Instructions to Wives 1 Peter 3:1

After giving the “scattered” Christians instructions for living with Jesus as “an example” of “suffering wrongfully”, Peter the apostle compared them to “sheep going astray” and told them they were “returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of” their “souls”. In chapter three and verse one of his letter, Peter begins to be specific with certain groups of people among them, and he began with instructions to the wives where we read:

Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

The verse begins, “Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands;” Peter began with the word, “Likewise” which means “equally and in the same way” “you wives” which refers to “women of any age who are married or betrothed to a man”, “be in subjection” or “arranged under, subordinate to, subject to, yielded, committed and obedient” “to your own husbands” which means “pertaining to one's self, one's own and belonging to one's self a male who is married or betrothed to a woman”. Peter told the wives to be subordinate and submissive to their “own” husbands which means not another's husband, but their own.

The verse continues, “that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;” Peter added the word, “that” or “in order or so that”, “if any” which means “whoever” “obey not” or “do not allow themselves to be persuaded, refuse to believe and be obedient to” “the word” or “a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea and refers to the doctrine or teaching of God's word”, “they also may” which in Greek is “kerdainō kai kerdainō” and means “get, acquire and gain,” “without” or “not with intervention or will” “the word” which refers to “a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea and refers to the doctrine or teaching of God's word” “be won” which again is the Greek word “or “kerdainō” and means to “get , acquire and gain”“by the conversation” which means “manner of life, conduct, behavior and deportment” “of the wives” which refers to “women of any age who are married or betrothed to a man”. The idea is for “wives” to behave in such a submissive manner that their husbands will know “God's word” through their actions, and they may be “won” into His kingdom by it.

When we think about Peter's words, we begin to understand the significance of the role of the wife in a family. Though her husband may be an unbeliever in the word of God and in Jesus Christ His Son, the wife's behavior before him may turn His heart to the truth. In other words, the wife's subjection takes on a spiritual, eternal fashion when she is obedient to the Lord. The Holy Spirit of God will work upon the husband's heart and mind when the wife is subject unto him, and even if the husbands are non-believers, they can be “won” by the manner in which the wife lives. May all who read these words hear and understand what the Holy Spirit is saying through Peter's words.

Next time Peter gives more instructions to “wives”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.