In like manner, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any don't obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word;
to your own husbands: The Christian wife is exhorted to be in subjection to her own husband, not to another, even when her husband is not a Christian. Other passages in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 7, 2 Corinthians 6, 1 Peter 2:18) indicate that those obeying the gospel might be tempted to throw off the bonds of social responsibilities, especially when one member of a relationship became a Christian and the other did not.