Verse 17 finally sums up the preceding verses, embracing every aspect of life and

practically expressing the sovereignty of Christ not only in the so-called `sacred', but also

in the secular.

To do this means to live and act as those who are indwelt by the Lord Jesus and

entirely under His control as Head, and such obedience will not be merely a dry duty, but

a joyous expression of thankfulness to Him. The injunctions that follow cover in a

shorter form the same ground as Eph. 5: 22 - 6: 9 and they touch all aspects of the home

and business life.  The phrase `in the Lord' shows that, for the believer human

relationships must be considered from the basic relationship to Christ. The practical

attitude of the husband to the wife and the wife to the husband should reflect the original

design of the Creator, both realizing that the part they play is an illustration of Christ

Himself and the church which is His Body. There is then no question of one being

inferior or superior to the other, but rather there will be harmony, lasting happiness and

fruitfulness in Christian witness together when this is put into practice.

There is a complementary responsibility of parents and children. The latter are to be

obedient and if parents do not wisely and lovingly discipline children to this end, how are

the children ever to learn what obedience to God means? So many children today are

totally ignorant of the meaning of this word and therefore one does not wonder at the

terrible increase in lawlessness that we see all over the world.

On the other hand, parents are exhorted not to irritate or discourage their children.

God's Word is not one-sided, and sometimes difficult children are the product of unwise

treatment by parents. There is a longer section given to the relationship of masters and

slaves, possibly because slavery was part of the social structure of the time.  The

companion epistle to Philemon clearly shows the practical duties of these two classes in

the Christian fellowship. The Christian slave or the Christian employer had to remember

that they were both servants of a heavenly Master and were fully answerable to Him Who

will deal with both with impartial fairness. "Whatsoever good thing done is recognized

by Him for commendation and reward, whereas `wrong' is equally dealt with by the

`righteous Judge', for with Him there is no respect of persons". The O.T. likewise

required similar impartiality: "thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour

the person of the mighty" (Lev. 19: 15) in lawsuits. The extremely important doctrine of

reward or loss for the service of the believer is here touched upon and is dealt with more

fully in other Pauline epistles such as I Corinthians, Philippians and II Timothy.