Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 3:1-7

Introduction

There are few passages in Scripture which are as controversial in today’s societies.

These verses are contrary to what feminists preach.

These women say things like: “I will not be in subjection to any man!” the wedding vows are often altered to take the word “obey” from the wife’s vows.

The equality of men and women are held by both law and custom in America today.

And if that isn’t enough, American law allows for same-sex marriage and admit to a bewildering cloud of gender choices.

But what does God say?

How are we to understand this passage that seems to be so out of sorts with the times?

Exposition of the Text

Likewise, you, who are wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands — When we look at this first verse, we should note two qualifications.

First if all, it refers to wives and not females in general.

The second is that subjection is to be to one’s own husband and not someone else’s husband or to men in general.

We are talking about a specific relationship within the covenant of marriage.

It does not address the status of women and men in society.

Something else to notice in the Greek of this sentence is that the word “subject” is actually a participle in Greek and not an imperative which would make the word “subject” to be much stronger.

The participle implies a sense of voluntary submission or informed choice.

Peter is about to describe the rationale why they are to subject themselves to their own husbands.

In 1 Peter 2:13, the imperative “be subject” is used in relation to obey every manmade ordinance for the Lord’s sake.

For wives this would mean obeying Roman law concerning the conduct of women in society.

It is tempered by the words “for the Lord’s sake.”

But just as citizens, non-citizens living in the Empire, Christians, and slaves were to be in subjection to Roman Law, women were to be in subjection.

As we saw in our earlier studies, this subjection is not absolute.

If the Law of God were in conflict with Roman Law, God’s word was to be obeyed.

But the Christian is not to violently resist Roman Law.

But there is a time for non-compliance.

The Christian should be willing to suffer indignity in these conditions.

So that in case there are some (husbands) who are not convinced by the Word (of God), they might be won without the Word by the conduct of their wives.

— Under Roman Law, the husband had the power of life and death over his slaves and his family as well.

The husband could divorce his wife at will, sell her into slavery, or even kill her. this sounds incredibly cruel to our ears today.

He also had control over the family religion as well.

This put Christian wives who had Pagan husbands at great difficulty.

she would expect to attend the altar of her husband.

Under these conditions, what was she to do? Would open defiance to her husband win him to the Lord.

It would seem more likely that she would get beaten or worse for such insubordination.

As 1 Peter addresses how the Christian should bear witness to Christ by their willingness to suffer for Him, we can see that it is the Lord’s desire that the submission of the wife to her Pagan husband would serve as an effective witness to Jesus Christ.

It was by such submissive suffering that the wife might win her husband over.

Observing your pure and reverential conduct — People watch how Christians conduct themselves.

they are looking for any fault or inconsistency so that they might accuse us of hypocrisy, and therefore, dismiss the claims of the gospel.

People often try to provoke the Christian to wrath.

The suffering witness of the Christian is a main theme of 1 Peter.

Just as Christians were to submit to the government and slaves to their own masters, the submission of wives to their own husbands was a means of witness.

Marriage relations have enough difficulties as it is.

just like some slaves had difficult masters, many wives also had difficult and pagan husbands.

Such husbands deserve to be held to account for their conduct and openly rebuked by their wives.

As tempting as that might have been, it might have acted as an incitement to violence against the wife by an angry husband who has had hos authority and respect challenged.

The bible says a soft answer turns away wrath.

(Proverbs 15:1) So, there is a practical application here just as with slaves not provoking their masters.

However, the more important aspect is the Christian witness to the world, We are here to win people to Jesus, Peter, at the end of Chapter 2 used the example of Christ’s willing suffering as a model of how we should witness by unjust suffering.

The kind of witness that Peter enjoins the wives is what we would call today a “silent witness.”

It would be better said that it is a witness without words.

Pure and reverential conduct speaks volumes, especially in the face of opposition.

The husband knew that something changed about his wife.

He may or may not have known that his wife had started meeting with the Christians.

But he could observe the difference.

To a man, honor and respect is more important than love.

There is nothing more desirable than a wife who honors him.

Many husbands were won over in the Empire by the deferential conduct of their wives.

It was one of the greatest means of spreading the gospel, especially in the upper echelons of society.

In general, this silent witness is the means of having someone ask why they react so unlike the world.

What is the reason for your hope that is within us.

This is where Peter is leading us in 1 Peter 3:15.

Having a good testimony makes your well-reasoned response to that question all the more effective.

Not being of outward appearance, such as the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold ornaments, or being clothed in fine garments — The mention of braiding of hair and the wearing of gold ornaments and fine dress seems to indicate that some of the women in the church were wealthy, and, therefore, married to influential men.

People were to dress according to their social rank in those days.

The wearing of purple, for example, was to be worn only be royalty.

But there has always been those who try to dress above their rank in society.

This is a demonstration of covetousness which the Bible consistently frowns upon.

Peter has just told the churches that they were special to God who is king over all.

He calls them a “royal priesthood.”

(1 Peter 2:9) This might make some feel entitled to wear costly dress to reflect their new status of belonging to a higher royalty than Caesar.

However, this is balanced by the example of Jesus set forth at the end of the second chapter.

He being the Lord of all, wore no royal garments.

In face, on the cross, he wore no garments at all.

He who was worthy of the highest privilege lived well below His privilege for the sake of His mission to reconcile us to God.

As His followers, we are to follow His example.

We must also note here that many of the early Christians came from the lower ranks of society and slaves.

Costly and showy apparel could lead to jealousy within the church.

All care must be taken to retain the unity within the church.

Paul had to deal with the troubles of distinctions of social rank with the Corinthian Church, They were seated at the Lord’s table according to the rules of social rank with the “betters” eating first.

This was to not discern the body of Christ and led to sickness and death within the congregation.

(1 Corinthians 11:27-30) Outside the church, social rank was to be respected, but not within the Church.

Having said this, we have to ask how women of rank were to comport themselves in the Roman world.

Their pagan husbands would have expected them to dress appropriately according to their rank.

This would have required them to fix their hair and dress according to expectations.

Even lower ranks of society would have expected this.

Men expected their wives to be their glory and wanted their wives to be physically attractive, They liked the idea of a “trophy wife.”

This is still true today in many cases and is exploited by both men and women, Since we have already established in this study that our witness to Christ trumps any privilege we might have, it seems that these cultured women would witness best in their public duties by living up to these expectations.

BUT rather the hidden woman of the heart.

even the imperishable quality of a meek and quiet spirit which is priceless to God — The word “but” here is the strong Greek word for “but” which is to make a great contrast between worldly adornment as compared to a meek and gentle spirit.

But God treasures a meek and gentle spirit.

This isn’t just true of women, but Jesus says “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

(Matthew 5:5) The Greek word for “meek” is in the masculine gender which is used to describe both males and females.

In this context, we are speaking specifically about the conduct of wives before their own husbands.

Where does the wife go to be truly valued?

—by her husband or from the Lord?

The first would be desirable.

But this is not always the case.

Some husbands can be quite mean.

But a godly woman, just like a godly man, is always valued.