If we're not careful, we might miss some of the hugely significant aspects of the Bible. For instance in Ephesians 5 and 6, for Paul specifically to address women, children, and slaves, they had to be members of the congregation already.
Paul's words couldn't be more timely than today's generation of children. Submission, obedience, duty have all become the exception rather than the norm. These virtues are much easier taught at home than in the civic sphere. Obedience to parents leads to obedience to God.
Some of what Paul says is time-bound and some is timeless. Of course, Paul is not condoning slavery, but all of us answer to someone and most of us have others that answer to us. How we relate to each other is a matter of the heart. But we know that "[t]here is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28, NIV).
