This week, Pastor Matthew and Amanda took us through 1 Peter 3: 1-7.
From our cultural vantage point, this is a very difficult section of Scripture to understand and apply, and we must do the hard work of reading and understanding it through the lends of first century Christianity. Not doing so is very dangerous, as it opens the door for misinterpretation.
Under the Jewish law during this time, women were objects, owned first by their fathers, and then by their husbands. Wives could not leave their husbands under any circumstances, but husbands could dismiss their wives for any reason. Women had no rights, and could not make decisions for themselves: including that of religion.
The family religion was that of the husband, and it is almost unfathomable for us to think about what it would have meant for a wife to become a Christian in this time, without her husband doing do first. And yet, this is the exact circumstance that Peter is addressing.
Therefore, although this passage can read as very oppressive towards women through our twenty-first century American viewpoint; it is actually in many ways the exact opposite. The fact that Peter addresses the women as their own independent moral agents in this passage is in itself radical and revolutionary, as normally within this time, women would not have been addressed at all.
Additionally, Peter is not encouraging believing women to walk away from Jesus in their submission to their husbands, but instead, to be model wives; as their seeking to please their husbands is far more likely to win them over than arguing, disobeying or nagging. Their submissions in not out of fear, but obedience to Christ who treats them as full persons and allows them to rise above the threats and fears of the age.
Peter then goes on to address the husbands, commanding them to live considerately with their wives, which was also radical for the time. He tells husband to love and honor their wives as the physically weaker gender, something that dictates the effectiveness of their prayer life (and is therefore extremely important!).
Before God, husbands and wives are equal and joint heirs to God’s gift. Marriage is a mutual laying your life down, all the time, and there is no vacation from that. But this mutual submission actually brings life, as we were made to lay our lives down for others, for the Lord and for other people. Great marriages are established when two people lay their lives down for one another, constantly.
