Does the Bible specifically give any rights to women/wives who are experiencing domestic violence?
Unfortunately much of our language of abuse and domestic violence is modern, and so it is difficult--perhaps impossible--to expect ancient writers (even divinely inspired ones) to employ the same kind of language we might use in our culture--especially in a post-suffragette and women's rights world.
That said, Scripture very clearly teaches very important things--things which form the basis of good relational and sexual ethics of respect, love, compassion, gentleness, and justice which simply does not allow domestic and sexual violence to be, in anyway whatsoever, acceptable within Christianity.
St. Paul teaches in Ephesians ch. 5 that, as Christians, we are to demonstrate humility and respect through mutual submissiveness to one another out of our love and devotion to Christ, see Ephesians 5:21.
This is important, because this is the establishment clause that provides context for the following things St. Paul writes, both in the rest of chapter 5, as well as continuing into chapter 6.
In fact, in our earliest New Testament manuscripts here is how Ephesians 5:22 reads as the following,
αἱ γυναῖκες τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ
ai gunaikes tois idiois andrasin hos to kurio
the wives the their-own husbands as-to the Lord
"wives, their own husbands, as to the Lord"
You'll notice it doesn't make much sense even after being translated, and that's because the text lacks a verb.
This is fine in Greek, as the verb is assumed and borrowed from the preceding statement, in this case the verb being borrowed is borrowed from verse 21, ὑποτασσόμενοι "submitting".
This is important, because it indicates that verse 21 is actually the beginning of what Paul is going to talk about continuing forward, rather than being the conclusion of one thought and then establishing a brand new thought in verse 22. Paul is actually using his establishing thought on mutual submission to one another out of our devotion to Christ, and going on to provide everyday examples of what this mutual submitting looks like.
Which is also why Paul doesn't only say "wives, to your husbands" in verse 22, but then flips the script and exhorts men to likewise submit to their wives in verse 25. So it is never one sided, wives to their husbands alone; but wife to husband and also husband to wife.
Paul actually continues to do this kind of flipping in chapter 6, where he discusses relationships between parents and children, and also slaves and masters.
Paul begins with the socially-normative at the time: wives to husbands, children to parents, slaves to masters. But in each case also flips it, also saying husbands to wives, parents to children, and masters to slaves. This is, arguably, most clear in the case of master-slave relationships, as Paul quite explicitly tells masters that they are supposed to behave the exact same way to their slaves, that is, the master is to submit and serve their slave.
Paul provides here a rather radical notion of equality within the Christian community. While at no point does the Apostle attempt to upend the secular social establishment and order; he instead calls the Christian community to a way of relating to one another and living with one another that is fundamentally different.
We moderns might like to ask why doesn't Paul simply say that slavery is wrong and that every slave should be set free? That's a justifiable, but also very modern way of looking at things with the benefit of our hindsight given our knowledge and history with the institution of slavery based on the systemic oppression of people that has occurred within modern history. That doesn't mean slavery was ever okay, it just means that we have a benefit afforded us by hindsight. But it is worth noting that Paul absolutely does advocate for slaves to seek their freedom if they are able, and for masters to grant it.
We need to remember that, in Paul's time, the nascent Church was still a tiny blip on the religious radar of the world, not much more than a messianic Jewish movement with a handful of followers scattered across the Roman world. Paul was in no position to even be conceiving of the idea that Christians could ever actually wield political or social power to affect social change--for Paul it was simply the Church's mission to be the Church within the social order in which it existed, to be the people of the Gospel among the nations.
But, I say all this, because when we do see what Paul is saying, in the context which he says it, what he is saying is profound: The Church is not the same thing as the prevailing social order, the Church is Christ's thing, and the liberty and freedom we have found in Christ gives birth to a way of being a people that looks forward not to a new social order as part of this world--but to the perfection that will appear in the future world, when God has made all things new. The Church therefore lives in the midst of the dying order of the world, to proclaim the truthful hope of salvation and the life of that coming world--that life which we now share in, in part, through faith. There is the now and not yet; we have for example been raised with Christ and so share in His resurrection even now through faith by the grace of God, but there is still yet to come that glorious day when we are raised up, bodily, to that life that shall never fade away.
Thus when we submit to one another in love, by our devotion to Christ, we are living as a Christian people, living in imitation of the Crucified Lord, who though God, became man and was humble even to the point of suffering and death on the cross. We esteem others more than ourselves, putting the needs of others ahead of our own, loving our neighbors, caring for the poor, the hungry, and the needy.
We give ourselves away to one another, in love, even as God gives Himself away to us in Christ, out of His great love for us.
Thus there is is, as the Apostle says, no no longer Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free--for we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And if all these things are true, then there is no room for tolerating domestic and sexual violence in the Church, but instead the Church is obligated to support the victims of abuse, and to protect them. And to be intolerant against such evil and violence in our congregations.
-CryptoLutheran
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