is the quotation from Genesis 2.

`Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh', is the comment of the

Lord Himself.  But, says the apostle, granting the sanctity and the mystery of

marriage under the thought of `one flesh', the great mystery I have in mind

is that union with the Lord which makes `one spirit'.  Nevertheless, turning

back to the typical union of man and wife he continues:

`Nevertheless let each one of you individually so love his wife as

himself: and the wife see that she reverence her husband' (Eph. 5:33

author's translation).

We have not felt called upon to enter into a detailed examination of the

idea that the church of the Body is also the Bride, not wishing to spend time

disproving an obvious failure to discern things that differ.  If, however, we

have misjudged our readers and there are those who have misgivings on this

point, we draw attention to our booklet The Bride and the Body.

`Children, obey your parents in the Lord' (Eph. 6:1).

How are we to understand the clause `in the Lord'?  Does it imply

disobedience to parents if they are not `in the Lord'?  Does it mean only obey

your parents in those things that you recognize are `in the Lord'?  The first

suggestion seems to be quite apart from the spirit of the Scriptures, the second

presupposes too advanced a stage of spiritual perception.  Colossians 3:20

supplies an answer:

`Children, obey your parents with respect to all things: for this is

wellpleasing to the Lord' (Author's translation).

While the children here addressed would probably be connected with the

church (for otherwise they would not hear this passage read at all), they are

not placed upon so high a platform as that of husband and wife.  The first

reason given for their obedience in Ephesians 6:1 is the primitive one, `for it

is right'.

In the training of our children, while grace and love and even an appeal

to their profession of faith are all legitimate, there is a sense in which it

differs from that of the more adult believer.  Not only is such obedience

`right', but the apostle even goes back to the fifth commandment, adding as a

note of encouragement that it is the first commandment with promise.

We are not to reason from this that an obedient child of parents who are

members of the Body is assured a long life on the earth, but to gather from the

quotation the marked approval of the Lord upon the obedience of children to

parents, even though the promise now may be expressed in some other way than

`long life upon the earth'.  On the other hand it is morally certain that seeds

sown in childhood by disobedience, materially influence their well-being in

after years.  As we have already indicated, children and slaves are addressed

differently from wives, and this may be the better seen by noticing the

recurring features: