In this chapter, the apostle addresses the issue of our family relationships in Christ Jesus: 1. Marital commandments: First: The woman’s submission to man:v. 1-2 Second: Taking heed of our conduct: v. 3-6 Third: The relation of husband and wife:v. 7-8 2. The relation of the Christian to those who trouble him: v. 9- 22. 1. MARITAL COMMANDMENTS First: The woman’s submission to man: “Likewise, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, that even, if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear” (v.1 & 2). The Roman Law allowed a man to have authority over his wife and children as he did over slaves and animals. Thus, women had no rights at all, which caused some to flee. However, when Christianity came calling for love, some thought that Christianity urges women to rebel against their husbands. Therefore, the church directed these clear commandments to women, which instructs them to submit to their husbands. St. Peter asks the women to submit to their husbands even if they do not obey the word. The husbands hear the practical word through the pure conduct of their wives, which is full of righteousness 58 and fear of God. It is not appropriate for her to teach her husband, because he is her head, yet she can win him to the Lord by her submission and good behavior. St. John Chrysostom said: “Through the obedience of the wife to her husband, he becomes meek toward her... Through love, all attack is abolished; if he is atheist, he will accept the faith, and if he is Christian, he will become a better Christian51.” Submission is not due to fear but rather it is submission in the Lord (Col. 3:18), for she submits because the church submits to her Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus (Eph. 5:24). St. Clement of Alexandria said52: “It is written in the Holy Bible that the Lord gave man the woman to help him. She can help her husband and relieve all his burdens through her service and her good conduct and ability. If he is not influenced by her good behavior, then she does all what she can to live a pure life, trusting that God is her helper and her Savior in this life and the life to come. Let her take God to be her Guide in all her undertakings, doing righteousness and looking at God’s blessings as her goal.” St. Paul addresses Titus in his epistle saying: “The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” (Tit. 2:3- 5) Second: Taking Heed to Good Conduct: “Do not let your beauty be that outward adorning of arranging the hair, of wearing gold, or of putting on fine apparel; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very special in 51 “Brotherly Love”: Attributes of loving husbands, p. 258, 260. 52 Stromata, 4 : 20. 59 the sight of God” (v.3 & 4). This part is read in the 60 liturgies of the departed virgins; the church wants to direct everyone to be adorned for her Groom with the inner ornamentation. The soul of the believer is adorned for her Bridegroom, but “the adulterous woman was arrayed with purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication” (Rev. 17:4). Let the women be adorned for their husbands, but they should know that what appeals to their husbands is not their outer adorning but their inner adorning. This is also what attracts the heart of Christ, for He said, “Behold, you are fair my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes” (Song of Sol. 1:15). St. John Chrysostom said: “Do you want to be beautiful? Be clothed with giving alms, put on compassion, be filled with chastity, avoid being pride. All these are more honorable than gold and make the ugly look beautiful. O woman, when you exaggerate in adorning yourself, you become worse than a naked woman, for you have taken off the beauty of your countenance. If you put on a royal robe, would you put on it a robe of slaves? You have put on the Lord of the angels, how can you go back to the earthly matters? To whom are you adorning yourself? Is it to please your husband? Then, do it at home! 53” St. Clement of Alexandria said: “The true adorning of a woman is not the outer one where others do it for her, but rather the inner adorning for which she struggles. The work of her hands grants her special beauty. Thus she adorns herself with her efforts. She weaves with her hands; for the one who is formed on God’s image cannot adorn herself with improper things from the market54.” “For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose 53 Summarized from “Brotherly Love” , p. 262. 54 Instructor 3 : 11. 61 daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror” (v.5 & 6). St. Peter gives Sarah, Abraham’s wife, as an example for she was 62 adorned with: 1. Her reliance on God; therefore, she heeds to please God, not men. 2. Her submission to her husband, for she calls him “my lord” in love. 3. Her good deeds, that is her diligence in the salvation of her soul and caring for her home. 4. Her feeling of no fear at all for she submits; this is not due to the fear of a slave, but to marital love. Third: The Relation of Man to his Wife: “Likewise, you husbands, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered” (v.7). St. Peter puts great responsibility on men to treat their wives wisely. St. Clement of Rome said: “Let us direct our wives to what is good, so that they may reveal pure personalities which we admire, showing true humility55.” St. Peter enumerated the causes, which drive the man to honor his wife: 1. They are weaker vessels who need compassion in order not to perish. 2. They are members in the body, and the head is not holy unless the members are holy. 3. They are heirs with us in the eternal inheritance, without any partiality between man and woman. 4. To keep the peace of the heart and home, thus our prayers may be mingled with love and one spirit, without wrath and doubting. (I Tim. 2:8) After concluding about family relations, St. Peter said: “Finally, all of you, be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous” (v.8). In the end, the purpose of all these commandments is to have one mind; this is true not only for those who are married, but for everyone (Phil. 55 Letters of St. Clement of Rom, p. 6. 63 1:27), and to have one heart toward one another, full of 64 brotherly love, compassion, and gentleness (Phil. 2:3). The Lord Jesus requested this unity in His farewell prayer (John 17:21) and commanded us to rejoice with the joyful and to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). “Courteous”, in the Greek, means humility before God. The Romans believed that courtesy was the opposite of courage. 2. THE RELATION OF THE CHRISTIAN WITH HIS PERSECUTOR: It is very hard for someone to love the one who persecutes him, but in Christ Jesus, it is easy for the following reasons: 1. As heirs to the blessing, we should not say anything except for blessing: “Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing” (v.9). This is our call, to inherit a blessing. Therefore, it is not appropriate to utter anything except for blessing, and we should not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21). Hence, it is not hard for us to obey God’s commandment: “Bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). 2. To practice tasting peace here: “For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it” (v. 10 & 11). This is another incentive that we are heading toward the eternity of peace. Thus, we train ourselves while on earth, as if in school, for the life of peace in which we will live with the King of peace. Thus, when we love eternity and to see good days, the deposit of the life to come, we have to: 1.Refrain our tongues from evil, as a servant who fears his master. 65 2. Do good as an employee who waits for the reward. 3. Seek peace and pursue it, not due to fear or for the reward, but as sons of the King of peace, who do not want except to taste peace! St. Dorotheos said56: “David, the psalmist, expressed this sequence by saying: ‘Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it’ (Ps. 34:14). Depart from evil, that is, avoid evil completely. Escape from any act which leads you to sin. However, the prophet did not stop at that but continued, ‘and do good’, for sometimes one does not do evil but in the same time does not do good. David continued, ‘Seek peace and pursue it’, that is, you have to struggle to obtain it. Reflect on this verse, for when one refrains from evil, and when he struggles to do good, he can become an object for the enemy’s attack, therefore he has to labor, and strife, once as a servant who, from fear refrains from evil, and another as an employee who seeks the reward for his doing good. When he accepts God’s help in doing good, he finds comfort in doing good and tastes peace. He experiences the struggling battle and the meaning of the joyful peace and happiness, thus he seeks peace and struggles with persistence.” St. Augustine said: “We will reach the true peace when our nature cleaves to its Creator, thus we have no inner conflict57.” Thus, by refraining from evil and doing good, we attain peace, and this is our exercise here on earth. 3. To Please God: “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and their ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (v.12). The apostle does not mean that the Lord does not look at evildoers or listen to their prayers; instead, he means that He does not answer them. The goal of the believer is to please God; therefore, he overcomes evil by 56 Philokalia p. 166–168. 57 Chastity by St. Augustine, p. 38. 66 good and 67 loves those who trouble him, as long as this pleases the Lord. 4. No one can harm him: When the believer realizes that no one can harm him, not even the worst circumstances can harm him, unless he harms himself by forsaking doing good. Thus, he is not afraid even from the one who wants to kill him, for he is certain that he cannot be prevented from doing good. The more his sufferings abound, the greater his crown will be. “Who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed” (v.13 & 14). St. John Chrysostom wrote a book called, “No one can harm one’s self unless he harms himself58.” He clarified that neither devils, nor oppression, nor sickness, nor death, nor poverty can harm anyone unless that person harms himself by doing evil. On the contrary, we see that sufferings have blessed Job, that poverty has benefited Lazarus and that the rain and the winds have assured the steadfastness of the house on the rock (Matt. 7:24). The envious person does not harm the one he envies, but rather he harms himself. The oppressor kills himself and does not harm the one whom he oppresses. Thus, sufferings do not produce harm, but rather blessing to the one who endures them for the sake of righteousness. 5. To give an opportunity for preaching: “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (v.14 & 15). St. Peter excerpted this verse from Isaiah the prophet (Is. 8:12,13). St. Peter asks the believer not to fear those who trouble him, nor be annoyed by them. The motive behind this is the sanctification of the Lord in our hearts. Because whoever sanctifies the Lord in his heart, does not fear men but God, and whoever fears God, not men, sanctifies God in his heart. This is the best proof of the truth in the believers’ preaching and is 58 This book was translated and printed under the name of “Who can harm you?” 68 a practical testimony to the Lord, and it is a true answer to whoever asks him about the reason for the hope that is in him, enduring hardships in meekness and the fear 69 of God. Thus, others smell the pleasant aroma of Christ in the good conduct of the believer when they unjustly accuse him, but he endures with a clear conscience without any desire for revenge, but rather in love for the salvation of all. “Having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed” (v.16). Festos and Agrippa witnessed about St. Paul. “This man is doing nothing worthy of death or chains” (Acts 26:31).The more Christians were persecuted, the more people were drawn to Christianity because of Christians enduring with joy and thanksgiving. St. Justinus said: “You can see very clearly that when they behead us or crucify us or throw us to the lions or in fire or any other suffering, we do not forsake our faith, but the more we endure, the more Christians are added to the faith in the Lord Jesus59.” 6. Following the example of the Lord Jesus: “For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit” (v.17 & 18). The Christian trains himself on the life of endurance and loving those who trouble him, from the life of the Lord Jesus who suffered and endured. Through the Lord Jesus and from Him, one obtains inner power to accept suffering with thanksgiving. According to logic, when one suffers for a transgression that he committed, he feels that he deserves that suffering. But the mind of the Lord Jesus, the concept of the divine love, requires that we rejoice when we unjustly suffer, for it stems from love and this works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17). When the Lord suffered once in the flesh, He endured the wages of our sins in His flesh. This is the suffering in love which drove Him to accept the death of the flesh. However, since He was living in the Spirit, His Spirit did not taste death. The Lord died in the flesh, His soul separated from the flesh, but His divinity did not separate from His humanity nor from His 59 Book of “Army of God” , Morcos Magazine. 70 soul! 71 “By whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water” (v.19 & 20). When the Lord died in the flesh, His soul was separated from His flesh, but His divinity was not separated from His flesh nor from His soul. The soul departed to Hades to preach those who had died in the hope of the resurrection, for Satan has no power over them. St. Ambrose said: “It is obvious that the Lord Jesus did not fall under the power of darkness but rather He abolished its dominion, preaching even to the dead in Hades to liberate them60.” But who are the ones to whom He preached? There are many explanations: A. The opinion of St. Athanasius, St. Cyril, and St. Jerome: After the Lord’s death in the flesh, He descended into Hades and preached to those who did not believe Noah when he was warning them about the flood, but when some saw the rain pouring, they repented and asked for mercy. B. The opinion of St. Augustine: The Lord Jesus, with His Holy Spirit, preached the people, through Noah, and warned them of the flood, so they may repent, but they did not believe. By saying “in the prison”, he means the spirits who were in the flesh. Only eight, Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives were saved through this preaching. C. The opinion of Tertullian61: The number eight was to show that the creation started with Adam and Eve, a man with only one wife, and also, the new world, after the flood, Noah and his sons, each having one wife. D. The opinion of Fr. Hippolytus62: “He arranged everything on earth; therefore, He became man to restore to us our image through Himself, also He arranged everything under the earth for He was 60 The Christian Faith 3 : 4 : 28. 61 On monogamy 4. 62 A. N. Fra V. 5 P. 209. 72 numbered with the dead preaching the Gospel to the souls of the 73 saints who died on the hope of the resurrection. Through death, He conquered death.” E. The opinion of St. Irenaeus63: After mentioning the people who sinned in the Old Testament, he said that the Lord descended to the deep earth proclaiming His ascension, declaring the forgiveness of sins to those who believe in Him. All those who believed in Him, hoped in Him and declared His coming and submitted to His blessings, that is, all the prophets, the fathers, He forgave them their sins, in as much as He forgave us. F. The opinion of St. Clement of Alexandria64: He relied on what Job said in ch.28:24, that He looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heavens. He descended and preached not only to those who hoped in His salvation, but to the Gentiles, who in their ignorance, lived righteously according to their law. After mentioning Noah’s ark as a symbol for baptism65, he began talking about the effect of baptism. “There is also an anti type which now saves us, namely baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (v. 21). St. Augustine said: “The Christians of Carthage give a perfect name to baptism which is ‘Salvation’, and the mystery of the Body of Christ is ‘Life’. They excerpted this from the first apostolic tradition where the early churches depended on them as foundation, for without baptism and partaking in the Lord’s Supper, one cannot obtain the kingdom of God and the salvation and the eternal life66.” The Holy Bible witnessed to that... Does baptism, an expression of salvation, differ from what is written? “... He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5). Hermas67 saw in one of his visions the victorious church built as a tower on the water. When asked the reason it was built on water, he 63 Irenaeus against heresies 4 : 27 : 2. 64 The Stromato 6: 6. 65 Sayings of St. Ambrosios p. 17. 66 On Forgiveness of sins and Baptism 1 : 34 67 The Shephard: Book 1 Vision 3 74 said: “the 75 tower is built on water because your lives will be saved through water.” Baptism does not only wash the dirt from the flesh, but also grants a pure conscience by the power of the resurrection of the Lord, whereby we are buried with Christ and rise again. For this reason, the church used to baptize the catechumens the Sunday before Easter, called “Baptismal Sunday.” Therefore, it is appropriate not only to obtain the capability of the life of holiness in the sacrament of baptism, but also we have to abide with a clear conscience for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus68. St. Basil the Great69 talked about the effect of baptism when He answered the question: Why should baptism be through immersion in water? He said: “In baptism, there is purification of the soul from dirty, carnal thoughts, as it is written, ‘You shall wash me and I shall be whiter than snow’”(Ps. 51:9).Therefore, we do not wash ourselves after each transgression, as the Jews used to do; instead, we have only one baptism(Eph. 4:5), for in baptism death is carried away once. The resurrection from the dead occurs only once. For this reason, the Lord granted us the “covenant of baptism” and in it the nature of life and death. Being submersed in the water is a symbol of death, and the Holy Spirit (at the same time) grants lifeThis answers the question: Why was the water related to the spirit (John 3:5)? In baptism, we achieve two goals: The First: is to purify the flesh of sin (Rom. 6:6) so it may not carry the fruits of death (Rom. 7:5). The Second: is for our life in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), so we may have fruits for holiness. The water receiving the body is like a tomb carrying death, but the spirit overflows with reviving power renewing our spirits from the death of sin from our first life. This is what he means by being born of water and spirit. Through baptism, we are baptized to the death of Christ and His resurrection. Therefore, we accept sufferings joyfully even to the point of death, abiding in the Crucified Lord, and waiting to have an inheritance with Him in the eternal glories. 68 St. Augustine refuting Festus 19 69 On the Holy Spirit 35 76 “Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him” (v.22). After the Lord passed through the cross, He 77 ascended to the right hand of the Father. We notice here that the word “right” does not mean the direction right, for the Father has no right nor left; instead, it is merely an expression, in human terms, so we may understand the greatness of the Son. The Lord went to His throne in heaven. He was not separate from His divinity even while His Incarnation. All the angels, authorities, and all the heavenly hosts worship Him and glorify Him. In His ascension, in which He carried the flesh, He declares the victory of the human race, in His Person, and their return to heaven to inherit that which sin had deprived them. Therefore, He says, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21).
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