This reminds me of another church moment from my childhood. I was probably six or seven. My Mom took me to the Sunday night service with her best friend from high school and her son who was my age. The sermon was a similar passage about women's role in church and family. I remember that because on the way home in the car, my friend and I sat proud as peacocks in the back seat, newly minted"men" with authority over women, telling our moms that they had to be subject to us. And we were rolling with laughter about it. Our moms, however, were not laughing. In fact, my friend's Mom was clearly peeved. Finally, my Mom, never one to take anyone's word for anything, told us to shut up and sit down. They may be women, she reasoned, but we were still children, and Paul tells children to be obedient to their parents. On this night, the parents were in charge, and the children's duty was to be obedient.

Slightly bruised, maybe even sullen, I sank back into my seat with a newfound motivation to ponder the Scriptures - maybe some Bible passages take a bit more thinking to get to the truth.

That's what we need this morning in order to avoid becoming misogynists one on hand or just dismissing Paul on the other.

So first, the context. Late in chapter 4 Paul gets on his hobby horse - putting away the former life and clothing oneself with the new life. Typical Paul! He thinks something new and life-changing has happened in Jesus such that it reorients the way we live. So he begins chapter 5 saying,"Be imitators of God. Live in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God."

Whatever comes after this, Paul has set the tone - Jesus gave up his life, so we give up ours.

Then, starting in verse 21, Paul lays down the gauntlet about women. Wives, be subject to your husbands. Right?

Wrong.

Actually, Paul starts out by saying,"Be subject to one another." However Paul may say it later, he starts out with a mutual and common command - be subject to one another. This applies to men and to women alike.