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24. ἀλλὰ ὡς ἡ ἐκκλησία ὑποτάσσεται τῷ χριστῷ. On the description of the Church as the Bride of the Christ, see Hort Christian Ecclesia, pp. 150 f. It is based on the O.T. Primarily on Hosea 2 (cf. Rob. Smith, Prophets of Israel, 170 ff.). Cf. Jer 2:2; Ezekiel 16.; and Isaiah 54. The comparison is taken over, with the Christ as Bridegroom, into the Gospels. See Mat 9:15 and parallels, Joh 3:29; Mat 22:2 ff. It reappears prominently in Rev 19:7-9; Rev 21:2 f., 9 f. In St Paul the figure had been used (2Co 11:2) of a single local Ecclesia, cf. lessons from the marriage law in Rom 7:4, and Isaiah 54 had been appropriated to the Church as the New Jerusalem in Gal 4:26. But a personification so complete that the ideal relation of the spiritual Bride and her Bridegroom is taken as the model for actual husbands and wives is startling to our modern and western imaginations. As the language of O.T. shows, it would cause no difficulty to the Jew. In St Peter Sarah supplies a concrete example of the right attitude of the dutiful wife.
ἀλλὰ. See Robinson ‘How be it’ (‘to resume,’ ‘anyway’) 1Co 12:24; 2Co 3:14; 2Co 8:7; Gal 4:23; Gal 4:29.
οὕτως καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐν παντί. The authority of the husband is rooted in the overlordship of Christ, so any demands of a husband, inconsistent with that overlordship, do not come within the scope of this instruction.