[1
Peter 3:1-7]
1
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your
husbands so that, if any of them do not believe
the word, they may be won over without words by
the behavior of their wives,
2
when they see the purity and reverence of your
lives.
3
Your beauty should not come from outward
adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing
of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
4
Instead, it should be that of your inner self,
the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is of great worth in God's sight.
5
For this is the way the holy women of the past
who put their hope in God used to make themselves
beautiful. They were submissive to their own
husbands,
6
like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her
master. You are her daughters if you do what is
right and do not give way to fear.
7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you
live with your wives, and treat them with respect
as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of
the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will
hinder your prayers.
This
is a magnificent text for understanding God's
plan for an ideal marriage. In a few verses Peter
describes the complementary responsibilities of
husbands and wives and guards against common
abuses.
The
whole context assumes that allegiance to Christ
takes priority over all
human allegiance. The larger section begins,
Submit yourselves for the Lord's
sake to every authority instituted among men (1
Peter 2:13), and affirms that
the Christian life above all means that we should
look to Christ and follow in his
steps (2:21).
Peter
speaks directly to wives, not to the husbands so
that they can tell their
wives what he says. Peter assumes that they will
hear, ponder, understand, and
respond to God's Word themselves. Moreover, Peter
knows that some wives
have chosen Christ even though their husbands
have not, and this was good for
them to do. They have thought the matter through
and departed from their
husbands' way of thinking on this issue of
supreme importance in life.
The
Christian wife should try to influence her
husband to become a Christian.
Peter helps her to do this; he does not tell her
not to.
If
he should say, "Stop being a Christian, be
like me, " she will have to humbly
say, "I cannot. My conscience must answer to
a higher authority." If he should
tell her to steal, or lie, or do something else
contrary to the clear moral teachings
of Scripture, she must refuse, thereby following
Peter's command to maintain
good conduct among the Gentiles (1 Peter 2:12).
Moreover, the word hagnos,
chaste (rsv, nasb; the niv has purity ) means
pure, free from moral defilement, and serves as
another reminder that the submission Peter
commands must never
go so far as to include obedience to demands to
do something that is morally
wrong.
This is consistent with other parts of Scripture
where God's people have
disobeyed some human authority and have been
approved by God for so
doing. Consider, for example, the Hebrew midwives
in Egypt (Exodus 1:17),
Esther before King Xerxes (Esther 4:16),
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
(Daniel 3:13-18), the prophet Daniel (Daniel
6:10-14), the apostles (Acts
4:18-20; 5:27-29), and Moses' parents (Hebrews
11:23). The principle to be
drawn from all these passages is to obey except
when it would be sin to obey,
which is consistent with Peter's general
statement that it is for the Lord's sake
(2:13) that all our submission to lesser
authority is to be given.
In
fact, where there is a Christian wife with a
non-Christian husband, she is
shown to have greater spiritual insight than he
does-she has seen the truth of
Christianity, and he has not.
Peter
tells wives to not give way to fear (verse 6).
Thus the reference to the
wife as the weaker partner (verse 7) cannot be
due to any inherent lack of inner strength or
courage in the face of danger or threat.
We
must remember that submission in regard to
authority is often consistent
with equality in importance, dignity, and
honor-Jesus was subject both to His
parents and to God the Father, and Christians who
are highly honored in God's sight are still
commanded to be subject to unbelieving government
authorities and masters. Thus the command to
wives to be subject to their husbands should
never be taken to imply inferior personhood or
spirituality, or lesser importance.
Indeed, Peter affirms just the opposite: wives
are heirs with you of the gracious
gift of life (verse 7).
It is important to note the relationship between
this passage and Galatians
3:28-29: "There is neither Jew nor Greek,
slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise."
This text is often played off against submission
as if the neither . . . male nor
female in Galatians 3:28 ruled out any commands
for submission within
marriage. But 1 Peter 3:1-7 shows that the
apostolic pattern of thought in
Scripture did not feel any tension between a call
for wives to submit to their
husbands (verse 1) and a clear declaration that
husbands and wives are joint
heirs of the grace of life (verse 7). This is
Peter's way of saying, There is neither
male nor female . . . you are all one in Christ
Jesus, and the context shows that
it is not inconsistent with female submission and
male headship in marriage.
Submission in role and equality in dignity and
importance stand side-by-side in
apostolic thought. In fact, the parallel between
Galatians 3:28-29 and 1 Peter
3:1-7 is even closer when we see the theme of
being Abraham's seed, heirs
according to the promise (Galatians 3:29)
compared to the theme of being
daughters of Sarah in 1 Peter 3:6.
