Living Hope Day 9

Living Hope Day 9 Reading:

1 Peter 3:1-7 

Ponder

One of Peter’s main goals in these early verses of his letter was to help his readers understand that their salvation changed everything—from the way they lived their lives to their relationships with others. Jesus’ sacrifice is so powerful and significant that it affects every facet of our lives as followers. Rather than a mental assertion or agreement with a philosophy, Peter pictures a total reorienting of life that defines what is most important and characterizes every relationship and interaction. 

It’s with this focus that he turned his attention to the relationship between husbands and wives in 1 Peter 3:1-7. Peter first turned his attention to wives, specifically wives of non-believing or pagan husbands. Under the Roman law, men held absolute authority over every member of their households. While the wives had experienced the true freedom of salvation, Peter encouraged them to live godly lives, submitting to their husbands and displaying the self-sacrificing love Christ had shown them. By doing so, they would live out the gospel in front of their husbands, without having to say a word. Rather than outward adornment, Peter encouraged wives to focus on developing godly character, focusing on eternal things rather than perishable, worldly values. 

Peter then turned to husbands, stressing that salvation also reorients how they relate to their wives. Under the Roman law, men were used to ruling over their households as absolute masters, but Peter urged a new way of living characterized by respect, protection and honor. Rather than lording over their wives, men should recognize that both men and women stand equal before God, recipients of the same salvation. The weakness mentioned in verse 7 likely refers to women’s physical strength, but Peter was very clear with his final admonition to husbands: “God does not bless with his favor those who are in positions of authority and abuse those who are under them by mistreating them.”1

Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 161.

Journal

• Are you married? Do Peter’s words in these verses describe your relationship with your husband or wife? Do they challenge or correct you? How? 

• If you’re not married, it can be easy to skip over this passage but it teaches us about godly relationships that involve both parties submitting to God and each other. Who have you seen live out that kind of relationship? What did you learn from their example? 

• Salvation changes everything, including our relationships. How have you seen the Holy Spirit begin to shape and reorient your relationships to reflect the glory of what God has done through Jesus?