ gave everything He had, including His own life, for the sake of His church, and that is the standard of sacrifice for a husband’s love of his wife

A husband is to love His wife the same way Jesus loved the church. This is sacrificially. Ultimately Jesus laid His life down for the church. This is what a husband should do for his wife.

Laying down one’s life can go beyond physically dying for your wife. Laying our life down for our wife means always putting her needs before our own.

For men this can be difficult because men tend to be selfish by nature. This is indicated by the pride most men struggle with. We believe that we are owed what we want because we think ourselves better than others. This can spill over to our relationship with our wives. For example, we can take the position that submission of our wives is owed to us because God made it that way. This is not the case as we see that a wife’s submissiveness is fitting for the Lord not the husband.

I would contend that a husband that genuinely loves his wife will have no problems with her submissiveness. It will be something that she will want to do. The reason that Jesus found it easy to submit to the Father is because of the great love that the Father had for the Son. John3:35

John 3:35 NASB95

“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

Children Obey Your Parents

Ephesians 6:1–3 (NASB95)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

The Lord blesses obedient children. He mentions two blessings here. The first is that it may be well with you. This means that the Lord will intervene for children that engage in active obedience to their parents. For example, when a child listens to the wisdom of their parents rather than give into the peer pressure of their friends, God will bless the child. The Lord will look out for those children that are obedient to and honor their parents.

The second blessing is longevity of life. I cannot explain this one other than the Lord promises that you will live a long life if you are obedient to your parents. It may be that they don’t kill you for your act of disobedience. It could also be that the instructions of the parents are rooted in love. Love always looks out for the best of its object.

Paul also reminds Fathers not to exacerbate there children. Don’t break their spirit by setting unrealistic expectations and conditioning your love on meeting those expectations. A fathers love should be based on the personhood of your child. A good Father is to guide their children into godliness.

Slaves Obey Your Masters

This means that we are to respect and fall under the authority of those who are our bosses. We are to work as unto the Lord and not be people that only do work when the boss is watching. When we work, we must work unto the Lord.

We are employed by Him. He gives us the health, skillset, and opportunity to work. We must use all of this to glorify Him.

Masters Grant Your Slaves Justice and Fairness

This means that you should treat your employees as you would want the Lord to treat you. Treat them with respect and don’t threaten them. Pay them fair wages.