1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. ~ 1 Peter 3:1-2
Today, we transition into 1 Peter 3 where the Apostle Peter wrote this letter to persecuted Christians in order to encourage them on how to live in the midst of persecution. Peter encouraged them to elevate themselves and to live out of being defined by Christ alone. Peter continued to address every element of society in order to show us how the culture of God works and benefits all that are involved. Today, he encourages wives to be defined by the culture of God and to invest in the eternal.
The Apostle Peter wrote these words in 64 A.D., at a time when the Roman culture treated women as if they were less than human. This, of course, resulted in the crumbling of the Roman society. The Roman culture gave women virtually no rights at all. And, we know that a healthy society is based upon healthy families wherein everyone fulfills the roles that God has defined in His word.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives."
The Apostle Peter wrote these words to the wives who were married to unbelieving husbands. He counseled the wives with the hope that they would be poised to introduce their husband's to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. These women believed in the teachings of the God of the Bible, and as a result, they knew that incompatibility with a spouse did not justify divorce. These women needed wisdom to most effectively witness to their husbands.
The best way for the believing wife to win the unbelieving husband to faith in the Lord is the topic here. Therefore, Peter highlights a life of purity and reverence expressed in a submissive attitude that honors their husbands who had the role as the head of the family. Submission is the wife's response to her husband's role to love his wife and to provide leadership for his family. The real submission that is taking place here is submission to God which is revealed in the wife's submission to her husband.
We access God's wisdom as we submit to Him. Submission does not infer some kind of moral inferiority or intellectual inferiority or spiritual inferiority. Just like the previous examples, if we have a government leader and we have a citizen, and the citizen submits to the government leader, that doesn't make the government leader superior or a better person than the citizen. In fact, in many cases the citizen is far superior to the government leader. But we need to submit to keep order in that society or in the workplace.
The phrase, “they may be won over without words” is key to understanding what God is telling us here. The apostle is warning wives of unsaved husbands to not preach at their husbands, but to live lives that are defined by God. This statement underscores the idea that we speak the loudest messages through our lives rather than through our lips.
At the core of all godly women, cemented in their souls, is an enduring and faithful hope in God. It is from the security of this hope that wives fear nothing that is frightening, even submission to husbands who do not follow the Lord. These godly women adorn their souls with a combination of humility and courage that even believers cannot explain.
The phrase, “they may be won over without words” is key to understanding what God is telling us here. The apostle is warning wives of unsaved husbands to not preach at their husbands, but to live lives that are defined by God. This statement underscores the idea that we speak the loudest messages through our lives rather than through our lips.
At the core of all godly women, cemented in their souls, is an enduring and faithful hope in God. It is from the security of this hope that wives fear nothing that is frightening, even submission to husbands who do not follow the Lord. These godly women adorn their souls with a combination of humility and courage that even believers cannot explain.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "when they see the purity and reverence of your lives."
Notice the word "see" is used here. This is of great importance because we communicate best through how we live our lives rather than what we say with our lips. They say that more is caught than taught. This makes sense in light of the fact that 55% of what we communicate comes through the non-verbal while 37% comes through the tone with which we speak. That leaves 8% which is the amount we communicate through our words.
Notice the word "see" is used here. This is of great importance because we communicate best through how we live our lives rather than what we say with our lips. They say that more is caught than taught. This makes sense in light of the fact that 55% of what we communicate comes through the non-verbal while 37% comes through the tone with which we speak. That leaves 8% which is the amount we communicate through our words.
The word "purity" describes an inner beauty and the fact that she does not flirt with other men. The wife with this "purity" is faithful to her husband in body and in heart because her heart was first won by the Lord. As a result, the wife who loves the Lord keeps herself pure; she is a one man woman who understands the utter importance of submitting to the Lord first which enables her to submit to her husband.
The word "reverence" spring boards out of the believing wife's awe of and submission to God. It describes a respect toward her husband, respect that is humble, not arrogant and hard. She will be able to do this because she is careful to be defined by God. Wives are to show their husband, not by preaching at them or guilt-tripping them, but to show them that Christ is the most important person in their lives.
The word "reverence" spring boards out of the believing wife's awe of and submission to God. It describes a respect toward her husband, respect that is humble, not arrogant and hard. She will be able to do this because she is careful to be defined by God. Wives are to show their husband, not by preaching at them or guilt-tripping them, but to show them that Christ is the most important person in their lives.
There is a principle here that is not only applicable to wives, it is applicable to us all. In order to best impact another to become a believer in Christ, we must let our faith in the Lord so permeate our being that they would be positioned to be won by Him. This passage is calling for radical and uncompromising discipleship that shows a husband the true importance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believing wife.
