Paul, writing to a local body of believers in Ephesus writes, “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

This command isn’t written just to the women, or even to the wives, it is written to the church. Our general disposition toward one another should be one of submission. With that general understanding in mind, Paul moves specifically to speaking to wives and husbands. What he has to say to those in Ephesus would have been a brand new way of thinking, especially for the men.