Kristen

Charis, your construction is fine, I think, but reading it the way you’re reading it leads to a very legitimate question about the text. Paul is addressing the church, telling Christians how to function together. He tells them in the verses just before v. 21 not to get drunk but be filled with the Spirit (definitely passive voice, as we cannot fill ourselves with the Spirit), to sing to one another, to give thanks– and then to “be subject” to one another. These are clearly all actions that Christians are to take. Even though we cannot fill ourselves with the Spirit, we apparently have some role in allowing ourselves to be filled, or Paul would not so instruct us. So if being subject has nothing to do with any action on our part, why is it included as part of a set of instructions?
(Personally, I see the mitigating factor in the wife being submissive “in everything,” as the fact that the husband is supposed to be self-sacrificing for her and raising her up, as Christ sacrificed Himself to make the church “glorious.” She is supposed to be submitting to being made glorious, not to being trampled down– and if he doesn’t, she has a Christian duty to speak to him about his sin– and if he does not listen, to bring witnesses, etc. The bit in 1 Peter about winning him “without a word” does not apply because that’s addressed to wives married to unbelieving husbands.)
I think “be subject” must mean something along the lines of “allow yourselves to be subject,” just as “be filled with the Spirit” must mean “allow yourselves to be filled,” or the passage wouldn’t make sense.