1 Peter Chapter 3
Wives and Husbands
3:1 In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Then, even if some are disobedient to the word, they will be won over without a word by the way you live,
Just as the servant was to be in submission to his master, so was the wife to be in submission to her husband. Since the text was written as “your own husband”, this command was not for women to be in submission to all men.
3:2 when they see your pure and reverent conduct.
If the husband was an unbeliever or antagonistic towards the gospel, then the wife was not to continually preach to him. She was to win him over by her actions.
3:3 Let your beauty not be external – the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes – 3:4 but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
The beauty of the woman was to come from her inner quality, not her outward apparel. A woman can build her inner quality by the study and application of Bible doctrine. This verse is not condemning the use of outward apparel. If so, then a woman wearing clothes would be condemned. The focus of a woman’s beauty should be upon her inner personality and devotion to God.
3:5 For in the same way the holy women who hoped in God long ago adorned themselves by being subject to their husbands, 3:6 like Sarah who obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You become her children when you do what is good and have no fear in doing so.
Sarah was continually placing herself as a servant of her master. When wives follow the example of Sarah, then they do what is “good”. When they have “no fear in doing so”, then they have no fear in what the culture thinks about this Biblical doctrine. Modern feminism is intimidating wives into not being in submission to their husbands. Feminism turns women into men, causing them to lose their inner beauty. Wives are to become doctrinally strong so that they are not influenced or intimidated by the satanic world system.
3:7 Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.
Just as wives are to submit to their husbands, so are husbands to submit to the Lord. Husbands submit to the Lord by meeting their wife’s needs. The Greek word for “treat your wives with consideration” is γνῶσιν (gnosin), meaning to know intimately or to know sexually. This word is used five times (Deut. 22:17, 24:1, 25:5; Prov. 19:14; Isa. 62:5) in the Septuagint. It means “to live together as husband and wife” or “to co-habit.” The verb is in the present tense, meaning to continually meet these sexual needs.
The wife is to be honored, meaning that she is to be loved into subjection, not forced into subjection. All children of Christ are weak vessels before the Lord. However, the woman is weaker in physical strength and needs physical protection from her husband.
Wives are “fellow heirs”, meaning that they will also co-reign with Christ. This means that the wife is equal to her husband in spiritual blessings. This was radical teaching for Rome, which was extremely male-dominant. Roman men would marry several wives, visit prostitution temples, and then possess homosexual house slaves. The purpose of the Roman wife was to produce male heirs and take care of the house. The Word of God elevated the status of women in Roman culture to equal citizens in heaven.
Husbands and wives were partners in two aspects. Physically, they worked together to produce children. Spiritually, they worked together so that their prayer would be answered. Hindered prayers are those prayers which do not lift up to the throne of God.
3:8 Finally, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate, and humble.
All Messianic believers were commanded to do five things. First, they were to be harmonious, meaning that their mind should be in musical harmony with the mind of God.
Second, they were to be sympathetic, meaning to have compassion and suffer together with fellow believers.
Third, they were to be affectionate, which is the Greek word φιλάδελφοι (philadelphia), meaning brotherly love. This is friendship with other believers.
Fourth, they were to be compassionate, meaning to have a tender heart, or a caring personality.
Fifth, they were to be humble, which is the opposite of high-minded or arrogant.
3:9 Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but instead bless others because you were called to inherit a blessing.
The Messianic believers were not to seek revenge. When someone did evil to them, or insulted them, they were to bless others. The reason was that the Messianic believers were blessed by Christ who was cursed, so they should in return bless others when they are cursed. In this way, they will be imitating Christ.
3:10 For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from uttering deceit. 3:11 And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord’s face is against those who do evil.
Peter quoted Psalm 34:12-16. The goal of the Messianic believer is to love life, but not the satanic world system. They were not to love a long life, but the quality of their life.
A second goal is for them to see good days. Good days are those days where they live the Christ-like life. The study and application of Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level will give the believer the ability to live the Christ-like life.
They were commanded to keep their tongues from speaking evil and their lips from speaking deceit. This was a problem in the early Jewish church, which was addressed by James in his earlier epistle.
They were commanded to turn away from evil and instead do good. They must seek peace and pursue it. The only way to turn from evil is to be able to recognize it. One cannot recognize evil unless they are grounded deeply in Bible doctrine. When one does not study the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level, then the enemy focuses on the doctrinal weaknesses of the believer.
There is human good and divine good. Human good is doing the work of Satan, but thinking that one is doing the work of God. For example, Paul zealously hunted down and killed Christians, thinking that he was doing the work of God. According to Isaiah 65, human good works are as dirty menstrual rags to God.
Divine good is doing works that please God. One must master Bible doctrine to recognize the difference between human good works and divine good works.
The Greek word for peace is εἰρήνην (eiranan), which comes from the Hebrew word shalom, meaning peace with God. Man is a sinner, making him an enemy of God. To have peace with God, one must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. One must believe that He is deity and that He is the Messiah of the Old Testament. Believers never lose their salvation, but they do move out of the fellowship of God when they sin. According to 1 John 1:9, believers must continually confess their sins in order to move back into fellowship with God. Otherwise, believers will not have peace with God. Since believers are the children of God, they will receive divine discipline. The way to avoid divine discipline is to study the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level and then continually confess one’s sins so that one can remain in fellowship with God. Either the Bible will keep one out of sin or sin will keep one out of the Bible.
The Lord Jesus Christ listens to the prayers of the righteous. One who has not mastered doctrine from the whole Bible will not know how to pray in God’s will. Prayers that are not in the will of God will not be answered. Therefore, the secret to the Christian life is to master Bible doctrine and continually confess sins so that prayers will be effective and eternal rewards will be earned. Anyone who is not interested in eternal rewards is not following God’s will, because eternal rewards are only given to those who follow God’s will.
Evil is anything which is against the will of God. Any time that an unbeliever or a believer goes against the will of God, then they are committing evil right in front of the face of God. God is there when a believer sins. He sins the sin. God judges the sin.
3:13 For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good?
Even evil people will usually not harm people who are doing good.
3:14 But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken.
Sometimes God allows evil to happen to righteous people for His own glory. However, if a person is performing divine good and evil is done to them, then he is actually blessed by God. This is a paradox in which the natural man cannot understand. God is the divine Master of turning evil into good.
3:15 But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.
Peter made a reference to Isaiah 8:13. The Messianic believers were to set apart the Messiah Jesus as Lord, or as Yahweh of the Old Testament. If the Messianic believers understand that Jesus was Yahweh, then it will help them to understand their persecution.
The Messianic believers should always be ready to defend the faith. The Greek word for “to give an answer” is ἀπολογίαν (apologia), which is the origin of the word apologetics. It means to give a logical verbal defense of God’s word.
3:16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you.
This defense of their faith must be given with courtesy and respect, but not with arrogance or belligerence. The Messianic believers were to have a good conscience, meaning that they were living free of sin. The way to stay free of sin is to study the entire counsel of the Word of God and then continually confess all known sins. This keeps the conscience in harmony with God. If another unbeliever slanders the conduct of a believer, then the believer’s good acts should bring shame upon the false accuser. The life of a believer sometimes is the only testimony to the unsaved world. If the unbeliever will not study the Bible, then the believer needs to be an example of Christ to him.
3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil.
Sometimes it is in the will of God for believers to suffer for doing good. If God calls a believer to suffer, then they need to be ready. Only strong Bible doctrine and confessed sin will prepare and mature a believer for this type of lifestyle.
Suffering for Doing Good
3:18 Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit.
Peter was writing to a Jewish audience who understood the Levitical sacrificial system. Animal sacrifices were to be continually repeated every day, week, month, year, and on Jewish holidays. In contrast, Christ suffered once and for all for all sins. This verb is in the aorist tense, so it referred to a onetime completed action of the past. Peter once objected to this Bible doctrine, but he now realizes the importance of this theological concept.
3:19 In it he went and preached to the spirits in prison,
Between His death and resurrection, Jesus visited Sheol. Sheol was the Old Testament location of the dead. The saved lived in Paradise, or Abraham’s Bosom. The unsaved lived in Gehenna, or hell.
The spirits in prison were the fallen angels of Genesis 6. They were imprisoned in a special compartment of Sheol called Tartarus.
3:20 after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.
According to Genesis 3:15, God prophesied that the seed of a woman would crush the head of Satan. Satan attempted to stop this seed of woman from being born by corrupting all human women so that they could not produce the seed child. The seed son was to come from a virgin, so demons attempted to intermarry with every virgin woman on earth. Only the three daughters-in-law survived this plan. Jesus announced to these demons that their plan was unsuccessful. The Book of Enoch (which is uninspired) recorded similar details.
3:21 And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you – not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Many denominations misinterpret this verse to teach that one must be water baptized to be saved. Noah’s ark saved the family from physical death. The Jews who remained in Judaism would die during the Temple destruction of 70 A.D. Their only way to survive physically was to be water baptized, which was identification of Jesus. The only way for them to be saved spiritually was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to become saved
3:22 who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to him.
Jesus suffered, yet He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. All angels and authorities have been placed under His authority. Therefore, the Messianic believers needed to imitate Jesus in their suffering.