What does Colossians 3:18-25 mean?

Colossians 3:18 Direct teaching

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Colossians 3:19 Direct teaching

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

... written in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church; and He is the Savior of the body. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church. So men also ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man has ever yet hated his own flesh.” Ephesians 5:21-29. And in the Epistle to the Colossians it is said, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged. Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh. Do not serve only when watched, like people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. And whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as serving the Lord and not men. For you know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Ephesians 5:21-29 And in that to the Colossians it is said, Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

Ye husbands, love your wives; and ye wives, your husbands.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

Let husbands love their wives, remembering that, at creation, one woman, and not many, was given to one man. Let wives honor their husbands, as their own flesh, and let them not presume to address them by their names. Let them also be chaste, considering their husbands as their only partners, to whom they have been united according to the will of God. You parents, provide a holy training to your children. You children, "honor your parents, that it may be well with you."

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

You wives, be subject to your own husbands. Esteem them, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honored Abraham. For she would not bear to call him by his name, but called him lord when she said, "My lord is old." In the same way, you husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life and fellow helpers in the bearing of children. For He says, "Rejoice with the wife of your youth. Let her way of life be to you like a loving deer and a pleasant foal. Let her alone lead you, and be with you at all times. For if you are in every way surrounded by her friendship, you will be happy in her company." Love them, therefore, as your own members, as your very bodies. For so it is written: "The Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, and she is your partner, and another has not made her, and she is the remnant of your spirit." And, "Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of your youth." Therefore, when a husband and wife come together in lawful marriage and then rise from one another, they may pray without any special observances, and they are clean without washing. But whoever corrupts and defiles another man's wife, or is defile

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

XXIX. You wives, be subject to your own husbands, and have them in esteem, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honoured Abraham.

Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Background

Submit your head to your husbands, and you will be enough adorned.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background

How wives ought to be subject to their own husbands, and husbands ought to love their own wives.

Cyprian, Epistles Background

for, behold your reward is great in heaven.1

Colossians 3:20 Direct teaching

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version) Supporting witness

Children, obey your parents, and have an affection for them, as workers together with God for your birth [into the world].

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

...simple and sincere for a while longer. For this is holy, not only with God but also among men: that children should obey their parents with simplicity and without deceit. But if it is right for children to be subject to their parents, how much more should they be subject to the God and Father of all things? Besides, it is not fitting for children in infancy to be wise beyond their years. For just as a person grows in height by an orderly process, so also he grows in wisdom. And when a law commands a person to keep away from something, and he does not obey, clearly it is not the law that causes punishment, but the disobedience and transgression. For a father sometimes orders his own child to keep away from certain things, and when the child does not obey his father's command, he is beaten and punished because of the disobedience. In that case, the things themselves are not the cause of the blows, but the disobedience brings punishment on the one who disobeys. In the same way, for the first man, disobedience brought about his expulsion from Paradise. Therefore, it was not as if there were any evil in the tree of knowledge. Rather, from his disobedience man drew, as from a fountain

Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians Supporting witness

...o the elders among you. You instructed young men to be of a sober and serious mind; you taught your wives to do all things with a blameless, becoming, and pure conscience, loving their husbands as was their duty; and you taught them that, living by the rule of obedience, they should manage their household affairs properly, and be marked by discretion in every respect.

Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Supporting witness

But God is not angry with you because of this. He is angry so that you may turn your household back, because they have committed sin against the Lord and against you, their parents. And although you love your sons, you did not warn your household, but allowed them to become terribly corrupted. For this reason the Lord is angry with you. But He will heal all the evils that have been done in your house. Because of their sins and lawless acts, you have been ruined by the affairs of this world. But now the mercy of the Lord has had pity on you and your house, and will strengthen you and establish you in His glory. Only do not be careless, but be courageous and comfort your household. For just as a blacksmith hammers out his work and finishes whatever he wants, so also righteous speech spoken daily will overcome all iniquity. Therefore, do not stop admonishing your sons. For I know that if they repent with all their heart, they will be enrolled in the Books of Life with the saints. When she had finished these words, she said to me, "Do you wish to hear me read?" I said to her, "Lady, I do." "Then listen, and pay attention to the glories of God." And then I heard from her things spoken m

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Background

For this is holy, not only with God, but also with men, that in simplicity and guilelessness subjection be yielded to parents.

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Background

Ephesians 6:4 You shall not enjoin anything in your bitterness upon your bondman or maidservant, who hope in the same God, lest ever they shall fear not God who is over both;

Unknown, Unknown Work Background

Children, be obedient to your parents. Parents, provoke not your children to wrath;

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background

You fathers, raise your children in the Lord, bringing them up with the Lord’s discipline and instruction. Teach them trades that fit and agree with the word, so that they do not become wasteful through idleness, go on without punishment from their parents, get freedom before their time, and stray from what is good. Therefore, do not be afraid to correct them and to teach them wisdom with firmness. For your correction will not kill them, but will rather preserve them. For Solomon says somewhere in the book of Wisdom, “Correct your son, and he will give you rest; so you will have good hope for him.” “You shall indeed strike him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death.” And again the same Solomon says, “He who spares his rod hates his son”; and afterward, “Strike his sides while he is an infant, lest he become stubborn and disobey you.” Therefore, he who neglects to admonish and instruct his own son hates his own child. You should therefore teach your children the word of the Lord. Bring them into subjection with sharp stripes, and make them obedient from infancy, teaching them the Holy Scriptures, which are Christian and divine, and handing on to them every sacred writin

Colossians 3:22 Direct teaching

Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Colossians 4:1 Direct teaching

Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Supporting witness

...nt, who hope in the same God, lest they should no longer fear God, who is over both. Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1 For he comes not to call according to outward appearance, but to those whom the Spirit has prepared. And you bondmen shall be subject to your masters as to a type of God, in modesty and fear. Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22 You shall hate all hypocrisy and everything that is not pleasing to the Lord. In no way forsake the commandments of the Lord, but keep what you have received, neither adding to it nor taking away from it. Deuteronomy 12:32 In the church you shall acknowledge your transgressions, and you shall not come near for your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life.

Didache, Connection to Colossians 3:22 Supporting witness

And ye bondmen shall be subject to your masters as to a type of God, in modesty and fear.

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Supporting witness

And you bondmen shall be subject to your masters as to a type of God, in modesty and fear.

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Supporting witness

Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22 You shall hate all hypocrisy and everything which is not pleasing to the Lord.

Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Epistle Supporting witness

since they also, the masters, are the servants of God, and the fellow-servants of their own domestics.

Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Epistle Supporting witness

... give in completely, and because they forced their fellow-servants to offer sacrifice. They did not obey the apostle's command to stop threatening their servants, since the masters themselves are also servants of God and fellow-servants with their own household servants. They were quick to save their own lives, and they drove their fellow-servants, who might have escaped, into idolatry.

Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Epistle Supporting witness

...emed to agree to it, and because they forced their fellow servants to offer sacrifice. They did not obey the apostle, who told them to stop threatening their servants, since the masters themselves are servants of God and fellow servants with their own household servants. Then they hurried to save their own lives, and drove their fellow servants into idolatry, even though those servants might have escaped.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

Husbands, love your wives; and wives, your husbands. Children, respect your parents. Parents, raise your children with the nurture and instruction of the Lord. Honor those who remain in virginity, as the priestesses of Christ; and the widows who maintain seriousness in behavior, as the altar of God. Servants, serve your masters with respectful fear. Masters, give orders to your servants with kindness. Let no one among you be idle; for idleness leads to need. I do not command these things as a person of any importance, though I am in bonds for Christ; but as a brother, I remind you of them. The Lord be with you!

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background

How Masters Ought to Behave Themselves to Their Servants, and How Servants Ought to Be Subject.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Background

Ye masters, issue orders to your servants with tenderness.

Colossians 3:24 Direct teaching

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

So it happens that in this life there is no reward for virtue, because virtue itself is still present. For just as, when vices are fully carried out, pleasure and their rewards follow, so also, when virtue is finished, its reward follows. But virtue is never finished except by death, since its highest duty is in undergoing death. Therefore, the reward of virtue comes after death. In fact, Cicero, in his Tusculan Disputations, saw this, though with doubt: that the highest good does not come to man except after death. "A man," he says, "will go with a confident spirit, if circumstances so happen, to death, in which we have found that there is either the highest good or no evil." Death, therefore, does not destroy man, but brings him to the reward of virtue. But the man who has defiled himself, as the same writer says, with vices and crimes, and has been a slave to pleasure, he truly, when condemned, will suffer eternal punishment. The sacred writings call this the second death, which is both eternal and full of the most severe torments. For just as two lives are set before man, one belonging to the soul and the other to the body, so also two deaths are set before him: one relating to

Clement of Rome, Second Epistle (attributed) Supporting witness

For He is faithful who has promised that He will bestow on every one a reward according to his works.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

But call the lame, the blind, and the poor, and thou shall be blessed, since they cannot recompense thee, but a recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just.” And again He says, “Whosoever shall have left lands, or houses, or parents, or brethren, or children because of Me, he shall receive in this world an hundred-fold, and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life.” For what are the hundred-fold [rewards] in this word, the entertainments given to the poor, and the suppers for which a return is made?

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

May God behold this our eager desire; may the Lord Christ look upon this purpose of our mind and faith, He who will give the larger rewards of His glory to those whose desires in respect of Himself were greater!

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

for, behold, your reward is great in heaven.

Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness

and then shall he reward each man according to his works.

Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians Supporting witness

...wledge, "who, being the brightness of His majesty, is so much greater than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." For it is written, "He makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." But concerning His Son the Lord spoke thus: "You are my Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession." And again He says to Him, "Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool." But who are His enemies? All the wicked, and those who set themselves to oppose the will of God.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Background

which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: “And thou shall be confident in the , and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father.” This is what the Lord declared: “Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching.