Kristen

Holly, with regards to Paul’s instructions for wives (and slaves and children) to be submissive– it was also very important that Christianity in its fledgling years in Gentile culture, maintain a good reputation. Paul was very interested in making the message palatable to the peoples who received it (see 1 Cor 9- “I become all things to all people, that I might by any means save some.”) Paul’s focus was on the spread of the gospel, not on social reconstruction; indeed social reconstruction would have worked counter to the spread of the gospel in that time and place.

Hence Paul’s instructions that those who were under authority in that culture, not buck that authority.

It is in his words to the various authorities (husbands, fathers, slave owners) that we really see the changes Paul is advocating. But the changes are to be from the inside out, not the outside in.