The Social Status of First Century Women In Relationship to Scriptural Household Codes

It is difficult to make sweeping statements about the status of women during the first century because there were exceptions to any characterization that might be made. However, there were laws, widely accepted codes, and assumptions regarding roles of women. These provide insight into the sort of life women lived during this period. As might be expected, there was a wide range of lifestyles for women depending on family wealth, family standing, whether the woman was enslaved or free, urban or rural, Greek or Roman or Jewish, etc. The descriptions in this paper apply best to first century freewomen who live in urban settings and were reasonably comfortable economically.