to “submit” and husbands to “love”? Perhaps Christian women, newly freed in Christ, found submission difficult; perhaps Christian men, used to the Roman custom of giving unlimited power to the head of the family, were not used to treating their wives with sacrificial respect and love. Of course, both husbands and wives should submit to each other (5:21) just as both should love each other. Thus, “submission” reaffirms the new covenant of equality as well as the affirmation of marriage in which the
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