Female “Subordination” ...

What St. Paul Really Meant by Female “Subordination”

by Howard Kainz

The Second Reading for Sunday, August 26, is from St. Paul (Ephesians 5:21-32), in which Paul offers the instruction in 5:22, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands, as to the Lord.” Following this Epistle, an optional alternative “shorter” epistle is offered; actually it is only a few lines shorter.  This optional substitute reading is possibly a concession to those who are afraid to read about wives “being subordinate” to their husbands—thus risking sideway glances and whispering among the congregation, or even an occasional radical feminist walking out of church. One cannot imagine the nuns at the LCWR choosing this reading for their Masses; and, taken in isolation, it might imply a subordinate status for women in the Church as a whole.

On the other hand, doesn’t the first verse, 5:21, put the whole thing into perspective?  “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ,” says Paul.  He obviously is speaking of mutual subordination.

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