Ephesians 5:22-24

The duty of wives 5:22-24

"After centuries of Christian teaching, we scarcely appreciate the revolutionary nature of Paul’s views on family life set forth in this passage. Among the Jews of his day, as also among the Romans and the Greeks, women were seen as secondary citizens with few or no rights. The pious male Jew daily said a prayer in which he thanked God for not making him a woman. And he could divorce his wife by simply writing ’a bill of divorcement’ (which must include the provision that she was then free to marry whomever she wanted). The wife had no such right." [Note: Morris, pp. 180-81.]