18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.



Ver. 18. Wives, submit yourselves] Inferiors are ordered before superiors to teach them to do duty before they expect it. Love descendeth, duty ascendeth. Submit is a short word, but of large extent. It comprehendeth, 1. Reverence; "Let the wife see that she reverence her husband," Eph_5:33, as Sarah did, and is chronicled for it, 1Pe_3:6. But God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal. 2. Obedience to all his lawful commands and restraints, as the Shunammite, 2Ki_4:22, and the Shulamite, who lives by Christ’s laws, and yields to his will, direction, and discretion.



As it is fit] Ut decet, as it is comely; and women love comeliness, delight to be neat. Hereby shall appear comely, first, to God, 1Pe_3:4. Next, to men in the gate, Pro_31:23; Pro_31:31. Thirdly, to their husbands and children, Pro_31:28. Fourthly, to all, even opposites, as being an ornament to sincerity and holiness, Tit_2:3.



In the Lord] Though the husband’s will be crooked (so it be not wicked), the wife’s will is not straight in God’s sight, if not pliable to his. Sed liberum arbitrium, pro quo tantopere contenditur, viri amiserunt, uxores arripuerunt, saith an author.