Chapter 16. Holy Results of Heavenly Blessing: The Christian Home: Parent and Child, Master an...

Chapter 16.
Holy Results of Heavenly Blessing: The Christian Home: Parent and Child, Master and Servant

Ephesians 6:1-9 "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

— Joshua 24:15 "A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine; Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, Makes that and th’ action fine."

—Herbert THE Christian Husband and the Christian Wife stand now before us; two noble portraits, making one. We contemplate them again, one in their absolute mutual loyalty and love, one, in a sense as deep and sacred as it is warm with affections created by Him who is Love itself, holy and everlasting. We see them "devoted" to each other, each in the respective conjugal position. We see that heart "devotion" at once chastened, deepened, and profoundly secured by the thought all around it of the duties in whose line it moves and glows; a thought to which every true heart that knows the interior life of Christian wedlock will respond with joy. Above all, we see them walking along their one path, "one soul in two bodies," as those who see upon that path, at every step, in all its relations, its duties, its sorrows and its joys, a glory shed from the "great mystery" of the Heavenly Wedlock which has joined them each to the Eternal Bridegroom. Yes, upon their common domestic duties, the affairs of the household in its. most prosaic aspect, a radiance falls, elevating, purifying, gladdening, hallowing, from very far aloft, even from where there shines "A light upon the shining sea, The Bridegroom with His Bride."

It is good for the soul to gaze upon this portrait; it is good for the whole human heart. For it all illustrates the power of the spiritual Gospel to act with full benignant force upon the social life of man. It has sometimes been thrown as a reproach upon the advocates or ambassadors of that Gospel that they have occupied themselves too much with the message of personal salvation and too little, or not at all, with the salvation (so to speak) of society. Let them not be afraid of that reproach if it only means that they have firmly refused to forget that their first and vital message is to the fallen and sinful soul of man; "Be reconciled to God." They do well to resolve never to let this be exchanged for any programmes and enterprises of social reform and amendment which at all ignore man’s sin and scarcely contemplate his immortality as a practical prospect in the matter. But let them take good heed to the criticism if it means that they have not diligently drawn social inferences out of personal salvation, perpetually reminding those who have believed that they are "saved to serve," and that out of that fact flows a whole life of social usefulness as the Redeemer’s will for His redeemed. Let them resolve, if need be, that if they have neglected this vast side of their work they will do so no more. And, if they would go the right way to work, let them, in a sense most particular and definite, "begin at Home." Make the Christian feel that the inmost and most heavenly truths of his wonderful personal salvation bear direct and full upon his life at home, upon his married character and conduct, and you will have taken a long step towards the leavening of all social relations, so far as that individual can in the least touch them, with the power of Christ. As we pass on, let us note in this portrait of a Christian married pair what may escape our notice as a distinctive trait. I mean, the simple injunction to the man to love his wife. Few of us, perhaps, realize how remote—at least how separable—from the pagan idea of marriage was the idea of love. There would be love of brother and sister, of parent and child; there would be the passion of lovers, alas how often quite apart from the restraints of the law of virtue. But marriage was essentially a matter of arrangement, contract, convention. It was a necessity of human society. It was the required antecedent to the succession of generations and the devolution of property. But it was not at all understood to involve love, before its consummation, or after, as a thing essential. In Hebrew life it is far otherwise; who does not remember Jacob and Rachel? And who has not observed that the teaching of the Old Testament leads directly up to the truth of the Heavenly Wedlock of Christ and His Church, by the long stream of appeal and prophecy about the Marriage of the Lord and His Israel, full of the thought of an eternal conjugal affection? But it needed the consummated revelation, the full truth, as it shines out in this Epistle, to bring home to a universal Christendom not only the mystical truth of the supreme Bridal, but also the hallowed and hallowing affections and tender duties of the married life of man and woman, here and now. But the Apostle has much yet to say about home. Necessarily, he has spoken first of its heads and leaders, because the whole tone of the circle, children and household, must so vitally depend upon what they are, each in his and her personal life, and both together in their life mutual and one. Nothing but a miracle of abnormal grace can make the home-company happy and holy when the Parents are not towards one another living the full Christian life. So not till that has been depicted does he say one word about children, or about servants. To them now it is time to come.

Ephesians 6:1. You children, obey, with the listening ear[1] of unhesitating attention, your Parents, mother as well as father, in the Lord; obeying thus, with a motive far above that of dread of penalty, or anything which severity can produce; it must be nothing less than the remembrance that you and your parents are alike "in the Lord," in covenant union with Christ, limbs of His Body, and so bound by supernatural relations to the willing, spiritual, acceptance of all true natural relations. Act thus, as the deep, steadfast, living law of conduct; for this is righteous. It is not beautiful only, or befitting; it is in the line of the holy Will and Law of God, alike in Nature and in Revelation. So speaks that Law, in its twelve-fold Edict of primary human duty.

Ephesians 6:2. ( Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16): Honour thy father and thy mother, with an "honour" not of emotion only but of practical allegiance; a commandment such that it is (ἥτιςἐστί) the first of the Ten attended by (ἐν) a promise, that

Ephesians 6:3. promise which thus runs, That it may prove well for thee; and thou shalt, thus behaving, be long-lived upon the earth; reaping, in the normal course of God’s benignant providence, human peace and permanence from loyalty to His first law of human order. For the promise, made to the national Israel in special reference to their "promised Land," was but a limited instance of a universal and perpetual principle, having its bearing not only upon Hebrew family life, or even upon only Christians, but upon mankind.[2] So St Paul lays his command, or rather his Lord’s, upon the younger members of the Christian Home. It seems superfluous to say much upon the weight and point of his words for our own time. "Disobedience to parents" is repeatedly named in the Bible as a symptom of formidable evil in human life, as in Romans 1:30, and 2 Timothy 3:2, where it stands as one of a black catalogue of developed evils. Is it too much to say of this, amongst other phenomena around us, that the Apostles, "noting down The features of the last degenerate times, Exhibit every lineament of these "?[3]
Is it not too true that in this respect, far and wide in our modern England, the mournful words are more fully verified than ever, "Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness "?[4]

Let no exaggerated word be said about it. There are still among us countless homes where sons and daughters not merely are "fond of" their parents, but inwardly reverence them, and actively "obey" their precepts, and also their example; homes whose children go out in due time to serve God in their own generation, and their elder friends say of them with joy that they are "treading in their fathers’ steps." And further, it would be unwisdom indeed to demand that home "obedience" should be a thing which should forbid and exclude the least development or modification of word or habit by which a younger generation can vary upon its predecessor. Never since human life began has such a mechanical repetition been quite possible, as it has never been desirable; certainly not since Christian human life began, with its inner principles of freedom and growth under divine law. But when all due recollections and allowances are made, it remains true that this command of filial obedience, the honouring loyalty of sons and daughters towards their parents as such, is at a very low ebb not only in the world at large but in what is called the Christian world as a whole. "Development" and "modification" of word and habit too often mean now a restive or a reckless indifference to the first elements of common attention and modest bearing towards God’s appointed leaders of young life. Affection itself too often takes the form rather of a premature and crude familiarity, as different as possible from the loving, cordial, but yet "honouring," freedom with which the child is meant to have "access with confidence" to the parent’s heart. The son or daughter, forgetting all that is tender and all that is noble in the filial state, is at once "as free "—as "free and easy"—in manner with father or mother as if the parent were a junior and less experienced acquaintance, and as strange to the parent’s real heart as if they had scarcely yet been introduced to one another.

I do not think that I am overstating the facts of many, very many cases, to be observed and lamented in even Christian family life today. How much we need then the Apostle’s firm, tender, deep-toned precept, which is but the echo of his blessed Master’s,[15] and which lays down a rule glorified, beatified, by the "subjection" of the Son of Mary in the home of Nazareth. When that Example is out of date, and not till then, shall we have outgrown the Law of Moses and of the Lamb, "Honour thy father and thy mother." He who set that Example through long years of home-duty knew that it was for the very life of human righteousness and happiness.

One further remark is suggested by the wording of this passage. The children of the Christian home are to "obey" "in the Lord." So it is assumed that they are, of course, "in the Lord.’ Here I observe that this cannot mean, if the teaching of the New Testament as a whole is remembered, that every child of such a home would be, as a fact, necessarily, in that spiritual and inward union with Christ which only personal holiness can evidence to others. But it does on the other hand remind us that there is a covenant connexion with the Lord which is to be taken as a fact in the case of every child of such a home, and to be made without reserve the ground of spiritual appeals, without waiting for evidence of heart-conversion to God. To me, this consideration has a plain bearing on the right of all children of the Church to the Baptism of the Covenant. But on this I do not dwell here.[6] I refer to the matter only to emphasize the Tightness of such appeals on Christian principle to our children as children of Christians; so that it be done with Christian common sense. But the Apostle has an all-important word for us parents in this matter.

Ephesians 6:4. And you fathers, fathers as the responsible leaders in home authority, though let not the mother’s inestimable rights and influence be forgotten,[7]do not irritate your children, by an exercise of your authority void, for one hour, of sympathy and of love, forgetful of the fact that you were children once, and should carry the child’s heart in you for ever. Never claim a right for yourself where you are not manifestly mindful of the sacred right of your son, your daughter, to your own unselfish affection. Your authority is not for your gratification, but for their good, entrusted for a season to your guardian hands. No, bring them up, "educate" them, "lead them out" and on, in the development of good into better, in the Lord’s discipline and admonition; using restraint, and using warning, but not what your own caprice dictates; it must all be "the Lord’s," learnt by you first in His school, and animated with His love. A brief but priceless word for the parent’s heart. It lays a fresh stress upon his responsibility, reminding him that he must do his duty in the guidance and the forewarning of his child; but that the spirit of self must be banished from the work if it is to be done indeed.[8] The Lord must take its place. But the home may contain other members, besides father, mother, son, and daughter. There will be the servants; what about them, and the mutual relation raised by their existence? Are they mere accidents of the life, "employes" machines for saving trouble, sometimes at the cost of giving a great deal of trouble on the other side, beings whose function is to do as much as they must, and who might preferably be automata if that could be? This is a conception of the matter absolutely non-Christian. In the principle of the Gospel, "neighbourhood," whatever be its place, involves "love," whatever be its proper exercise. The servant is very much a neighbour, above all when the service, as here, is domestic. The servant therefore is placed by the Gospel within the love-relations of the Christian home.

I need scarcely remind my reader that the "servant" here in immediate view is the δοῦλος, the bondservant, the slave. The Gospel found slavery in the world; and in many regions, particularly the Roman and the Greek, it was a very bad form of slavery. The Gospel began at once to undermine it, with its mighty principles of the equality of all souls in the mystery and dignity of manhood, and of the equal work of redeeming love wrought for all souls by the supreme Master. But its plan was—not to batter, but to undermine. It absolutely declined to patronize, still less to stimulate, political or social revolution[9]; its majestic method is that of social reform, generated from within man, by bringing him near to God in all his conditions and relations. So while the Gospel in one respect left slavery alone, it doomed it in another; and one of the fairest fruits of primeval Christianity, in the eyes of observers from outside,[10] was the brotherhood manifestly established between Christian masters and their slaves. That the present passage speaks distinctively of the slave, the bought, or born, or inherited, human "chattel," must not be forgotten. But it seems clear that not only is there a possible application and accommodation of the principles and precepts to the case of voluntary and contracting service, but that the application to such service is a fortiori. The servant, absolutely free to contract or not, has chosen to contract, and so far forth has accepted binding obligations; such obligations are at least as sacred to the Christian conscience as those due to a despotic necessity. The master on his side has contracted, under conditions which bring him, of his own will, at least as truly as if he were the buyer of the person who is to serve him, into "neighbourhood" with the servant. All then that is said here of fidelity and deference on the one side and considerateness on the other holds absolutely true, and with added force, when we pass in thought from slavery to free service.

Ephesians 6:5. Ye bondservants, who have found both liberty and Lord in Christ, obey your flesh-ward lords, those who own you in all that is not of the Spirit in your lives with fear and tremor, the deep, sacred anxiety of the will to fulfil duty in every relation before God, in your heart’s simplicity, the unaffected desire to do right for its own sake, or rather the Lord’s; as to our (τῷ) Christ; not in the

Ephesians 6:6. spirit of (κατά) eye-slavery, working only when watched, as man-pleasers, with no higher aim than to "curry" a fellow-creature’s favour for your own ends, but as Christ’s bondservants, His to own, to use, and to bless; doing the will of our (τοῦ) God, as it is expressed in each "next thing" of the daily duty which that thought sanctifies, from the soul, where the spring of holy, energetic goodwill to your neighbour, (that is, now, to your master,) rises and flows always; yes, with goodwill

Ephesians 6:7. doing bondservice, which thus becomes free service, as to the Lord,your Lord and true Master, and not to men, who are never now the ultimate objects of your obedience. Do this with a great hope to animate you, a power undreamt of in your life till you found

Ephesians 6:8. Christ; knowing, as a sure fact revealed, that each one, whatever good thing he may do, shall get that thing from the Lord, in the sense of getting the supreme reward which sovereign Love gives to serving love, in its "Well done, good and faithful; enter into the joy of thy Lord." Yes, this shall be the blissful lot of each disciple, so serving Him, whether bondservant or freeman.

Ephesians 6:9. And you lords, owners, holders, employers, remember your duties before you think of your rights; act upon your obligations to your servants, remembering their perfect spiritual equality with you; do the same things towards them, consult their good as you expect them to consult yours; dropping the threatening too lightly used, the harsh opposite to the brotherhood Christ has taught you; knowing, with the certainty of revelation, that the Lord of them and of you alike[11]is in heaven, presiding and observant, and respect of persons, the partiality which yields one iota of justice to place or power, does not exist (οὐκἔστι) with Him. So the Gospel leaves its message of absolutely equal obligation, in Jesus Christ, upon the slave and upon the slave-owner. The principle will do its work. There is no word of Revolution. There will therefore be no Reign of Terror. But silently and permanently will emerge a Liberty Fraternity Egalité, which has its deep secret in mutual human dutifulness rooted in the Truth of Christ.

^[1]Ὑπακούετε: notὑποτάσσεσθε, as above (Ephesians 5:22). So again,Ephesians 6:5, where the servant also is biddenὑπακούειν. We gather that both child and servant are to yield an obedience different in some respects from that of the wife; in her case equality and union give another quality to the "obedience."

^[2]It has been remarked that nowhere is family loyalty more universally honoured, at least in theory, than in China; that "long-lived" Empire, which seems to tend always to persist and survive, even under such shocks as the last few years have brought it.

^[3]Cowper, in the lofty closing passages ofThe Winter Walk at Noon.

^[4]Wordsworth, SonnetTo Milton(written 1802).

^[5]See theCorbanpassage,Mark 7:10-13.

^[6]I may refer to a brief treatment of the subject inEnglish Church Teaching(p.109).

^[7]Πατέρεςis used ofboth parents(of Moses),Hebrews 11:23.

^[8]I seize the opportunity to refer to an admirable chapter in Dr A. Whyte’sBunyan Characters,in which the fine passage inPilgrim’s Progresswhere Charity questions Christian about his dealings with his family is developed with great depth and force. For parents who would fain do their whole duty to their sons and daughters the suggestions are invaluable.

^[9]See Lightfoot’sIntroductionto the Epistle to Philemon (and I may refer to my own, in theCambridge Bible,and inColossian Studies).See also a masterly tractate by Mr Goldwin Smith (1863),Does the Bible sanction American Slavery?

"The great Gospel doctrine of the believer’s "slavery" to his Master, Christ,... would inevitably tend to a peculiar mutualrapprochementbetween Christian masters and slaves,... and would do infinitely more for the abolition of slavery than any ’servile war.’... With impartial hands it... sanctifies subordination to constitutional authority... and meanwhile ennobles the individual, in respect of all that is highest in the word liberty, by putting him into direct... relations with God." (Note in theCambridge Bible.) ^[10]See theApology of Aristides,about a.d. 130.

^[11]Read,αὐτῶν καὶ ὑμῶν.