Colossians 3:18
in Colossians 3Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
KJV
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
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This verse in Colossians 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verseI have taught fathers to teach their children instruction in the fear of the Lord, children to obey their parents in wholesome admonition; I have taught wives to love their own husbands, and to fear them as masters, and husbands to observe fidelity to their wives; I have taught masters to treat their slaves with clemency, and slaves to serve their own masters faithfully; I have taught the churches of the believers to reverence one almighty, invisible, and incomprehensible God.
This site's exposition
Wives, submit to your husbands
on Colossians 3:18-19
The household code opens with wives and husbands as at Ephesians 5:22 to 25, and as is fitting in the Lord places the instruction inside Christ's own rule. The command Husbands, love your wives answers with its own demand, and do not be harsh with them names the failure a husband is warned against, a harshness that turns headship into harm.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
That is, be subject for God's sake, because this adorneth you, he saith, not them. For I mean not that subjection which is due to a master, nor yet that alone which is of nature, but that for God's sake.
A commentator
Augustine of HippoOn Marriage and Concupiscence, Book 1 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
For on natural principles it is more feasible for one to have dominion over many, than for many to have dominion over one. Nor can it be doubted, that it is more consonant with the order of nature that men should bear rule over women, than women over men. It is with this principle in view that the apostle says, "The head of the woman is the man;" and, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands." So also the Apostle Peter writes: "Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord."
The Medieval Church2 voices
Having given a general direction to all, Paul now begins to give particular directions. First, he gives special directions which relate to the various states found in the Church; secondly, certain directions which apply to all states in certain conditions (4:2). There are three special …
Why does Paul command this not in all epistles, but in this one and also in the epistles to the Ephesians, to Timothy, and to Titus? Probably because in these cities there were disagreements of this kind. Or because the Church here was firm, and …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands,.... The apostle proceeds from those duties which related to them as church members one towards another, for their mutual good and edification, and the glory of God, to such as concerned them in their own houses and families, as in a natural relation to each other; as husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants; showing hereby, that the Gospel does not at all break in upon, but establishes the duties of common and civil life. Concerning the duty wives to their husbands, here exhorted to; see Gill on Eph 5:
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And this is fit in the Lord, it is becoming the relation, and what they are bound in duty to do, as an instance of obedience to the authority and law of Christ.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. The apostle, having described our privileges by Christ in the former part of the epistle, and our discharge from the yoke of the ceremonial law, comes here to press upon us our duty as inferred thence.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:30w-of-66
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
unto your own husbands--The oldest manuscripts omit "own," which crept in from Eph 5:22. as it is fit in the Lord--Greek, "was fit," implying that there was at Colosse some degree of failure in fulfilling this duty, "as it was your duty to have done as disciples of the Lord."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Wives, submit yourselves - Having done with general directions, the apostle comes to particular duties, which are commonly called relative; because they only belong to persons in certain situations; and are not incumbent on all. No woman has the duty of a wife to perform but she who is one, and no man has the duty of a husband to perform but he who is married.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wives, submit yourselves ... - Notes on the parallel passage in Eph 5:21-24.
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Αἱ | hai | you who [are] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γυναῖκες, | gunaikes | wives, | G1135 → | |
| ὑποτάσσεσθε | hupotassesthe | do be submitted | G5293 → | |
| τοῖς | tois | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀνδράσιν | andrasin | husbands | G435 → | |
| ὡς | hos | as | G5613 → | 500 times |
| ἀνῆκεν | aneken | was fitting | G433 → | |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| κυρίῳ.¶ | kurio | [the] Lord. | G2962 → | 711 times |
Αἱyou who [are]
haiG3588 →19766 times
γυναῖκες,wives,
gunaikesG1135 →
ὑποτάσσεσθεdo be submitted
hupotassestheG5293 →
τοῖς<the>
toisG3588 →19766 times
ἀνδράσινhusbands
andrasinG435 →
ὡςas
hosG5613 →500 times
ἀνῆκενwas fitting
anekenG433 →
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
κυρίῳ.¶[the] Lord.
kurioG2962 →711 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 3:16To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
it leads to
- Titus 2:5
to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 5:22–24
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- 1 Timothy 2:15
Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
- Titus 2:5
Through
Ephesians 5:22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
it leads to
- Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Peter 3:1–6
Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives
- Esther 1:20
The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”
- Genesis 3:16
Through
1 Corinthians 11:3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
it leads to
- Colossians 1:18
And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
- Colossians 1:18
Where this verse is studied
About Colossians
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Apostolic Constitutions, Acts of Peter and Paul; Augustine of Hippo, On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book 1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Colossians 10; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Colossians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Colossians.