Chapter V: AUTOGRAPH CONCLUSION.--1. The Judaisers' motive (ch. vi. 12, 13) (20)

+III. God will give light to all who awake at His call.+--It is the peculiar property of light to make manifest (ver. 13). Christ will give you light. 1. He shall make manifest to yourself your character and your situation. 2. You shall behold the light of life. 3. He shall reveal to you the God of pardoning love. 4. He shall chase the darkness of sin from your soul, and you shall walk in the light of holiness. 5. He shall put an end to your mourning.

+Learn.+--1. _The deceitfulness and destructive character of sin._ 2. _How fully God provides for your salvation._ 3. _Hear the voice of God.--E. Hare._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 15-18.

_Christian Wisdom_--

+I. Cautiously regulates the outward life.+--"See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise" (ver. 15). The Christian needs not only spiritual fervour and enthusiasm, but also prudence--sanctified common sense. It is possible to do a right thing in a wrong way, or in such a way as to cause more mischief than benefit. There is a severity of virtue that repels, and rouses resentment; and there is a parade of Christian liberty that shocks the sensitive. The truth lies between two extremes, and Christian wisdom is seen in maintaining the truth and avoiding extremes. "I wisdom dwell with prudence." Mr. Edward Everett Hale is generally credited as the author of the following motto for Christian workers:

"Look up, and not down;
Look out, and not in;
Look forward, and not back;
Lend a hand."

Success in soul-winning is only given to skill, earnestness, sympathy, perseverance, tact. Men are saved, not in masses, but by careful study and well-directed effort. It is said that such is the eccentric flight of the snipe when they rise from the earth that it completely puzzles the sportsman, and some who are capital shots at other birds are utterly baffled here. Eccentricity seems to be their special quality, and this can only be mastered by incessant practice with the gun. But the eccentricity of souls is beyond this, and he had need be a very spiritual Nimrod--a mighty hunter before the Lord--who would capture them for Christ. "He that winneth souls is wise."

+II. Teaches how to make the best use of present opportunity.+--1. _Observing the value of time amid the prevalence of evil._ "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (ver. 16). Time is a section cut out of the great circle of eternity, and defines for us the limits in which the work of life must be done. It is a precious gift bestowed by the beneficent hand of God--a gift involving grave responsibility; and we must render a strict account of the use we make of every swing of the pendulum. It is doled out to us in minute fragments. One single year is made up of 31,536,000 seconds. Every tick of the clock records the ever-lessening opportunities of life. Time is in perpetual motion. Like a strong, ever-flowing river, it is bearing away everything into the boundless ocean of eternity. We never know the value of time till we know the value of the fragments into which it is broken up. To make the most of a single hour we must make the most of every minute of which it is composed. The most dangerous moments of a man's life are those when time hangs heavily on his hands. He who has nothing to do but kill time is in danger of being killed himself. It is a miracle of Divine goodness if he is preserved from serious folly, or something worse; and such miracles rarely occur. The man who has learnt the value of time can learn any lesson this world may have to teach him. Time is the opportunity for the exercise of Christian wisdom, and should be the more sedulously used "when the days are evil"--when evil is in power. Oh for wisdom to number our days, to grasp the meaning of present opportunity! Here come the moments that can never be had again; some few may yet be filled with imperishable good. Let us apply our hearts--all our powers--unto wisdom.

2. _Having the good sense to recognise the Divine will._--"Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (ver. 17). We must read and interpret the signs of the times in the light of God's purpose. A close and deep study of the Divine mind will reveal to us the significance of the passing opportunity, and aid us in making the wisest use of it. Our biggest schemes are doomed to failure if they are not in accordance with the will of God. The noblest tasks are reserved for those who have the keenest spiritual insight and are most in harmony with the Divine purpose.

+III. Avoids the folly and waste of intemperance.+--"Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess" (ver. 18). The Asian Christians were a social, light-hearted people, fond of convivial feasts. Wine was their danger; and even in the celebration of the Lord's Supper they ran into excess, and degraded the holy ordinance. There were doubtless converted drunkards among them; and the warning of the text was specially needed. Intemperance is not only a folly and a waste; it is a degradation and a sin. It is the excessive indulgence of a craving that at bottom may be in itself good, if wisely regulated--a craving for an intenser life. "One finds traces," says Monod, "of the primitive greatness of our nature even in its most deplorable errors. Just as impurity proceeds at the bottom from an abuse of the craving for love, so drunkenness betrays a certain demand for ardour and enthusiasm which in itself is natural and even noble. Man loves to feel himself alive; he would fain live twice his life at once; and he would rather draw excitement from horrible things than have no excitement at all." When the physicians told Theotimus that except he abstained from drunkenness and licentiousness he would lose his eyes, his heart was so wedded to his sins that he answered, "Then farewell, sweet light."

+IV. Seeks to be under the complete control of the Divine Spirit.+--"But be filled with the Spirit" (ver. 18). The excitement of drunkenness must be supplanted by a holier and more elevating stimulus: the cup that intoxicates exchanged for the new wine of the Spirit. The general adoption of this principle will be the grandest triumph of temperance. The cure of drunkenness will not be accomplished simply by the removal of temptation, unless a relish for higher things is created and springs of holier pleasure are opened in the hearts of men. A lower impulse is conquered and expelled by the introduction of a higher. Anachonis, the philosopher, being asked by what means a man might best guard against the vice of drunkenness, answered, "By bearing constantly in his view the loathsome, indecent behaviour of such as are intoxicated." Upon this principle was founded the custom of the Lacedæmonians of exposing their drunken slaves to their children, who by that means conceived an early aversion to a vice which makes men appear so monstrous and irrational. There is no excess in drinking copious draughts of the Spirit. Christian wisdom opens the soul to the ever-flowing tide of His influence, and strives to be animated and filled with His all-controlling power.

+Lessons.+--1. _Wisdom is the best use of knowledge._ 2. _Christianity opens the purest sources of knowledge._ 3. _"Get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding"_ (Prov. iv. 7).

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 15-17. _Walking circumspectly._

+I. The duty recommended.+--1. _Walk circumspectly that you may keep within the line of your duty._ Your course often lies in a medium between two extremes. If from this course you deviate, you step into the territory of vice. Be circumspect that you may not mistake your duty. Be watchful that you may retain a sense of virtue and rectitude. Be attentive that you may conform to the Spirit of God's commands.

2. _Walk circumspectly that you may escape the snares in your way._--Often look forward to descry your dangers. Attend to your particular situation and condition in life. Often review your past life, and reflect on former temptations. Be circumspect that you may detect your enemies when they approach you in disguise. Never neglect your duty under pretence of shunning a temptation.

3. _Walk circumspectly that you may wisely comport with the aspects of Providence._

4. _Be circumspect that you may do every duty in its time and place._--Attend on the daily worship of God in your families and closets. Be kind and beneficent to the poor. Neglect not the care of your body. Attend on the instituted ordinances of the Gospel.

5. _Walk circumspectly that your good may not be evil spoken of._

+II. The argument by which the apostle urges the duty.+--"The days are evil." The argument was not peculiar to those early times, but is pertinent to all times. 1. _The days are evil because the Christian finds in himself much disorder and corruption._ 2. _The days are evil as he is exposed to various afflictions._ 3. _There are many adversaries._ 4. _Iniquity abounds.--Lathrop._

Ver. 15. _The Wise Conduct of Life._--1. The more light and knowledge a man receives from God he ought to take the more diligent heed that in all things he practises according to his light. 2. Those only are most fit to reprove sin in others who walk most circumspectly and live so as they cannot be justly blamed themselves. Even the righteous walking of such is a forcible reproof of sin in others, though they speak nothing. 3. As those are only truly wise in God's account who labour to walk most exactly by the rule of God's Word, so where this sanctified wisdom is it will render itself evident by making the person endowed with it walk circumspectly. 4. The less circumspect and exact men be in walking by the rule of God's Word the greater fools they are in God's esteem.--_Fergusson._

Ver. 16. _Redeeming the Time._--To redeem time is to regain what is lost and to save what is left.

+I. Enter on your work speedily.+--Do you ask what is your work? It
is time you knew. Consult God's Word; that will tell you.

+II. Attend to your work with diligence.+--A sense of past
slothfulness must excite you to severer industry. Be not only
fervent but steady in your work.

+III. Guard against the things which rob you of your time.+--An
indolent habit is inconsistent with laudable actions. A
versatile humour is active, but wants patience. An excessive
fondness for company and amusement is the cause of much waste
of time.

+IV. Do every work in its season.+--Youth is the most promising
season. The time of health is more favourable than a time of
sickness. There are seasons friendly to particular duties. In
doing works of charity observe opportunities.

+V. Wisely divide your time among your various duties.+--_Lathrop._

_The Redemption of Time._

+I. The subject of the exhortation.+--1. _Time sometime signifies the whole duration assigned to the present world._

2. _The period of human life._--The time we occupy in the present state is that which God allots for our personal probation and trial. All God's dispensations in respect to us refer to this period and have their limits fixed by it.

3. _Time means season or opportunity._--In this sense the apostle uses it here. We are to redeem all the opportunity God bestows on us for getting and doing good, for acquainting ourselves with Him and being at peace.

+II. The duty enjoined on us.+--"Redeeming the time"--the opportunity.

1. _We redeem time by consideration._

2. _When we turn everything we have to do, in the common concerns of life, into a religious channel._

3. _By living in a devotional spirit._--(1) This will cast out everything trifling, much more everything sinful, from our leisure hours. (2) Its preservation and exercise are perfectly compatible with the affairs of life.

4. The principal way by which time is to be redeemed is not merely by making efforts to promote our final blessedness, but _by actually securing our present salvation._

+III. The motives by which the exhortation is enforced.+--"Because the days are evil."

1. _The days are evil in a general sense._--This age, as well as the age of the apostles, is a wicked one.

2. _Because they are days of distress._

3. _The days are evil individually._--In the sense of affliction to a number of individuals.

4. _It is an evil day that we are ever exposed to enemies and temptations._

5. _Every day opportunities of improvement are wasted is an evil day._

6. _The time will come when, as to many unhappy spirits, the opportunity of salvation will be lost for ever.--R. Watson._

_The Redemption of Time._--The more the days are beset by things that grievously invade them, disturb them, waste them, the more careful and zealous should we be to save and improve all that we can. To this end--

+I. It is of the highest importance that time should be a reality in our perception and estimate;+ that we should verify it as an actual something, like a substance to which we can attach a positive value, and see it as wasting or as improved as palpably as the contents of a granary or as the precious metals. The unfortunate case with us is, that time is apprehended but like air, or rather like empty space, so that in wasting it we do not see that we are destroying or misusing a reality. Time is equivalent to what could be done or gained in it.

+II. Keep established in the mind, and often present to view, certain important purposes or objects that absolutely must be attained.+--For example: that there is some considerable discipline and improvement of the mind, some attainment of Divine knowledge, some measure of the practice of religious exercises, and there is the one thing needful in its whole comprehensive magnitude.

+III. That time be regarded in an inseparable connection with eternity is the grand principle for redeeming it;+ to feel solemnly that it is really for eternity, and has all the importance of this sublime and awful relation. It might be a striking and alarming reflection suggested to a man who has wasted his time--now the time has gone backward into the irrevocable past, but the effect of it, from the quality you have given it, is gone forward into eternity, and since you are going thither, how will you meet and feel the effect there?

+IV. Nothing short of the redemption of the soul is the true and effectual redemption of time.+--And this object gives the supreme rule for the redeeming of time. How melancholy to have made so admirable a use of time for all purposes but the supreme one!--_John Foster._

Ver. 17, 18. _Sensual and Spiritual Excitement._--There is the antithesis between drunkenness and spiritual fulness. The propriety of this opposition lies in the intensity of feeling produced in both cases. There is one intensity of feeling produced by stimulating the senses, another by vivifying the spiritual life within. The one commences with impulses from without, the other is guarded by forces from within. Here, then, is the similarity and here the dissimilarity which constitutes the propriety of the contrast. One is ruin, the other salvation. One degrades, the other exalts.

+I. The effects are similar.+--On the day of Pentecost, when the first influences of the Spirit descended on the early Church, the effects resembled intoxication. It is this very resemblance which deceives the drunkard; he is led on by his feelings as well as by his imagination. Another point of resemblance is the necessity of intense feeling. We have fulness--it may be produced by outward stimulus or by an inpouring of the Spirit. The proper and natural outlet for this feeling is the life of the Spirit. What is religion but fuller life?

+II. The dissimilarity or contrast in St. Paul's idea.+--The one fulness begins from without, the other from within. The one proceeds from the flesh, and then influences the emotions; the other reverses this order. Stimulants like wine inflame the senses, and through them set the imaginations and feelings on fire; and the law of our spiritual being is, that that which begins with the flesh sensualises the spirit; whereas that which commences in the region of the spirit spiritualises the senses, in which it subsequently stirs emotion. That which begins in the heart ennobles the whole animal being; but that which begins in the inferior departments of our being is the most entire degradation and sensualising of the soul. The other point of difference is one of effect. Fulness of the Spirit calms; fulness produced by excitement satiates and exhausts. The crime of sense is avenged by sense which wears with time--the terrific punishment attached to the habitual indulgence of the senses is that the incitements to enjoyment increase in proportion as the power of enjoyment fades. We want the Spirit of the life of Christ, simple, natural, with power to calm and soothe the feelings which it rouses; the fulness of the Spirit which can never intoxicate!--_F. W. Robertson._

_Christian Mirth versus Drunken Mirth._--Carnal men seek the joys of life in revelry, but Christians must seek them in a higher inspiration--that of the Holy Ghost, whose fulness is the source of the blithest and most joyous life.

+I. The mirth begotten of wine is the mother of all kinds of
profligacy.+

+II. The mirth begotten of wine destroys men body and soul.+

+III. The fulness of the Holy Spirit produces a truly blithe and
merry life.+--In this life, with its many causes of
depression, men need exhilaration, and the text points us to
the only place where it is to be found without any
alloy.--_G. A. Bennetts, B.A._

_What is your Heart filled with?_

+I. The heart of man must be full of something.+

+II. Those who are full of wine cannot be filled with the Spirit.+

+III. Those who are filled with the Spirit will not be full of wine.+

+IV. The joy that is kindled by fulness of wine is degrading while
it lasts, and will soon expire.+

+V. The joy that is kindled by the fulness of the Spirit makes us
like the angels, and it will never end.+--_Lay Preacher._

_The Vice of Drunkenness._

+I. The nature and extent of the sin.+--The use of meat and drink is to support and comfort the body. Whatever is more than these is excess. The highest degree of intemperance is such an indulgence as suspends the exercise of the mental and bodily powers. If by the indulgence of your appetite you unfit your body for the service of your mind, or your mind for the service of God, you waste your substance as to defraud your family of a maintenance or your creditors of their dues, become enslaved to a sensual habit and fascinated to dissolute company, stupefy your conscience, extinguish the sentiments of honour and banish the thoughts of futurity, you are chargeable with criminal excess.

+II. The guilt and danger which attend the vice.+--1. _It is an ungrateful abuse of God's bounty._ 2. _It divests the man of his native dignity and sinks him below the brutal herds._ 3. _Is injurious to the body as well as mind._ 4. _Consumes men's substance._ 5. _Wastes a man's conscience as well as his substance._ 6. _Intemperance generates other vices--impure lustings, angry passions, profane language, insolent manners, obstinacy of heart, and contempt of reproof._ 7. _Has most lamentable effects on families._ 8. _The Scripture abounds in solemn warnings against this sin._ 9. _This sin must be renounced, or the end of it will be death.--Lathrop._

_Being filled with the Spirit._--1. It supposes a sufficiency and fulness in the Spirit and His influences every way to fill our souls, to supply all our spiritual wants, and to help our infirmities. 2. It imparts an actual participation of His influences and fruits in a large and plentiful measure. (1) As men come to have every power and faculty of their souls more subject to the Spirit's authority and under the influence proper to it. (2) As they grow to experience His operations in all the several kinds of them. (3) As His agency comes to be more stated and constant in them. (4) As His grace becomes more mighty and operative in them, so as actually to produce its proper and genuine effects. (5) As they taste such a sweetness and delight in the measure of participation attained that they reach forward with greater ardour toward perfection. 3. That every one should esteem the fulness of the Spirit a desirable thing. (1) It puts us into a fit posture of mind for daily communion with God. (2) Would settle our minds in the truest pleasure and peace. 4. That we should look upon it as an attainable good. (1) From the Spirit's own gracious benignity and His declared inclination to fill our souls. (2) From the purchase and intercession of Christ. (3) From the nature of the Spirit's work in consequence of redemption (4) From the Gospel being described as the ministration of the Spirit. (5) From the declarations of God concerning the Spirit. (6) From the instances of His grace already made in others. (7) From the beginnings of His saving grace in themselves, good men may conclude the greatest heights attainable by them, if they be not wanting to themselves.--_John Evans._

_On being filled with the Spirit_--

+I. Implies that the Spirit has been largely given to the Church.+

+II. That as God has given the Spirit largely so He has been
abundantly received.+

+III. Is to be possessed by His graces in all their variety.+

+IV. Is to be wholly guided by His influence and subject to His
control.+

+V. Is to be the instrument of fulfilling His mission on earth.+

+VI. Is to have God as the only portion of the soul.+--1. The Spirit
is God on the earth. 2. To be filled with the Spirit is to be
fully occupied with God.--_Stewart._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 19-21.

_Spiritual Enjoyment_--

+I. Expressed in heartfelt praise to God.+--"Speaking . . . in spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (ver. 19). Men filled with wine seek their enjoyment in singing bacchanalian odes and songs; but the men of the Spirit find a higher and more satisfying joy in chanting psalms and hymns of praise to God. The holiest excitement seeks expression in music and song. In the praise meetings of the Ephesians we have the beginnings of Christian psalmody. The psalms of the Old Testament were sung, accompanied by musical instruments. "Singing and making melody" means singing and playing, voice and instrument blending in joyous strains of praise. Then would follow hymns expressing the great ideas of the Gospel. Regarding the early Christians Pliny wrote: "They are wont on a fixed day to meet before daylight--to avoid persecution--and to recite a hymn among themselves by turns to Christ, as being God." There might not be much artistic taste in the music, either of voice or instrument; but the sincerity of the heart was the true harmony. The contrast of the verse is between the heathen and the Christian practice. Let your songs be not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart. Is any merry, let him sing, not light and frivolous songs, breathing questionable morality, but psalms. The glad heart is eager first to acknowledge God.

+II. Largely consists in thanksgiving.+--"Giving thanks always for all things unto God" (ver. 20). God is the active Source of all blessings in creation, providence, and grace, and should be constantly acknowledged in grateful adoration. The thankful heart is the happiest; and it is the happy who sing. Thanksgiving is the predominating element in praise; and praise is the essence of true worship. Prayer is not the essence of worship, though it is an important help. Prayer becomes worship when it merges into praise. The reading and exposition of God's Word are not worship. Preaching accomplishes one of its loftiest functions when it incites to praise. Music is not worship but it may become a valuable accessory. Christianity has taken hold of music and consecrated and elevated it to the highest uses of worship. It has produced the greatest musicians and the grandest music. All true music is the outward and melodious expression of our dearest and most sacred thoughts and feelings. The musical artist touches what is deepest and best in us. Nature has no false notes. When we praise God aright, worship becomes an act of the highest intelligence, calling forth and exercising our noblest powers. We are to sing with the Spirit, and we are to sing with the understanding also. Worship is acceptable to God as it is the joyous expression of the soul, brimming over with thankfulness and reverence. We are then brought under the spiritually transforming power of the Being we worship; the worshipper becomes like the object worshipped.

+III. Soberly recognises the relation in which we stand to each other and to Christ.+--"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God" (ver. 21). _In the fear of Christ_--so read all the old MSS, and authorities. The believer passes from under the bondage of the law to be the servant of Christ, which through the instinct of love to Him is really to be the Lord's freeman, for he is under the law to Christ. Thus reverential fear of displeasing Him is the motive for discharging our relative duties as Christians. The Church should be a pattern and an example of harmony and peace, and this can only be by the members submitting themselves one to another "in the fear of Christ." The man with the most distinguished gifts must not be above submitting himself to the judgment and will of his fellow-members. Preacher, organist, choir, and congregation must vie with each other in harmonious rivalry in the service and worship of God.

+Lessons.+--1. _Spiritual enjoyment is not dependent on fictitious excitement._ 2. _Expresses itself in holiest song._ 3. _Is unselfish._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 19. _Singing in the Worship of God._

+I. The singing of psalms is here enjoined as a sacred branch of social worship.+--We are to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits. To Him we are to consecrate the use of all our powers. And there is the same reason why the musical as any other faculty should be employed in His service. Praise is the most excellent part of Divine worship.

+II. The matter or subject of our singing.+--In psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. By psalms is intended that collection of sacred poems which passes under this name and is one of the canonical books of Scripture. By hymns may be designed other poetical compositions of Scripture as the songs of Moses, Hannah, Zechariah, Simeon, and others. By spiritual songs may be meant those pious and devout songs which in that age were composed by prophets and holy men in the Church under the immediate influence of the Spirit. The matter we sing should be accommodated to the occasion of the worship. If in the days of David it was thought necessary that on extraordinary occasions a new song should be sung, surely now we may sing some new songs on the glorious occasion of the Gospel.

+III. We are to sing, making melody.+--The use of music in social worship is to assist and enliven the devotion of the heart. When music is performed with melody of sound, exactness of time, and harmony of voices, it greatly contributes to this end. Singing cannot be performed to edification and comfort without skill. The singers in the Jewish Temple were carefully instructed, and this branch of worship conducted with great order and solemnity.

+IV. In singing we must make melody in our hearts to the Lord.+--Singing as part of religious worship must be directed to God. We sing in obedience to His command, with a sense of His presence, with hearts disposed for His service, with affections corresponding to the matter of the psalm. The man who can hear holy anthems sung to the universal Parent, with voices sweetly mingling and harmonising together, and not feel himself softened into benevolence and love and moulded into condescension and peace, must have a soul rugged as the rocks and stubborn as an oak.

+Lessons.+--1. _If singing is an instituted part of Divine worship, all should take a share in it._ 2. _Every one according to his ability is bound to promote the psalmody of the Church._ 3. _Psalmody as a branch of Divine worship should be regarded, not as a theatrical exhibition, but as a religious solemnity.--Lathrop._

Ver. 20. _The Duty of Thanksgiving._

+I. The duty to which we are exhorted.+--1. Implies a right apprehension and considerate attention to benefits conferred. 2. Requires a faithful retention of benefits in memory and frequent reflections on them. 3. A due esteem and valuation of benefits. 4. That benefits be received with a willing mind, a hearty sense, a vehement affection. 5. Always attended with the esteem, veneration, and love of the benefactor.

+II. The time allotted to the performance of the duty.+--"Always." 1. Hereby is required a frequent performance thereof. 2. Appointing and punctually observing convenient times for the purpose. 3. A vigilant attendance on the duty such as men bestow on their employments. 4. Implies a ready disposition to give thanks ever permanent in us. 5. That we embrace every opportunity of actually expressing our thankfulness.

+III. The matter of this duty.+--"For all things." 1. We are to give thanks not only for great but the least favours of God. 2. Not only for new and present benefits, but for all we have formerly or may hereafter receive. 3. Not only for pleasant occurrences of providence, but also those which are adverse. 4. Not only for temporal but for spiritual and eternal blessings.--_Barrow._

_Thanksgiving._

+I. The duty here enjoined is to give thanks.+

+II. Consider the character of that Being to whom our thanks must be
supremely directed.+--"To God, even the Father."

+III. We are required to give thanks always to God.+

+IV. The matters for which we are to give thanks.+--"For all things."

+V. Consider the medium of our access to God in this duty.+--"In the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ."--_Lathrop._

Ver. 21. _Mutual Submission._

+I. A degree of submission is due to superiors.+--Superiors in age,
in knowledge and wisdom, in authority. Honour a virtuous
character wherever you see it.

+II. Mutual submission as it respects equals.+--All men have the same
immutable right to an equitable treatment from all with whom
they have intercourse. Mutual subjection ought to be seen in
families.

+III. There is a submission due to those who on some accounts may be
deemed inferiors.+--Superiors owe respect to those below them.
They should be easy of access, gentle in language, and
condescending in deportment.

+IV. This mutual submission ought to appear in Christian
Churches.+--_Ibid._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 22-33.

_Duties of Wives and Husbands._

+I. The duty of the wife is submission to her husband.+--"Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands."

1. _A submission defined by religious obligation._--"As unto the Lord" (ver. 22). This submission implies no inferiority. Husband and wife are equal before God, and each is separately responsible to Him. The husband cannot love and serve God for the wife, nor the wife for the husband; each stands related to Him as a distinct personality, with distinct duties and responsibilities for each. God has the first claim upon them both, and their relation and duties to each other must be in harmony with that supreme claim. The submission demanded is not the subjection of an inferior to a superior, but the voluntary, sympathetic obedience that can be gracefully and appropriately rendered only by an equal to an equal. "It is here that Christianity, in contrast with paganism and notably with Mahometanism, raises the weaker sex to honour. In soul and destiny it declares the woman to be man, endowed with all rights and powers inherent in humanity. It is one of the glories of our faith that it has enfranchised our sisters, and raises them in spiritual calling to the full level of their brothers and husbands."

2. _A submission recognising the headship of the husband._--(1) Analogous to the headship of Christ to His Church. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church" (ver. 23). (2) Unlike that headship inasmuch as Christ is not only the head but also the Saviour of the Church. "And He is the Saviour of the body" (ver. 23). As the Saviour His headship is unrivalled and must be acknowledged by every member alike. The wife must not think too much of her husband: there is One who is superior to him, and who must be all in all to them both.

3. _A submission after the pattern of that of the Church to Christ._--"As the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything" (ver. 24; cf. ver. 33). Religion sanctifies all relationships and makes duty a joy. As the wife obeys Christ in spiritual things, so she will obey her husband in all things righteous. Mary, wife of Prince William of Orange and the heir-apparent to the English throne, was asked what her husband the prince should be if she became queen. She called in her husband and promised him he should always bear rule; and asked only that he would obey the command, "Husbands, love your wives," as she should do that, "Wives, be obedient to your husbands in all things."

+II. The duty of the husband is to love his wife.+--1. _A love that seeks to promote the highest spiritual interests of the wife_ (vers. 25-29). It must be a Christ-like, self-sacrificing, all-devoted love. It is greatly within the power of the husband to help or hinder the spiritual life of the wife. The man is apt to become so self-absorbed and forgetful that he needs reminding of his duty to love and cherish the one who should be dearer to him than any other. Assured of the reality and unselfishness of her husband's love, there is no sacrifice she will hesitate to make, nor will she spare any effort to attain the Christ-likeness of character to which he may wish to lead her. "One with Christ. This is the ideal Christian state. We have a faint reflection of this in that which should be flesh. They are to be as nearly as possible one person. Their thoughts, their interests, their hopes, their aims are one. Marriage was given that it might be a representation of the spiritual union between Christ and His Church. The union of each separate soul with Christ is a fragment of His union with the whole Church, and must partake of the same character. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him."

2. _A love arising from the intimacy and sacredness of the marriage bond_ (vers. 30-32).--Marriage is a union for life between one man and one woman; consequently bigamy, polygamy, and voluntary divorce are all inconsistent with its nature. It must be entered into freely and cordially by the parties, with the conviction that one is suited to the other, and to take the positions involved in the natural and scriptural view of the relation. "Marriage," said Jeremy Taylor, "is a school and exercise of virtue. Here is the proper sense of piety and patience, of the duty of parents, and the charity of relatives; here kindness is spread abroad and love is united and made firm as a centre. Marriage is the nursery of heaven, hath in it the labours of love and the delicacies of friendship, the blessing of society and the union of hands and hearts. Like the useful bee, marriage builds a house, unites into societies and republics, exercises many virtues, promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good things to which God has designed the present constitution of the world."

3. _A love strengthened by the observance of mutual duties_ (ver. 33).--Love manifested begets love, and strengthens with exercise. The loving reverence of the wife follows on the frank and genuine love of the husband. This was an epitaph in a churchyard inscribed by a husband after sixty years of married life: "She always made home happy." The Christian conception of love and marriage began a new era in the world, and has exalted woman to her true place.

+Lessons.+--1. _Marriage is not to be lightly entered into._ 2. _Is dignified as a symbol of the union between Christ and His Church._ 3. _Binds the contracting parties to fidelity in observing the most sacred vows._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 22-33. _Wives and Husbands._

+I. There are duties which are common to both the correlates.+--The husband and wife are in some respects equals. As they are one and have one common interest they ought to act with an undivided concern for the happiness of the family. They are alike bound to mutual fidelity and a chaste conversation. They are under equal obligations to study each other's peace and comfort.

+II. There are some duties particularly incumbent on the wife.+--These the apostle expresses by the terms submission, reverence, obedience, and subjection. Since the Church is subject to Christ, the woman ought to be subject to her husband, who, by Christ's authority, is constituted her head. A family should resemble a Church in union, peace, and subordination. The honour and interest of religion require that wives, by a cheerful subordination, co-operate with their husbands in all the important concerns of the household, and in the nurture, education, and government of the dependent members.

+III. There are duties particularly incumbent on the husband towards his wife.+--These the apostle expresses by the word "love," which here stands opposed to sharpness and severity. One argument for this love is the example of Christ in His love and devotion to the Church. Another reason is, the intimacy of the relationship--"Whoso loveth his wife loveth himself." Where the spirit of religion reigns in both, the union will be easy and their joint government in the family have efficacy. The maintenance of family religion depends on nothing more than the union of the heads. For how can they unite in prayers and praises who unite in nothing else.--_Lathrop._

Vers. 23-32. _Christ and His Bride._

+I. Christ's love to the Church+ (vers. 25-27). We must value and joyfully assert our individual part in the redeeming love of the Son of God; but we must equally admit the sovereign rights of the Church in the Redeemer's passion. There is in some an absorption in the work of grace within their own hearts, an individualistic salvation-seeking that like all selfishness defeats its end, for it narrows and impoverishes the inner life thus sedulously cherished. The Church does not exist simply for the benefit of individual souls; it is an eternal institution, with an affiance to Christ, a calling and destiny of its own; within that universal sphere our personal destiny holds its particular place. The Christ is worthy and she must be made worthy. From eternity He set His love upon her; on the cross He won her back from her infidelity at the price of His blood. Through the ages He has been wooing her to Himself, and schooling her in wise and manifold ways that she may be fit for her heavenly calling. Through what cleansing fires, through what baptisms, even of blood, she has still to pass ere the consummation is reached, He only knows who loved her and gave Himself for her. He will spare to His Church nothing, either of bounty or of trial, that her perfection needs.

+II. Christ's authority over the Church+ (vers. 23, 24).--The Church is no democracy, any more than she is an aristocracy or a sacerdotal absolutism: she is a _Christocracy._ The people are not rulers in the house of God; they are the ruled, laity and ministers alike. We acknowledge this in theory; but our language and spirit would oftentimes be other than they are, if we were penetrated with the sense of the continual presence and majesty of the Lord Jesus in our assemblies. The Church's protection from human tyranny, from schemes of ambition, from the intrusion of political methods and designs, lies in her sense of the splendour and reality of Christ's dominion and of her own eternal life in Him.

+III. The mystery of the Church's origin in Christ+ (vers. 30-32).--God chose us in Christ before the world's foundation. We are created in the Son of God's love antecedently to our redemption by Him. Christ recovers through the cross that which pertains inherently to Him, which belonged to Him by nature, and is as a part of Himself. The derivation of Eve from the body of Adam, as that is affirmed in the mysterious words of Genesis, is analogous to the derivation of the Church from Christ. The latter relationship existed in the ideal, and as conceived in the purpose of God, prior to the appearance of the human race. In St. Paul's theory, the origin of the woman in man, which forms the basis of marriage in Scripture, looked farther back to the origin of humanity in Christ Himself. In some mystical but real sense marriage is a _reunion,_ the reincorporation of what had been sundered. Seeking his other self, the complement of his nature, the man breaks the ties of birth and founds a new home. So the inspired author of the passage in Genesis (Gen. ii. 21-24) explains the origin of marriage, and the instinct which draws the bridegroom to his bride. But our apostle sees within this declaration a deeper truth, kept secret from the foundation of the world. When he speaks of this great mystery, he means thereby not marriage itself, but _the saying of Adam about it._ This text was a standing problem to the Jewish interpreters. "But for my part," says the apostle, "I refer it to Christ and to the Church." St. Paul, who has so often before drawn the parallel between Adam and Christ, by the light of this analogy perceives a new and rich meaning in the old dark sentence. It helps him to see how believers in Christ, forming collectively His body, are not only grafted into Him, but were derived from Him and formed in the very mould of His nature. In our union through grace and faith with Christ crucified we realise again the original design of our being. Christ has purchased by His blood no new or foreign bride, but her who was His from eternity--the child who had wandered from the Father's house, the betrothed who had left her Lord and spouse.--_Findlay._

Vers. 25-33. _The Christian Law of Marriage_--

+I. Demands self-sacrificing love.+

+II. Recognises the sacredness of the union between the contracting
parties.+

+III. Is ennobled in being a type of the union between Christ and the
Church.+

+IV. Involves mutual fidelity on the part of both husband and wife.+

Vers. 25-27. _Christ's Love for the Church._

+I. Christ's love of His Church.+--It was--1. Ancient. 2. Self-moved. 3. Active. 4. Effective.

+II. Christ's sacrifice of Himself as an exhibition of His love.+--1. Himself. His life. What a life! 2. As a sacrifice. The essence of it is vicarious suffering. 3. To all the suffering which justice demanded.

+III. Christ's more immediate object in what He has done.+--1. Sanctification. As essential as pardon. 2. By the agency of the Holy Spirit. Signified by the washing of water. 3. Through the instrumentality of the Word.

+IV. Christ's ultimate aim.+--1. To present His Church to Himself. A nuptial figure. 2. Free from all imperfections. 3. Adorned with all excellencies. (1) Our obligations to Christ. (2) The real value of holiness. (3) The high destiny of believers.--_G. Brooks._

_The Future Glory of the Church._

+I. The future state of the Church.+--In describing the future condition of the Church, the apostle has evidently in his mind two previous states: her original state when lying dead in trespasses and sins, and her subsequent earthly state when separated from the mass of the ungodly and partially redeemed. We have the people of Christ before us in three distinct points of view:--

1. _As wholly defiled._--Speaking of "sanctifying and cleansing" the Church intimates her complete defilement.

2. _As in some measure cleansed._--Though sanctified and cleansed, we read of spots still left on the Church.

3. _As altogether pure._--Faultless in God's presence and estimation.

+II. The causes to which this state is to be ascribed.+--1. _The love of Christ._ 2. _Love revealed in sacrifice_ as another step towards final purity. 3. _The work of the Holy Spirit_ (ver. 26). 4. _The Word of God_ (ver. 26). A right understanding of its testimony and a heartfelt belief in its truth.

+III. The great end for which all these means of holiness are brought into operation.+--"That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church" (ver. 27). The likeness of God will be put on her, the image of God shine in her; that attribute of Divinity--holiness--which is the perfection of Divinity will be her crown.--_C. Bradley._

_The Divine Ideal of the Church._

+I. We have an array of stupendous facts concerning the Church.+--1. _The Divine prevision._ Before the eternal Son of God could give Himself for the Church, He must have had it in His mind. 2. _The Redeemer's actual love for the Church._ 3. _The Redeemer's amazing self-sacrifice on behalf of the Church._ 4. _That the Redeemer has a very definite purpose concerning His Church._

+II. The distinguishing marks or signs of the members of the Church.+--They are personal and experimental. 1. _The casting out of natural impurities._ Improvement is not enough. Nothing but a thorough re-creation can effect what is required. 2. _The instrument of this change is the truth._ 3. _This change, this introduction into the Church, is a thing complete in itself, becomes historical, and ought never to need repeating._ 4. _The way is open for the appearance of the other personal and experimental sign--sanctification_ (ver. 26). 5. _Christ's idea of the Church given in these verses is not abstract, impracticable, and untrue to the possibilities of ordinary human nature._

+III. Here we catch a glimpse of the future and eternal glory of the Church.+--How stupendous an event it will be when, at the consummation of all things, the whole Church will be presented to the Lord Jesus! What can secure Church membership? Neither early training, nor baptism, nor the holding of an orthodox creed, nor associating with a religious and devout assembly, nor the filling of ecclesiastical office, nor even intelligent approach to the table of the Lord. Such things are means to an end. That end is true membership in the Church of Christ. And that membership is attained and secured by Divine renewal of the heart, and by that conformity to the mind of Christ which is expressive of the new life. The true unity of the Church of Christ is that spiritual oneness which has its expression in identity of Christian life.--_W. Hudson._

Ver. 25. _A Noble Self-sacrifice._--Caius Gracchus, who was the idol of the Roman people, having carried his regard for the lower orders so far as to draw upon himself the resentment of the nobility, an open rupture ensued; and the two extremities of Rome resembled two camps--Opimius the consul on one side, and Gracchus and his friend Fulvius on the other. A battle ensued in which the consul, meeting with more vigorous resistance than he expected, proclaimed an amnesty for all those who should lay down their arms, and at the same time promised to pay for the heads of Gracchus and Fulvius their weight in gold. This proclamation had the desired effect. The populace deserted their leaders. Fulvius was taken and beheaded, and Gracchus, at the advice of his two friends, Licinius Crassus and Pomponius, determined to flee the city, and reached the bridge Sublicius, where his enemies, who pursued him close, would have overtaken and seized him if his two friends had not opposed their fury; but they saw the danger he was in and determined to save his life at the expense of their own. They defended the bridge against all the consular troops till Gracchus was out of their reach; but at length, being overpowered by numbers, and covered with wounds, they both expired on the bridge they had so valiantly defended.--_Biblical Treasury._

Ver. 30. _Members of the Body of Christ._

+I. The doctrine.+--The apostle is speaking of believers only; of believers as believing; of all believers. His language implies:--

1. _Union._--Real, intimate, indissoluble.

2. _Dependence._--Of the members on the heart. Of the members on the head.

3. _Sympathy._--Sincere, entire, uninterrupted. Value of human sympathy. Its rarity. Its necessary imperfection. The superiority of Christ's.

+II. The duty.+--1. _Love._ A special affection arising out of a special relation.

2. _Reverence._--There should be no unholy familiarity.

3. _Obedience._--Responsive to His will as a part of Himself.--_G. Brooks._

Ver. 33. _The Sanctity of Home Life._--The Christian home is the corner-stone of modern civilisation--the best fruit Christianity has yielded the earth. The Anglo-Saxon home is the crowning glory of the race. Contrast it with French home life, or the miserable home life in Utah! National self-preservation demands a vigorous uprooting of Mormon polygamy and Western divorce lawlessness. That which is punished as a crime in the best and purest Christian lands must be punished as a crime wherever it is found. Garfield kissing his mother and his wife at his Inauguration was a sweet revelation of holy family life.--_Homiletic Monthly._

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER VI.+

_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._

Ver. 1. +Children, obey.+--Until the days of discretion arrive this is the grace of childhood. If through obedience the child errs, the responsibility of that is with those who have commanded. It is only a "surrendered soul" that can sing:

"I would be treated as a child,
And guided where I go."

Ver. 2. +Honour thy father and mother.+--As long as they are so.

Ver. 3. +That it may be well with thee.+--If ever "that it may be" could mean "and so it shall be," we should strenuously plead for that meaning here. For it would be a pitiable thing indeed to find a man showing filial piety as a profitable course.

Ver. 4. +Nurture and admonition.+--The former word is more general than the latter, including everything that goes to the instruction of the child. "Admonition" is reproof, either of word or punishment, or yet again, warning.

Ver. 5. +Servants, be obedient.+--R.V. margin, "bond-servants." There was One who had "become obedient even unto death," having "taken the form of a bond-servant" (Phil. ii. 7). +With fear and trembling.+--"With that zeal which is ever keenly apprehensive of not doing enough" (_Meyer_). The same phrase is used of the way in which our personal salvation is to be worked out (Phil. ii. 12).

Ver. 6. +Not with eyeservice.+--A word used only by St. Paul. The thing it describes is easily recognised to-day.

Ver. 7. +With good will doing service.+--If a philosopher-slave like Epictetus could rise superior to his condition, surely Christianity could do as much for the humblest believer.

Ver. 8. +Knowing that whatsoever good . . . bond or free.+

"This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold,
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told"--_George Herbert._

Ver. 9. +Do the same things unto them.+--The utmost application of the "golden rule." +Forbearing threatening+ "may either mean abating or giving up."

Ver. 10. +Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.+--In ch. i. 19 the phrase "power of His might" is reversed. See note there.

Ver. 11. +The whole armour.+--"The panoply." "A complete suit of armour." +The wiles of the devil.+--A craftily designed plan of attack.

Ver. 12. +For we wrestle.+--We need not suppose a transference of the metaphor. It may describe the hand-to-hand fight in which equally matched opponents refuse to back an inch. +Not against flesh and blood.+--With "vulnerable crests" (_Macbeth_). When ghostly combatants appear, unassailable, and with powers of injury against which we are helpless, we may well say:

"Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble."

Ver. 13. +In the evil day.+--Compare ch. v. 16. A day of great peril. +And having done all, to stand.+--"When the hurly-burly's done" to find oneself unvanquished.

Ver. 14. +Stand therefore.+--The words ring short and sharp as a bugle-call. +Loins girt about with truth.+--"To speak of a well-equipped warrior without a girdle is a _contradictio in adjecto,_ for it was just the girdle which produced the free bearing and movement and the necessary attitude of the warrior" (_Meyer_). "+Truth+ is a subjective conception corresponding with the eternal realities" (_Beet_). +Breastplate of righteousness.+--"As the actual warrior has protected the breast when he laced the corslet over his chest, so with you righteousness . . . renders your breast (heart and will) inaccessible to the hostile influence of the demons" (_Meyer_).

"He is but naked though locked up in steel
Whose conscience with _injustice_ is corrupted."