2.4 2.5 the literature of the early church  (Page 3/8)

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. (Eph. 5:22-28.)

Paul reminded the church at Colossae that Jesus was served in all "callings," including marriage. His specific instructions were: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them" (Col. 3:18-19).

Passages in I Timothy and I Peter, thought to have been written later than the previous documents but in agreement with them, added restrictions regarding feminine dress to those related to marriage. Both brought the weight of Jewish tradition to bear on their subject:

I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (I Tim. 2:9-15.)

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands. . . . Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (I Peter 3:1-5, 7.)

The case for women's rights based on the Pauline tradition established by the early church would seem (and may be) hopeless in the face of this formidable array of instruction. These were modified, however, by instances of Paul's working with women and his mentioning their value to him. These were not examples of women's just having supported him or served his physical needs, but of women who "laboured with me in the gospel" (Phil. 4:3)—who taught others, took on missions of their own, even risked their lives to spread the Christian message. These individual women won his praise rather than his reprimand for having stepped beyond the bounds of feminine propriety. In women's favor, there was a side of Paul other than the one that reverted to Judaic tradition and sought to impose it in order to prevent scandal in struggling young churches. This was his visionary aspect, his religious genius, that synthesized the messianic hopes of Judaism and the message and person of Jesus into a theological system of sufficient plausibility and flexibility to persist for 2000 years. It was this voice that made the declaration that became the Magna Carta of Christian women: