As an Apostle, Paul was not only concerned with preaching the Gospel: certainly, he was careful to help his converts accept the Gospel teaching in all its purity but he was equally careful to ensure that they also understood that they had to live according the spirit of the Gospel and so he gave them instruction on how to do that. In his letter, after the main doctrinal exposition, he turns to morality, by instructing his readers in correct moral behaviour. This is especially true of the Letters to the Ephesians and Colossians, where Paul give some wonderful but rather challenging teaching on the ethics of family life, the relationships between husband and wife, between parents and children, between employer and servants.

Many modern wives may not like to listen to what Paul has to say about obedience, and many modern husbands may not be capable of even beginning to try to accomplish the high ideal he sets for them, loving their wives as Jesus loves the Church. Inability on the part of many to accept Paul's "family ethics" does not in any way call his doctrine in question.