Wives and Submission in Early Christianity

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching

Let wives be subject to their own husbands, as to the Lord.

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version) Direct teaching

Wives, be ye subject to your husbands in the fear of God;

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version) Supporting witness

...o, therefore, as “a peculiar people, and a holy nation,” perform all things with harmony in Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands in the fear of God; and you virgins, to Christ in purity, not regarding marriage as an abomination, but desiring that which is better, not for the reproach of wedlock, but for the sake of meditating on the law. Children, obey your parents, and have affection for them, as workers together with God for your birth into the world. Servants, be subject to your masters in God, that you may be the freed-men of Christ. Husbands, love your wives, as fellow-servants of God, as your own body, as the partners of your life, and your co-workers in the procreation of children. Virgins, have Christ alone before your eyes, and His Father in your prayers, being enlightened by the Spirit. May I take pleasure in your purity, as that of Elijah, or as of Joshua the son of Nun, as of Melchizedek, or as of Elisha, as of Jeremiah, or as of John the Baptist, as of the beloved disciple, as of Timothy, as of Titus, as of Evodius, as of Clement, who departed this life in perfect chastity. Not, however, that I blame the other blessed saints because they entered into the marri

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Ephesians 5:21-29 And in that to the Colossians it is said, Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

VIII. Let the wife be obedient to her own proper husband, because the husband is the head of the wife.

Ephesians 5:22 Direct teaching

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Colossians 3:18 Direct teaching

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

1 Peter 3:1 Direct teaching

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,

1 Peter 3:5 Supporting witness

For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,

Titus 2:5 Supporting witness

to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

1 Peter 3:6 Supporting witness

Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Direct teaching

Ye husbands, love your wives; and ye wives, your husbands.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

How wives ought to be subject to their own husbands, and husbands ought to love their own wives.

Unknown, Unknown Work Supporting witness

And let husbands love their wives as Christ also has loved the Church.

Ephesians 5:24 Supporting witness

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

And let husbands love their wives as Christ also has loved the Church.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

...because of Satan and lack of self-control, 1 Corinthians 7:5, Tatian declared that the one who will obey this will serve two masters, Matthew 6:24: by agreement, God; but by disagreement, lack of self-control and fornication and the devil. This is what he says while explaining the Apostle. But in a sophistical way he evades the truth, using what is true to support what is false. For we also confess that lack of self-control and fornication are devilish vices and passions. But the agreement of moderate marriage stands in between. This both leads with self-control to prayer, and also joins husband and wife honorably for the begetting of children. Indeed, Scripture used the word “knew” for the time of begetting children when it says, “And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Seth: for God has raised up for me another seed instead of Abel,” Genesis 4:25. You see whom they attack with curses when they attack honorable and moderate sowing of seed and assign generation to the devil. For it did not simply say “God.” By putting the article first, saying “the God,” it pointed to the One who is Almighty. And what the Apostle next says, “And come tog

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

Let husbands love their wives, remembering that, at creation, one woman, and not many, was given to one man. Let wives honor their husbands, as their own flesh, and let them not presume to address them by their names. Let them also be chaste, considering their husbands as their only partners, to whom they have been united according to the will of God. You parents, provide a holy training to your children. You children, "honor your parents, that it may be well with you."

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

... written in the Epistle to the Ephesians, “Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church; and He is the Savior of the body. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church. So men also ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man has ever yet hated his own flesh.” Ephesians 5:21-29. And in the Epistle to the Colossians it is said, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged. Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh. Do not serve only when watched, like people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. And whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as serving the Lord and not men. For you know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

You wives, be subject to your own husbands. Esteem them, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honored Abraham. For she would not bear to call him by his name, but called him lord when she said, "My lord is old." In the same way, you husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life and fellow helpers in the bearing of children. For He says, "Rejoice with the wife of your youth. Let her way of life be to you like a loving deer and a pleasant foal. Let her alone lead you, and be with you at all times. For if you are in every way surrounded by her friendship, you will be happy in her company." Love them, therefore, as your own members, as your very bodies. For so it is written: "The Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, and she is your partner, and another has not made her, and she is the remnant of your spirit." And, "Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of your youth." Therefore, when a husband and wife come together in lawful marriage and then rise from one another, they may pray without any special observances, and they are clean without washing. But whoever corrupts and defiles another man's wife, or is defile

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

... by chaste love for them, which is a powerful and lawful charm. But since their husbands want their wives to be troubled in mind, the wives, if they want to be chaste, should aim to calm the irrational impulses and passions of their husbands little by little. And they are to be gently led to simplicity by gradually getting them used to self-control. For decency is not produced by forcing on what is burdensome, but by taking away what is excessive. For women’s luxury items are to be forbidden, since they are swift-winged things that produce unstable follies and empty pleasures. By these, women are often lifted up and given wings, and they fly away from the bonds of marriage. Therefore women ought to dress neatly and bind themselves with the band of chaste modesty, lest through giddiness they slip away from the truth. It is right, then, for men to place confidence in their wives and entrust the management of the household to them, since they are given to be their helpers in this.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

...you for the glory of God, not as if I were a person of any consequence, but simply as a brother. Be subject to the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons. Love one another in the Lord, as you are the images of God. Take heed, husbands, to love your wives as your own bodies. Wives also, love your husbands, as being one with them by virtue of your union. If anyone lives in chastity or self-restraint, let him not be prideful, lest he lose his reward. Do not underestimate the festivals. Do not disregard the period of forty days, as it is an imitation of the conduct of the Lord. After the week of the passion, do not neglect to fast on the fourth and sixth days, while also giving from your abundance to the poor. If anyone fasts on the Lord’s Day or on the Sabbath, except on the paschal Sabbath only, he is a murderer of Christ.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

...n the contrary, He healed her, saying, "Your faith has saved you." When the natural flow appears in wives, let their husbands not come near them, out of regard for the children to be begotten. For the law has forbidden it, for it says, "You shall not come near your wife when she is in her separation," Leviticus 18:19; Ezekiel 18:6. Nor should husbands be with their wives when they are pregnant. For they do this not for the begetting of children, but for pleasure. Now one who loves God ought not to love pleasure.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

Husbands, love your wives; and wives, your husbands. Children, respect your parents. Parents, raise your children with the nurture and instruction of the Lord. Honor those who remain in virginity, as the priestesses of Christ; and the widows who maintain seriousness in behavior, as the altar of God. Servants, serve your masters with respectful fear. Masters, give orders to your servants with kindness. Let no one among you be idle; for idleness leads to need. I do not command these things as a person of any importance, though I am in bonds for Christ; but as a brother, I remind you of them. The Lord be with you!

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

...not punished for their children, nor children for their fathers, then it is clear that neither will wives be punished for their husbands, nor servants for their masters, nor one relation for another, nor one friend for another, nor the righteous for the wicked. But everyone will be required to give an account of his own doing. For neither was punishment inflicted on Noah for the world, nor was Lot destroyed by fire for the Sodomites, nor was Rahab slain for the inhabitants of Jericho, nor Israel for the Egyptians. For not living together, but agreement in their mindset, alone could condemn the righteous with the wicked. We ought not, therefore, to listen to such persons who call for death, and hate mankind, and love accusations, and under fair pretenses bring men to death. For one man shall not die for another, but everyone is held with the chains of his own sins. Proverbs 5:22. And, behold, the man and his work is before his face. Isaiah 62:11. Now we ought to help those who are with us, and are in danger, and fall, and, as far as lies in our power, to bring them back to sobriety by our exhortations, and so save them from death. For “the whole have no need of the physician, but

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

...release, she is a helper in keeping the house, and in the faith that is in Christ. And still more clearly he says, "To those who are joined in marriage I command, not I, but the Lord, that a wife is not to be separated from her husband. But if she is separated, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to send away his wife. But to the rest I say, I, not the Lord," down to, "But now they are holy," 1 Corinthians 7:14. What then will those say who speak against the law and against marriage, as though it were permitted only by the law, and not also in the New Testament? What can those who shrink from sowing and generation say against these laws that have been laid down? For he also appoints as bishop one who rules his own household well, and is the husband of one wife. Therefore he says that all things are pure to the pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Rather, both their mind and conscience are defiled, Titus 1:15. But concerning pleasure that is outside the rule, he says, "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the soft, nor those who lie with males, nor the greedy, nor

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...l into similar punishments. But we ought to regard boys as our children, and to look at other men's wives as their own daughters. For to restrain pleasures, and to rule the belly and the parts below the belly, belongs to the greatest mastery. For if reason does not allow the wise man even to move a finger carelessly, as the Stoics confess, how much more must those who pursue wisdom gain control over the part used in intercourse? And for this reason that part seems to be called the private part, because this part of the body ought to be used with more modesty than any other. For nature has allowed us to use food, and also lawful marriage, as much as is fitting and useful. And it has allowed us to desire the procreation of children. But whoever pursues these things beyond measure falls away even from what is according to nature, harming himself through relations that are against law. Above all, it is right that we should never use sexual intercourse with youths as with women. And so he who was made a philosopher by Moses says that seed must not be sown on rocks and stones, because it will never take root there or receive the generative power of seed. Therefore the Word through Mos