The definitive Puritan manual on the Christian household — a comprehensive, balanced treatment of the duties husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and servants owe to one another.
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Domestic Duties is William Gouge's comprehensive treatment of the relationships and responsibilities within the Christian household — between husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants. First published in 1622 and based on his preaching at Blackfriars in London, it became the standard Puritan manual on family life and household governance, going through multiple editions during Gouge's lifetime.
Beginning with an extended exposition of Ephesians 5:21–6:9, Gouge establishes the theological foundation for all domestic relationships: mutual submission rooted in the fear of God. He then works through each relationship with exhaustive detail, describing not only the duties each party owes the other but also the corresponding vices and departures from those duties. His treatment is remarkably balanced — he insists that the duties of authority are just as binding as the duties of submission, and that husbands who press their wives' obligations while neglecting their own violate the Apostle's rule.
What makes Gouge's work endure is his combination of theological depth with unflinching practical application. He draws from Scripture, observation of real households, and pastoral experience to address situations that other writers of his era passed over in silence. His opening dedicatory epistle, in which he defends himself against the charge of being 'a hater of women,' reveals how seriously his congregation took his teaching. This modernized edition preserves his comprehensive vision while making his seventeenth-century prose accessible to contemporary readers.
Dedicatory Epistle to the Parishioners of Blackfriars, London
If noble birth, high honor, great wealth, genuine piety, generous charity, a high regard for God's word and its ministers, and a particular affection for the author himself are what one looks for in a patron, then I need look no further than my own parish. To you, therefore (right honorable, right worshipful, and all my beloved parishioners, most worthy of every respect due to you), I dedicate these humble labors on domestic duties. To express the equal obligation I owe and the impartial regard I hold for you all, I make you collectively my patron. You were the first congregation over whom I ever held any ministerial responsibility. I was called to that responsibility by your own free choice. Among you I have spent almost two full apprenticeships in ministry. You have always received my efforts so graciously and respected my person so generously that I have never had cause to regret accepting this place and calling, but have had every reason to thank God for it. My desire, if divine providence so allows, is to spend all my remaining days among you, and while I am here, to help advance your spiritual growth. This is the central purpose of my calling and the goal I have pursued both in my ordinary ministry and in publishing these eight treatises on domestic duties and dedicating them to you. Just as I have preached these duties in your hearing and published them in your name as a testimony of love and obligation, so I ask you to show your kind acceptance of both my earlier and later efforts by conscientiously practicing them, insofar as they align with God's word, so that all who know you may see by that clear evidence how well you have received and embraced them. In this way you will gain great benefit, and I will gain great comfort from my labors. Oh, if the head and every member of a household could be persuaded to take seriously their own particular duties, what a sweet society and happy harmony there would be in homes! What excellent nurseries families would become for both the church and the commonwealth! It is necessary that good order be established first in families, for since families existed before other forms of society, they are in some ways the more essential; and those who are good members of a family are likely to become good members of both church and commonwealth.
The subject matter of these treatises is therefore worth addressing, if only I were capable of handling it as well as it deserves. I have done what I could, even if I have not achieved all that I hoped. Be like God in this regard, who, when there is a willing mind, accepts what a person has to offer rather than holding against them what they lack.
Though for a subject as substantial as the one handled in these treatises the work may at first appear overly long, I hope the attentive reader will not find it tedious. It is the variety of many points, not the excessive treatment of a few, that has caused this book to grow to its present size. The first treatise, which makes up about a quarter of the book, contains a commentary on that portion of Scripture from which domestic duties are drawn. In it, the Apostle sets forth Christ and the Church as models for husbands and wives, vividly declaring the great love of Christ for His Church and the close union between them, along with other deep mysteries whose unfolding has kept me somewhat longer than expected. But while I have dwelt at length on major matters of great importance, I have passed very briefly over other points. The remaining treatises, in which the duties themselves are addressed, are each considerably shorter than the first. In them I have simply stated and briefly demonstrated the truth and reasonableness of the various duties, except for certain key points that are of particular practical importance or that have been called into question through neglect; those I have treated more fully. And because contrasts placed side by side bring each other into sharper relief, I have attached to every duty the corresponding faults and departures from it. Many people who hear the duties described think everything is fine until they also hear the contrary vices, which are what most effectively convict their consciences.
Regarding the many faults and vices of bad husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and servants that are identified in these treatises, let me ask you not to apply them too broadly to all husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and servants. Did not the wise Solomon speak at length against the fickleness, quarrelsomeness, pride, flattery, and other vices of women? And should sober, gentle, humble, and honest women think themselves included in that criticism? By the same logic, unchaste women, untrustworthy gossips, quarrelsome shrews, and proud ladies might think themselves commended by the excellent praise he gives to virtuous women. Let each person, as their conscience (an impartial judge) bears them witness, make an honest application of everything to themselves. In this way, we ministers will be spared many unfair suspicions. I recall that when these domestic duties were first delivered from the pulpit, considerable objection was raised against the application of a wife's submission to the restriction of her from disposing of the family's common goods without her husband's consent or against it. But surely those who raised those objections did not carefully consider the qualifications and limitations that were stated at the time and are now again explicitly noted: namely, that the restriction in question does not extend to a wife's own personal property, nor too strictly to goods set aside for the family's use, nor to exceptional circumstances, nor always to an explicit consent, nor to the consent of husbands who are incapacitated or long absent at a great distance. If any other reasonable qualification is brought to my attention, I will be just as willing to accept it as I am to accept any of these. So that my meaning may no longer be misrepresented, I ask you, when reading about the restriction on a wife's authority to dispose of family goods, always to keep those qualifications in mind. Other objections were raised against certain other specific duties of wives. For many who can patiently enough hear their duties described in general terms cannot bear to hear those generalities spelled out in their particular details. This strikes too close to home and cuts too deep. But, interpreting everything charitably according to the rule of love, I believe the main reason for the many objections raised was this: since wives' duties (following the Apostle's method) were treated first, I taught what a wife, in the fullest extent of the submission under which God has placed her, is bound to do if her husband chooses to exercise the full extent of his authority. This was taken to mean that I had taught that a husband may and should demand that fullest extent, and that a wife is bound in every case to do all that was described as her duty, whether her husband demands it or not. But when I came to address husbands' duties, I showed that a husband should not demand everything his wife would be bound to provide if he did demand it; rather, he should make her a joint governor of the household with himself, refer the management of many things to her judgment, and carry himself toward her with all honorable and tender respect. In short, I set out a husband's duties in such a way that if he is wise and conscientious in fulfilling them, his wife will have no just cause to complain of her submission. What makes a wife's yoke heavy and hard is a husband's abuse of his authority and his pressing his wife's duty more than he performs his own, which is directly contrary to the Apostle's rule. I have been compelled to offer this fair defense so that I may no longer be judged, as some have judged me, as a hater of women.
Now, so that in all those places where a wife's yoke may seem to press most heavily I might offer some relief, I have placed in the margin beside every section on wives' duties a reference to the corresponding duties of husbands, marked with the symbol \*, so that it may be more readily turned to. I have also gone further and set out in parallel, side by side in a single view, the main points of husbands' and wives' duties as they correspond to one another, and likewise the contrary departures from those duties, with references to the particular sections where they are treated. This is so that on the one hand it may be clear that if both husband and wife are conscientious and careful in performing their own duties, the matrimonial yoke will rest so equally on both their necks that the wife will be no more burdened by it than the husband, and it will be like Christ's spiritual yoke: light and easy. And on the other hand, it may be plain that husbands commonly fail in their duties just as often as wives fail in theirs. This parallel and balanced presentation of each party's duties and of the contrary departures from them I have attached immediately after this epistle. I have further added a table of the main points addressed in the eight treatises that follow, so that by this aid you may more readily locate whatever particular points you most wish to read.
To demonstrate that the duties prescribed to husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and servants are ones they are genuinely bound to in conscience, I have endeavored to show how they are grounded in and drawn from the word of God. To avoid unnecessary length, I have placed most of the citations in the margin. If your time allows, you would do well to look them up. Two things have been especially helpful to me in identifying the many duties noted in these treatises and the vices contrary to them: observation and arrangement. Observation both of such duties as Scripture commends and such contrary vices as it condemns, and also of such admirable virtues as I have genuinely appreciated in the husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and servants I have encountered, and such unseemly vices as I have found troubling in them. And arrangement, meaning the ordering of one point after another in the best sequence I could manage. My method and manner of proceeding brought many things to mind that might otherwise have slipped past me. For by method, the various points belonging to a single subject are drawn out one after another, as in a chain one link pulls up the next. There is no better way to draw out many observations from a text than by working through it methodically. Just as method aids discovery, so it also aids memory. It is like the thread or wire on which pearls are strung, keeping them from scattering. And if a person is thrown into a maze by an abundance of material, method is the means by which he may find his way out again readily and without confusion. For these reasons, method is rightly called the mother of the mind and the mistress of memory. If you pay close attention to the order and connection of points as they follow one from another, you will find as great a help in understanding and remembering them as I found in discovering and arranging them.
Because English lacks a single word that encompasses both masters and mistresses the way "parents" covers both fathers and mothers, or "children" covers both sons and daughters, I have followed the scriptural pattern of including mistresses under the heading of masters. The duties assigned to masters therefore apply to mistresses as well, insofar as those duties are consistent with their sex. To close, as a return for all my labors, I heartily ask that you all pray earnestly for the one who prays for you daily, even the watchman of your souls, WILLIAM GOUGE.
A few printing errors have been noted at the end of the book, and I ask that you correct them with a pen.
Section 1: From General Duties to Particular Ones
"Submit to one another out of reverence for God." (Eph 5:21)
God has called every person to two distinct vocations. The first is a general calling, by which certain duties are required of all people without exception: knowledge, faith, obedience, repentance, love, mercy, justice, truthfulness, and so on. The second is a particular calling, by which specific duties are required of individuals according to the distinct roles that Divine Providence has placed them in, whether in the commonwealth, the church, or the family. It follows, then, that God's ministers should be diligent in teaching God's people about both kinds of duties: those that belong to their general calling and those that belong to their particular one. This is precisely what St. Paul did. Just as Moses was faithful in all of God's house, Paul, after thoroughly instructing the church in the general duties that belong to all Christians regardless of sex, status, rank, or condition, went on to set out the particular duties that belong to specific callings and stations in life. Among these, he chose to focus on those duties that God has established within the family.
He moves from the general to the particular with remarkable skill, placing a transition between them in these words: "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God" (Eph 5:21). These words look in both directions at once, connecting what came before with what follows after. The grammatical form of this verse, using the participle "submitting," shows that it depends on what preceded it and therefore refers back to it. At the same time, the word itself is the very same one used in the verse that immediately follows, which shows that this verse contains the essence of everything that comes after, functioning as a general principle from which the particulars flow. This way of moving from one point to the next through a well-crafted transition that looks both backward and forward is not only elegant but characteristic of Paul throughout his letters. By it, he teaches us to pay close attention to what is coming without forgetting what has already been said. We must give careful attention to what remains, while also holding firmly to what we have already heard and not letting it slip away. Otherwise, if one precept drives out another the way one nail drives out another, then adding line upon line or precept upon precept will be entirely in vain.
Section 2: Joining Service to Others with Praise of God
As this verse connects to what was said earlier about our duty to God, it teaches us the following lesson: It is the duty of Christians both to offer praise to God and to serve one another.
With this in mind, the Ten Commandments pair the first table, which prescribes what we owe to God, with the second table, which sets out what we owe to each other. The same voice that declared, "The first and greatest commandment is this: you shall love the Lord, etc." also declared, "The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor, etc." The Apostle, when explaining what kinds of offerings truly please God, brings these two together: giving thanks to God and doing good to others. The service we render to one another out of reverence for God is a clear and tangible sign of the respect we hold for God Himself. "Our goodness does not extend to God." He stands so far above us, so perfect and complete in Himself, that we have nothing to give Him and He has no need to receive anything from us. Yet in His own place, He has set our neighbor before us, someone like ourselves, to whom we can cause real harm or, through faithful service, do genuine good. In choosing to do that good, we honor God greatly.
This exposes the hypocrisy of those who make a great show of praising God while treating their fellow human beings with contempt and refusing to lift a finger in service to others. Their religion is empty. The prophets in their day, and Christ and His apostles in theirs, used exactly this standard to expose the hypocrisy of those around them, and we can apply the same test today. There are many people who regularly sing God's praises in their homes and in the middle of the congregation, and who go through all the outward motions of worship, yet toward one another they are proud, stubborn, envious, merciless, unjust, slanderous, and deeply reluctant to do any good. The truth is that whatever outward service they claim to offer God does far less to wash away the stain of irreligion than their neglect of duty toward others stamps the mark of hypocrisy on their foreheads.
For our own part, let us not use one duty as an excuse to avoid another, even if the first seems more important, lest the terrible woe that Christ pronounced against the scribes and Pharisees fall on our own heads. Just as God takes care to instruct us in how we should conduct ourselves both toward His own majesty and toward one another, let us prove ourselves faithful in both. Remember what Christ said to the Pharisees: "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." The same Lord who calls for praise to His own majesty also commands mutual service among His people. Neglecting one is no less a sign of disregard for His will than neglecting the other. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt 19:6).
Section 3: Mutual Submission
Furthermore, since this verse connects to what follows, it sets out the general principle underlying everything: that we are to submit ourselves to one another in the fear of God. This principle has two parts:
1. An Exhortation. 2. A Direction.
Both branches of the exhortation, namely the duty itself and the parties involved, are captured in this doctrine: It is a general, mutual duty belonging to all Christians to submit themselves to one another. This command is as universal as any that came before it, applying to every rank and condition without exception. That is precisely what the phrase "one another" implies. The Apostle uses the same breadth of language elsewhere when he urges believers to "serve one another" (Gal 5:13), and again when he calls on "every man to seek another's good" (1 Cor 10:24).
When it comes to those of lower rank, it is beyond dispute that they should submit to those above them. Even among equals, there is little room for debate: in showing honor, each should "go before the other," and so submit themselves (Rom 12:10). The real question arises with superiors: is it genuinely required of them to submit themselves to those beneath them?
To resolve this, we must first draw a distinction between subjection of reverence and subjection of service.
Subjection of reverence is what one person shows when acknowledging the dignity and superiority of another, whether through speech by giving titles of honor, through gesture by some form of respectful acknowledgment, or through action by readily obeying their commands. This belongs properly to those of lower rank.
Subjection of service is the readiness to do whatever good one can for another, within one's proper place. This is a duty shared by all Christians, and it is one that even superiors owe to those beneath them, in keeping with the full scope of that phrase "one another." It is in this sense that even the highest earthly ruler is called a minister, meaning a servant for the benefit of those under his care.
We must also distinguish between the work itself and the manner in which it is performed. A work that is inherently an act of authority and superiority can still, in its manner of execution, become an act of submission, provided it is carried out with humility and gentleness of spirit. A magistrate who governs with meekness and humility is, in that very act, submitting himself to those under his care. This is precisely why the Apostle urges that nothing (not even the highest and greatest works imaginable) be done out of vain ambition, but in meekness.
We must also distinguish between the various positions people occupy, because those who are superior to some are still subordinate to others, as the man said: I have soldiers under me, and I myself am under authority. A master who has servants beneath him may still be subject to the authority of a magistrate. Indeed, God has arranged each person's place in such a way that no one exists who is not, in some respect, under another. A wife, even if she is a mother, remains under her husband's authority. A husband, even as the head of a household, remains under the authority of civil magistrates. Each person stands under another, and all stand under the king, who himself stands under God and His word as delivered by His ambassadors, to which even the highest rulers must submit. Ministers of the word, as citizens, are likewise subject to their kings and governors.
The one who says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities (Rom 13:1), makes no exception for ministers of the word. And the one who says, obey those who lead you, and submit yourselves (Heb 13:17), makes no exception for kings. The difference lies only in this: a king's authority resides in himself, and he may command obedience to his own person in his own name. A minister's authority, by contrast, resides in Christ, and he may only call for obedience to Christ, and only in Christ's name.
The reason all people are bound to submit to one another is that God has placed each person in their position not primarily for their own benefit, but for the good of others. This is why the Apostle urges that no one seek their own interests, but rather the welfare of others. Even those in positions of authority are elevated to their roles more for the benefit of those they govern than for their own honor. Their callings are, in truth, offices of service, even burdens they must willingly shoulder when God calls them to it, and for which they will one day give an account of the good they have done for others. It is precisely for that purpose that they, too, must practice submission.
*Application: Let everyone, therefore, high and low, rich and poor, superior and inferior, magistrate and subject, minister and congregation, husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, neighbors and companions, all people in every station, take note of their duty in this matter of submission and make a genuine effort to practice it. Magistrates should do so by securing the welfare and peace of their people, as Mordecai did. Ministers should do so by making themselves servants to their congregations, not seeking their own gain but the good of many, so that they may be saved, as Paul did. Fathers should do so by raising their children well and taking care not to provoke them to anger, as David did. Husbands should do so by living with their wives with understanding, showing honor to the wife as the more vulnerable partner, as Abraham did. Masters should do so by treating their servants with justice and fairness, as the Centurion* did. And everyone should do so by holding the same regard for one another and serving each other in love, in keeping with the Apostle's instruction. Let this duty of submission be thoroughly learned first, and all other duties will follow far more naturally.
Don't be arrogant, and don't look down on one another. Though some may occupy a higher station in life than others, in Christ all are one, whether enslaved or free, all members of the same body. Consider the mutual affection, if I may call it that, among the members of a natural body: not one of them swells up against another. The head, which holds the highest and most honored position, submits itself to the feet in fulfilling the duty of a head, just as the feet submit to the head in fulfilling theirs; and so it is with every other part. This does not mean, however, that those in positions of dignity and authority should abandon or forget their rank and become like those under their charge, any more than the head does. For when the head submits, it does not drop to the ground and bear the body's weight as the feet do; rather, it submits by directing and governing the other parts, doing so with all the humility, gentleness, and grace it can muster. All those in authority must do the same.
How much more, then, should equals and those under authority learn to perform their duties with humility and gentleness, free from contempt or disdain. This is precisely what the Apostle stated plainly before and now implies again here; no one is exempt from it. We all recognize that it is unnatural and unbecoming for the head to despise the feet and bristle against them, but it would be something far worse than monstrous for one hand to scorn another. What, then, shall we say when the feet swell up against the head? Such contempt and disdain among the members would bring not only great disorder but the complete ruin of the body. Can it be any different in a political body? On the contrary, when all people of every rank willingly submit to one another, as has been shown before, the whole body and every member of it will benefit. Indeed, through this mutual submission, as we do good to others, so we will receive good in return.
Section 4: The Fear of God
So much for the exhortation. Now comes the direction: In the fear of the Lord. This phrase is added to clarify two things: first, the means by which people can be brought to submit willingly to one another, and second, the manner in which they should submit. The fear of the Lord serves as both the efficient cause that moves a true Christian to willingly fulfill every duty toward others, and the end toward which he directs everything he does. To understand this more clearly, I will briefly address four questions:
1. What this fear of the Lord actually is. 2. How God is its proper object. 3. What its scope encompasses. 4. Why it is so strongly emphasized.
First, the fear of God is a reverent respect for the divine Majesty. It sometimes arises from faith in God's mercy and goodness, because when a person's heart has once tasted the sweetness of God's goodness and discovered that all true happiness consists in His favor alone, it is struck with such a deep inward awe and reverence that it would not willingly displease His Majesty for anything in the world, but would rather do whatever it knows to be pleasing and acceptable to Him. Two effects flow from this kind of fear of God:
1. A diligent effort to please God, which is why good King Jehoshaphat, having urged his judges to carry out the Lord's judgment rightly, adds this phrase as a motivating reason: "Let the fear of the Lord be upon you" (2 Chr 19:7), implying that the fear of God would drive them to prove themselves faithful before Him.
2. A careful avoidance of whatever offends the Majesty of God and grieves His Spirit, which is why the Wise Man says, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov 8:13), and of Job it is said that he "feared God and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1).
Sometimes, awe and dread of the divine Majesty can also arise from doubt. When a person's heart is uncertain of God's mercy and expects nothing but punishment, the very thought of God strikes a kind of dread into them, and this too produces fear of God.
From these two contrasting sources of fear has come the familiar distinction between filial fear (the fear of a son) and servile fear (the fear of a slave). This distinction is grounded in the Apostle's words: "you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear" (this is servile fear) "but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Rom 8:15); this second spirit produces filial fear. Filial fear is the kind of fear that devoted children have toward their fathers, while servile fear is the kind that enslaved people have toward their masters. A son fears simply to offend or disappoint his father, and this fear is accompanied by love. A slave fears nothing but the punishment for his offense, and this fear is joined with hatred; such a person doesn't fear sinning itself, only burning in hell as a consequence. Faithful Abraham, like a devoted child, feared God (as God's angel testifies in Gen 22:12) when he was prepared to sacrifice his only son rather than offend God by refusing to obey His command. But faithless Adam, like a servile slave, feared God (as he himself confesses in Gen 3:10) when, after breaking God's command, he hid himself from God's presence. This slavish fear is plainly a diabolical fear, for "the devils believe and tremble" (Jas 2:19); it makes people wish there were no hell, no day of judgment, no Judge, and indeed no God at all. This is the fear without which we must serve the Lord. To submit oneself out of this kind of fear is entirely unacceptable to God.
It is therefore filial fear that is meant here.
Second, God is the proper object of this fear, as this passage and many other Scripture texts make clear, where the fear of God and of the Lord is repeatedly mentioned. This fear has such a unique relationship to God that Scripture actually gives God the title Fear as a kind of proper name: when Jacob refers to the Fear of Isaac, he means the Lord whom Isaac feared.
Is it then unlawful to fear anyone but God?
No: men may also be feared, including princes, parents, masters, and other authorities. The Apostle, urging us to give everyone what is owed to them, includes fear as something owed to those who deserve it. Yet God can still be called the proper object of fear, because all the fear that is rightly owed to any created being is ultimately owed to Him, in and for the Lord whose image that person bears. In truth, it is not so much the individual person we fear as the image of God placed in him, by virtue of whatever authority or dignity belongs to him. If a conflict should ever arise between God and man, such that fearing a man would draw our fear away from God, then Christ's rule must take precedence: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt 10:28).
3. The scope of this true filial fear of God is remarkably broad. No single theme throughout all of Scripture is pressed more consistently than the fear of the Lord. It is frequently joined to other duties as the quality that gives them their proper character, without which those duties cannot be rightly performed. We are therefore commanded "to serve the Lord with fear, to perfect holiness in the fear of God, and to work out our salvation with fear" (Ps 2:11; 2 Cor 7:1; Phil 2:12), and the churches are commended for "walking in the fear of the Lord" (Acts 9:31). The same is said of particular individuals such as Abraham, Joseph, Job, and many others (Gen 22:12; 42:18; Job 1:1). Indeed, the entire worship of God is contained within this category of fear, which is why, when our Savior Christ quotes the text "you shall fear the Lord your God" (Deut 6:13), He renders it as "you shall worship the Lord your God" (Matt 4:10). Similarly, where the Lord speaks through His prophet Isaiah, saying "their fear toward me is taught by the commandments of men" (Isa 29:13), Christ quotes that same passage as "in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt 15:9). When these passages are read alongside one another, it becomes clear that the worship of God is fully contained within the fear of God. In fact, all the duty we owe to both God and our neighbor falls under this single heading, the fear of God, for when David wanted to capture in one phrase the sum and substance of everything a minister should teach his people, he said simply, "I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps 34:11).
4. The reason the Holy Spirit places such strong emphasis on the fear of God, and in such a broad scope as has been shown, is this: to draw a distinction between the complete, perfect image of God that was originally planted in humanity at creation, and the renewal of that image as we live out our lives in this world. God's image in humanity was then so whole and perfect that love alone was sufficient to move a person toward any duty. This is why, when the Holy Spirit sets out to describe that original perfection of God's image in humanity, He pairs the title love with every other duty, whether it concerns God or other people. Concerning God, Moses urges Israel "to love the Lord and serve Him," and again, "to love the Lord, to walk in His ways, to keep His commandments, etc." (Deut 6:5; 10:12). Concerning other people, the Apostle urges believers "to serve one another through love" and "to do all things in love" (Gal 5:13; 1 Cor 16:14). Indeed, the Holy Spirit sometimes gathers all duties under the single heading of love. In this spirit, Christ calls the commandment "You shall love the Lord" the great commandment, the one that encompasses all the commandments of the first table; and for the second table, Paul declares that "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Matt 22:38; Rom 13:10). But through Adam's fall, and the corruption that infected human nature as a result, the love of God has grown cold in humanity. And although the saints are re-created according to God's image, that image is not yet as perfect as it once was while they remain in this world, since the flesh persists even in the best of them. For this reason, God has firmly fixed the affection of fear in the human heart, using it both to restrain people from sin and to move them toward every good duty.
Section 5: How the Fear of God Moves Us to Serve Others
Having briefly described the nature, object, extent, and use of fear, I return to the matter at hand: specifically, to show how fear is presented here as a motive to stir men up to perform the duty required of them. In the phrase "in the fear of the Lord," the Apostle implies that it is the fear of God which moves men to submit themselves to one another with a clear conscience. This is what made David so effective in ruling the people of God, and what led Joseph to deal so honorably with his brothers. Indeed, this same fear is identified as the foundation of Christ's own righteous governance. King Jehoshaphat understood this well, and so when he appointed judges over his people, he offered them this charge as a motive to execute the Lord's judgments faithfully: "Let the fear of the Lord be upon you." Likewise, St. Peter, seeking to move subjects to honor their king, opens with this exhortation: "Fear God."
It is true that fear of man can also bring a person to submit to another. A magistrate may be moved to deal justly and gently with his people out of fear of uprising and rebellion. Subjects may be compelled to submit through harsh laws and tyranny. Other subordinates, too, may be brought into line through threats, rough treatment, and similar pressures.
1. Even if fear of man can serve as a motive, it does not follow that fear of God cannot also serve as one. Fear of God may be a different motive, and a far better one.
2. Submission that springs from fear of man is forced and servile, and carries no weight before God. But submission that flows from a genuine, filial fear of God is free, willing, ready, and wholehearted. It is the kind of submission that moves us to seek the greatest good for those to whom we submit ourselves, and is therefore more acceptable to God on account of its source, and more beneficial to others on account of its effects and fruit.
A genuine fear of God causes us to care more about what God requires and commands than about what our corrupt hearts desire and whisper to us. It subdues our unruly passions and brings them within the bounds of duty. It makes us deny ourselves and our own desires, and though our fallen nature and inborn pride make us reluctant to submit, the fear of God will humble that proud spirit and make us gentle. It will keep those in authority from tyranny, cruelty, and excessive harshness, and it will keep those under authority from pretense, deceit, and secret conspiracies.
Consider how essential it is that a genuine fear of the Lord be planted in the hearts of all people: in the hearts of kings and governors, in the hearts of subjects and citizens, whether they hold authority or answer to it. Where there is no fear of God, there will be no true submission to human authority. Abraham believed that the men of Gerar would show no respect to him or his wife, would feel no obligation toward basic decency, and would not hold back from shedding innocent blood, because "he saw no fear of God in that place." And the Apostle, having catalogued the many notorious effects of humanity's natural corruption, concludes with this as the root cause of them all: "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom 3:18). Therefore, let magistrates, parents, masters, and all who hold authority take special care that those under them, whether subjects, children, or servants, are taught and led to fear the Lord. I will say it plainly: those under authority who are taught to fear God will serve those above them far better than those who fear their superiors merely as men, but do not fear God. Let ministers especially press upon the consciences of the people a genuine fear of God.
Let all who are under authority pray that the fear of the Lord would be planted in the hearts of those who rule over them, so that they may live quiet and peaceful lives, in all godliness and integrity. Blessed is the kingdom where both magistrates and subjects fear the Lord. Blessed is the church where both ministers and people fear the Lord. Blessed is the family where husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants all fear the Lord. In such a kingdom, church, and family, everyone will submit to one another for each other's genuine good. But when those who do not fear God submit themselves to others, whether they hold authority or answer to it, they do so for their own ends and advantages, not for the true benefit of those to whom they submit.
William Gouge was a prominent Puritan minister who served as pastor of St. Anne Blackfriars in London for over forty-five years. A member of the Westminster Assembly, he was one of the most respected practical theologians of his generation. His Domestic Duties, originally published as Of Domesticall Duties in 1622, became the definitive Puritan treatment of household relationships and remains one of the most comprehensive works ever written on the Christian family.
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