The purpose of this essay is to examine and interpret the usage and meaning of the greek word úποτασσω in the literary units in the New Testament called household codes (from the German word Haustafel included in Martin Luther´s Luthers Small Catechism). The verb úποτασσω is in the NRSV translated to be subject (Eph 5:22, Col 3:18) or accept the authority (1 Pet 3:1) and is used in the household codes as an exhortation to subordination for women. My examination and interpretation has been conducted through exegetical and redaction-critical analysis where I also have tried to cross-examine the christian writings on the topic with related texts on conceptions of gender in antiquity. I have studied the texts through the critical lens of feminist hermeneutics and from a feminist theological perspective. The aim of the study is to understand and interpret the texts from a historical-critical point of view, but my work also has a feminist-liberationist premise that hopes to find ways to constructively interpret texts that seem to diminish the full humanity of women and promote rigid culture-bound definitions of "male" and "female".