1 Peter 3:1-7, CEB – Wives, likewise, submit to your own husbands. Do this so that even if some of them refuse to believe the word, they may be won without a word by their wives’ way of life. After all, they will have observed the reverent and holy manner of your lives. Don’t try to make yourselves beautiful on the outside, with stylish hair or by wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes. Instead, make yourselves beautiful on the inside, in your hearts, with the enduring quality of a gentle, peaceful spirit. This type of beauty is very precious in God’s eyes. For it was in this way that holy women who trusted in God used to make themselves beautiful, accepting the authority of their own husbands. For example, Sarah accepted Abraham’s authority when she called him master. You have become her children when you do good and don’t respond to threats with fear.
Husbands, likewise, submit by living with your wife in ways that honor her, knowing that she is the weaker partner. Honor her all the more, as she is also a coheir of the gracious care of life. Do this so that your prayers won’t be hindered.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that this text, since it was written, has been used by too many to instruct women to endure abuse of all kinds of abuse at the hands of their husbands. Even in the intensely patriarchal culture to which Peter was speaking, this was never his aim. It is yet another example of how scripture can be misused to support heinous behavior. It is also my conviction that Peter’s advice concerning wives and husbands would sound quite different if he were writing in the twenty-first century versus the first century.
Peter suggests that this advice lies in the same vein as the instruction he has offered earlier in the letter. Act honorably with non-believers even when it is difficult. Submit to government authority even when we don’t agree with their policies. Submit to slave-masters even in the face of harsh treatment. He begins this instruction to wives and husbands with “likewise,” suggesting that the same logic applies here as in the other examples. Act in such a way that, even in the face of tremendous adversity, you may by your honor and compassion win over those who do not believe in Christ.
Implied by all of this and the phrase “even if some of them refuse to believe the word,” Peter is addressing women in the Christian community whose spouses do not share faith in Jesus. While it provides no real comfort in our own day, the fact that Peter addresses women at all in a public letter suggests a revolutionary shift is already occurring. Women are beginning to be seen as more than property in a culture where such perspective was all but non-existent. Christianity is already beginning to shift cultural norms and values concerning those who were previously viewed at-best as secondary human beings (slaves and women).
In such a hostile (and let’s face it, dangerous) culture, Peter tries to provide instruction that will best serve the aver-arching goal of early Christian community – spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and grow the community.
If there is any doubt that a revolutionary shift is taking place, we need to look no further than Peter’s instruction to husbands”
“Husbands, likewise, submit by living with your wife in ways that honor her, knowing that she is the weaker partner. Honor her all the more, as she is also a coheir of the gracious care of life. Do this so that your prayers won’t be hindered.”
To ask men to submit in any way to their wives was a scandalous suggestion that few, if any men, would have heard before. Even in the same sentence that he calls the wife “the weaker partner,” Peter also calls her a “coheir of the gracious care of life.” He then makes the incredibly surprising statement that to not submit to their wives, men’s communication with God would be “hindered.” Peter is deftly making the argument that women are full human beings that are seen and chosen by God as equals in the expectations of the gospel. Two thousand years later, we are still trying to live into that reality fully. There are still places in the Christian community where women are not valued equally as men.
It’s always important to remember that the biblical writers such as Peter were speaking to a very specific culture facing very specific realities that are very different from those we face in our own day. To faithfully represent the full power of the message they intended, we have the challenge to carefully seek to understand the shifts they were trying to make and then see what the same kind of shift would look like in our own culture.
My guess is that Peter would not have had the ability to envision how far we have come on the issues he sought to address in this letter (governmental oppression, slavery, and spousal relationships). But I do believe that Peter would not only celebrate that progress, but push us to do better in all of our relationships.
Question: In what ways does your less than honorable behavior towards other people interfere with your relationship with God?
Prayer: Lord, may we treat our spouses as the coheirs of grace and calling that they are. May we be honorable in our behavior towards all and always consider how we live is a reflection the faith we profess in You. Amen.
Song: Husbands and Wives – Roger Miller
Weekday Word w/ Eric 
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