Should Wives Always Submit?

 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Eph 5:24 NIV

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Eph 6:5 NIV

Most Christians now agree that slavery is a terrible ungodly institution, but in New Testament times it was built into the fabric of society, so the early Christians had to accept it.

At the same time, the authority of husbands over wives was built into the cultural and legal system of the Roman Empire and the neighbouring Persian Empire. In the historical, legal and cultural context, Paul told wives to submit to their husbands in everything.

If evangelical Christians today understand the obedience of slaves to be a necessity only in a society based on slavery, why do so many of us today consider the submission of wives to be an eternally binding command?

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. Eph 5:21–22 NIV

Paul’s teaching on marriage in Ephesians is predicated on mutual submission.