1 Peter 3
September Memory Verse: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
Read: 1 Peter 3
As we address the issue of marital roles and gender I want to ask an important question - does God’s Word have authority over your life? Quite honestly this is the beginning and end of this discussion. As Christians we must give Scripture total authority over our lives (2. Tim 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21). Jesus is either Lord of all or not at all, and if he is our Lord, then we need to trust that his ways are best. Okay…let’s break this down.
Wives
Wives you are called to be subject to your own husbands because God (according to his design) has placed them over you. Why? I think there are two reasons. First, I believe it reflects the gospel. Jesus is a part of the Trinity. One God - three persons: Father, Son, Spirit. All three persons of the trinity are equally God, yet Scripture tells us that Jesus submitted (or subjected) himself to the Father’s will (Jn 6:38). It didn’t make the Son any less God or less important than the Father. It was a part of God’s perfect design. Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will led him all the way to the cross - where we are forgiven and made righteous. Wives, you point to Christ when you accept the authority of your husband (1 Peter 2:21).
Secondly, I think God calls wives to be subject to their own husbands because it works best. It is freeing. The world likes to think that it promotes female freedom and expression, but one quick look reveals that it sexualizes, idealizes, and objectifies women. Look at the porn industry, fashion industry, movies or social media. The world wants you to submit to their authority. To be subject to their view of what women should be. Wives, God’s way calls you to be subject to your own husband. Not anyone else. Not the world. Isn’t that freeing? It doesn’t always make it easy, but doing things God’s way is alway better.
Husbands
Husbands you are called to honor your wives and treat them the way Christ treated you. This seems simple enough, but we still struggle to obey it. Men, we cannot be haphazard in the way we treat our wives - Peter attaches a direct consequence to failing to obey this command (3:7). If we are to be in right standing with God, then we must be modeling Christ in how we treat our wives. Husbands, you are called to be understanding, to listen, to model grace and patience. You are called to show honor, uplift, encourage, and lead spiritually. In Love, Christ laid down his life for you. Model that sort of love in how you honor your wives.
By: Joe Weaver
Read: 1 Peter 3
As we address the issue of marital roles and gender I want to ask an important question - does God’s Word have authority over your life? Quite honestly this is the beginning and end of this discussion. As Christians we must give Scripture total authority over our lives (2. Tim 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21). Jesus is either Lord of all or not at all, and if he is our Lord, then we need to trust that his ways are best. Okay…let’s break this down.
Wives
Wives you are called to be subject to your own husbands because God (according to his design) has placed them over you. Why? I think there are two reasons. First, I believe it reflects the gospel. Jesus is a part of the Trinity. One God - three persons: Father, Son, Spirit. All three persons of the trinity are equally God, yet Scripture tells us that Jesus submitted (or subjected) himself to the Father’s will (Jn 6:38). It didn’t make the Son any less God or less important than the Father. It was a part of God’s perfect design. Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will led him all the way to the cross - where we are forgiven and made righteous. Wives, you point to Christ when you accept the authority of your husband (1 Peter 2:21).
Secondly, I think God calls wives to be subject to their own husbands because it works best. It is freeing. The world likes to think that it promotes female freedom and expression, but one quick look reveals that it sexualizes, idealizes, and objectifies women. Look at the porn industry, fashion industry, movies or social media. The world wants you to submit to their authority. To be subject to their view of what women should be. Wives, God’s way calls you to be subject to your own husband. Not anyone else. Not the world. Isn’t that freeing? It doesn’t always make it easy, but doing things God’s way is alway better.
Husbands
Husbands you are called to honor your wives and treat them the way Christ treated you. This seems simple enough, but we still struggle to obey it. Men, we cannot be haphazard in the way we treat our wives - Peter attaches a direct consequence to failing to obey this command (3:7). If we are to be in right standing with God, then we must be modeling Christ in how we treat our wives. Husbands, you are called to be understanding, to listen, to model grace and patience. You are called to show honor, uplift, encourage, and lead spiritually. In Love, Christ laid down his life for you. Model that sort of love in how you honor your wives.
By: Joe Weaver
4 Comments
“The world wants you to submit to their authority.”
I loved this reminder, that we are always being discipled by something. Knowing this, why wouldn’t we willingly submit to a loving God who knows best and desires our good? Taking this truth to heart changes our marriages, our parenting, the way we spend our time, and more.
Thanks for pointing us back to the authority of scripture, Joe!
Well, this is a contentious topic to jump into, Joe. Ha.
Things always work best when done God’s way, it’s true. Unfortunately, it’s hard to really know that unless you jump and trust God’s lordship. And it’s hard to do that if you’re not in the Word devouring it to know who God really is, so you can see his plan is consistent with his character.
Neither of those disciplines is happening as widely or regularly as they should be across the church in North America right now, so it’s not any wonder that we have our heads collectively stuck in unmentionable places and our families are in shambles.
If we got those two things right (submitting to God’s lordship and reading significantly in our Bibles daily, say 10-15 pages habitually), this would be a non-issue and we would all be a lot more joyful.
Incidentally, in my experience fear has a huge part to play in getting it right or missing the mark. Peter admonishes wives “not to fear anything frightening” in verse 6. Perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment (1John 4:18). Learning to fear only God and be fearless of man or circumstances, etc, is the key. Not easy, but with God all things are possible!
4 "but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."
One time some years ago, people were coming over to our house. My oldest daughter wanted to put on a dress. She had already dirtied several clothes that day, so we told her "no," because toddler laundry is terrible laundry. She cried out heartbreaking words, "BUT I WANT TO BE BEAUTIFUL!"
The idea of external beauty had already weaseled its way into the mind of my child. She was maybe 3 at the time. It began a series of conversations about true beauty that centered around the truth of verse 4. True beauty comes from the heart.
Such insightful commentary, Joe. And the comments were delightfully helpful. JumpStart is a priceless asset to begin the day. I am so grateful to have it in my life.
I want to share that I was led to Psalm 37 today, and as I read it, given all the outwardly bad stuff currently happening, I was so encouraged and uplifted.
Have a blessed day CPC brothers and sisters.