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.

  1. The duty here enjoined is to give thanks.
  2. Consider the character of that Being to whom our thanks must be supremely directed.—“To God, even the Father.”
  3. We are required to give thanks always to God.
  4. The matters for which we are to give thanks.—“For all things.”
  5. Consider the medium of our access to God in this duty.—“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Lathrop.

Ver. 21. Mutual Submission.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.