1 Peter, Part 5

Alan's greatest fear has come upon him. It would be mine, I know.

Okay, we are up to chapter 3 in 1 Peter. Here's a section of the Bible that the feminists would like to see thrown out. And some women in the church, maybe. I don't know, but I don't think so. Let's notice here that God gives instruction to women on how to live in a home where your mate is not converted, is basically what he's talking about, and how to deal with that situation. We find wives likewise. Now, the word likewise always ties back to what's gone before. In the same way that slaves are to be submissive to their master, both the gentle and the harsh, likewise, women are to be submissive to their husbands. It also points back to the example of Christ and the proper example or conduct he had, even though he was unjustly treated. You see, you have to realize the situation in the first century.

Women didn't have many rights. And a woman who chose to become a Christian without the consent of her husband, or her father, if she's still in her father's house, was literally in danger.

Her dad could have her killed. Husband could get rid of her. You have to realize that this was a totally different situation than what we live in. So it says, wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands.

That even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives. Now, in the first century, a woman taking the step to become a Christian, or become a part of a religion that was totally opposite to what her husband was, was unprecedented. It just didn't happen. And yet, this is exactly what was happening all over the Roman Empire with Christian. In every sphere of the ancient civilization, women had no rights. Under Jewish law, not biblical law, mind you, but Jewish law, a woman was a thing. She was owned by her husband in exactly the same way he owned sheep and goats. In the Greek civilization, the duty of women was to remain in door, be obedient to their husbands, and it was a sign of a good woman that you wouldn't see her. She was just there in silence. Under the Roman laws, a woman had no rights. She was the same as a child. And so she had no rights. So into this society, culture, mixture, comes Christ, and guess what? He calls women to be a part of the church. And some of them don't have husbands who believe. And all at once, they have to step out. And so, what is the advice that Peter gives? Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands. Now, this is not saying that wives are not to have independent thought, opinion, and wishes. She's not a spineless creature. Women aren't that way. And if any of you are married today, I think you probably realize that. Our wives very much have opinions in their own minds, which is good. Nothing wrong with that. They still have to be submissive. And we all, when you look at it from the perspective of the Scriptures, every one of us has to be submissive. We're all submissive and under authority. Now, it says to your own husband. Now, that's important because in the past there have been those who thought, I'm a man, all women are under me. It doesn't say that. To your own husband. If it's not your own husband, you don't have to be submissive to them. You know, in the same way that you would be to your own husband. Then it says, even if they do not obey the Word. Now, almost every commentary you will read seems to instruct that this is a way that a woman can convert her husband. But guess what? If this were true, and a woman doesn't convert her husband, then does that mean her example was bad?

Now, what Peter is talking about, he acknowledges that by setting a right example by good conduct, not your words, but your conduct and submission, that some will be won over. But the emphasis is on how to live with an unbeliever rather than on how to convert them. How do you live with an unbeliever? And he shows it here. Same thing that Paul said back in 1 Corinthians 7. That religious differences should not break up a marriage or be dissolved. If they are pleased to dwell with you, then you should be pleased to dwell with them. Now, notice here again, even if they do not obey the Word, has it ever occurred to us that that could also apply to a marriage where the man is in the Church, but he doesn't obey the Word? What if you are married, and you are both in the Church, both baptized, quote-unquote, and one does not obey the Word? Maybe obeys in some things, but doesn't obey in others. So, you know, the principle could apply in that way also. Now in verse 2, it says, when they observe your chaste conduct, the word chaste is not just referring to chastity, but purity in all of your conduct. Your conduct is pure. This is how you conduct yourself. Accompanied by fear. The word fear here means respect. Accompanied by respect. It's the same word that is used back in Ephesians 5.33. You might remember where it says. And so let a woman reverence, I think King James Version says her husband, but it means respect her husband. A husband is to be treated with respect. So she is to fear or respect her husband. Then he goes on to say, do not let your adornment be merely outward. So notice, merely outward. It doesn't say that you shouldn't wear outward clothing. But it says, not merely outward. There are sometimes a person might think, well, I can win my husband over. I'll dress a special way, or I'll do this. And it's all the emphasis is on the physical. I'll attract him. I'll hold him because of all of this. Now, I'm not saying you should go around looking like a nag, or a hag, or that type of thing. But, notice his emphasis. Don't let your adornment be just merely outward. Such as the arranging of the hair, the wearing of gold, or putting on a fine apparel. Adornment here, actually, is a word that many of you are familiar with, cosmos. And it means orderly system, as opposed to chaos, which is disorderly. And what he's saying is that adornment should be fitting, and not diversified, or diverse from one's character. A woman who is a Christian should dress, and her dress should reflect the fact that she is a Christian. If her dress is such that it reflects a worldly approach or standard, what would be a worldly approach or standard? Well, maybe things like micro miniskirts, too tight, clothes, too low cut, all of these type of things.

Then she's saying, I'm a Christian, but yet in her adornment, she's saying, I'm not a Christian. I'm dressing like the world. Now, many have taken what Peter said here to say, and there are whole churches built upon this, that a woman shouldn't arrange her hair. In other words, you never go to hairstyles and never cut your hair. You don't wear any jewelry, and you don't put on any fine apparel. And he's talking about having the proper sense of value. Arranging of hair, you have to realize the Greek word refers to an elaborate gathering of hair in the knots.

It's interesting, in the Roman world, the women would go to an extravagant method for the adornment of their hair. One author says the attendants would vote on the dressing of the hair as if a question of reputation or of life were at stake. So great is the trouble she takes in quest to beauty. While so many tears does she load with so many continuous stories, does she build up on high her hair? So, you know, it's like you put a crown in here and comb through, and you put your hair over it, and you get another one, and it goes up, and it keeps going up, and you've got birds and nests and all kinds of things up here. And you walk down the street, and people say, wow, look at that! The leaning tower of Pisa, as you're walking along. I mean, this is more of what it's talking about. Clement of Alexandria commented on the same thing when he said that women do not even touch their own hair, for fears of disturbing their hair. And sleep comes to them with terror, unless they should, unaware, spoil their hair. So, you know, he's talking about some of the customs that they were doing. Does that mean you shouldn't take care of your hair? Well, certainly you should. Your hair is a crown of glory to a woman. Nothing wrong with taking care of that. Wearing gold? In the Greek, it means putting around, putting gold around. And again, it's talking about a lavish display, conspicuous display. Now, putting on a fine apparel. Nothing wrong with wearing clothes. We wear clothes to protect ourselves, to hide ourselves, and for good taste, don't we? Modesty, you know, and all of these things. But if you wear clothes that say, I'm available, I'm here, I'm sexy, I'm this way or I'm that way, instead of, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm modest, you know, you can spend money for them. Hold your place here. Let's go back to Ezekiel 16. If you might remember, God dressed ancient Israel as his bride. And it describes here how God dressed her. And we know this is figuratively speaking, but it's talking about how God called Israel, chose her.

And here it describes a bride being dressed. And we begin in verse 10. It says, I clothed you with embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skins. You think, badger skins? I've got cow skins on.

I imagine most of you have cow skins on. Badger skins. In other words, good leather. We're not talking about walking around with bunny feet on. You know, skins like deer skin or, you know, something of this nature. It says, I clothed you with fine linen, covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, chain on your neck. You put a jewel in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. And thus you were adorned with gold and silver. And your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. And so on. God said they became perfect through His splendor.

So, obviously what God is trying to get at here in the principle is that as a Christian woman, and your husband is not converted, the way to attract him, the way to be a good example for him, is to submit to him and to have the right type of character. The inward man is, verse 4 goes on to say, Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

So when it says here the hidden person of the heart, it's talking about the inner self, the character of a person. So it's talking about that your husband looks at you, he sees your character, your hard work. When I say character, I'm talking about every facet of your character that you have. And it says incorruptible beauty, meaning unfading loveliness. There is a beauty that you can have. You may not be the prettiest lady on the face of the earth, and most of us are not the most handsome men on the face of the earth either. But you can have a beauty, you can have a personality and character that just radiates out.

And it's attractive. And then if you take care of yourself and adorn yourself in a right way, and not in a modest or gaudy way, you take care of your hair, you have complementary type of jewelry, you will be attractive to your husband. So we find that the emphasis here is on the inward man and being that type of an example.

For in this manner, in former time, the holy women who trusted in God also adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands. Now, holy women, the word holy here meaning being set apart or called by God, even those in the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their wives, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and so on, these were women whom God called. They were set apart and set aside. I want you to notice they trusted in God.

So what should a Christian woman do today? Well, the example that we have from the Old Testament is that the holy women of God trusted in God. The word means they hoped in God. They had their hope, their reliance upon God and rested in God. Who also adorned themselves, I want you to notice they did adorn themselves, so it is permissible to adorn yourself, being submissive to their own husbands.

So each one of them was submissive to her own husband. Now, it's interesting, just as a side point here, that some have tried to assert that Peter's instructions here about women submitting to their husbands was only culturally based and only applied to the first century, to the Mediterranean area. Today we live in the 20th century, that's archaic, that's no longer applicable. But Peter makes it very clear that the reason that he's citing is not culture, but the Old Testament.

He harkens back to the Bible, and he says, look, this is the way the holy women of old were. They were submissive to their husbands, and they did these things. So it was not a matter of culture. He's talking about the holy women of God, which would have extended over a considerable period of time, hundreds of years, different cultures. And so, you know, cultures can change, but values do not.

You can live in different cultural settings, but the true values of God do not change. And that's what he's getting at. So this wasn't just only cultural and doesn't apply to today, it applies to today also. And then Sarah is cited as an example, as Sarah obeyed God. The word obeyed here means action going on over a long period of time, continual action. She didn't just obey Abraham once, she obeyed him continuously, calling him Lord.

Uh-oh. Called him her master, her Lord. Well, we don't go around saying Lord or master today, but in other words, what it is, it is a recognition of authority within the family, isn't it? Sarah recognized that Abraham was in charge of the family, and so therefore she was submissive. Calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good.

So if you do what is right, you're not afraid with any terror. If you truly trust in God for the proper outcome, there's no need to have fear. You trust in God, and you don't have to be fearful. So a Christian woman can have courage. That if she's doing what's right, she's obeying God, and she's trying her best, and she's trying to live by these principles, then she puts her hope and her trust in God, that God will take care of her.

Now, I want you to notice there are six verses directed to the women and only one to men. Now, some of the commentaries will tell you that's because women are six times as bad, and the men are just not as bad. Well, that's not true at all. He's dealing with a situation here, as I said to start with, with women, who were living in a society where women had no rights.

And so he's carefully giving them instructions on how they should relate to their husbands, so that they might win some of them over, and even if they didn't, that hopefully they could have a good marriage and get along with their husbands. Now, husbands likewise, oh here we come back to this likewise again, dwell with them with understanding. Likewise means in the light manner. So, even if you're a husband, you are again to follow Jesus Christ's example. How did Christ deal with those around him? How did he deal with those who mistreated him or even abused him?

You and I as husbands are to follow Christ's example. And it says, dwell with them according to knowledge, or with understanding. Now, giving honor to the wife. You see, a wife is not chattel, a wife is not a possession. When you get married, marriage is based upon reciprocal obligations. You have certain obligations, she has certain obligations. A marriage in which all the privileges are on one side and all the obligations are on the other has very little chance of success.

You know, it's going to end up generally as a failure. This was a new concept in the ancient world. That a husband ought to treat his wife with honor and respect. He ought to call her beloved. He ought to have that type of honor for him.

As Cato the censor wrote, If you were to catch your wife in an act of infidelity, you could kill her within punity without a trial. But if she were to catch you, she would not venture to touch you with her finger, and indeed, she has no rights. Now, you say, that's unfair. Well, of course it was. But that's the world that they lived in.

And so we're dealing with a society in which he's trying to explain how they should treat one another. So, as he says here, you need to have understanding. You need to realize God made us all different. Women have certain abilities, certain talents, and men say, well, women are too emotional. All they want to do is talk. And guess what? Women say, he doesn't have any emotions, and he won't talk. And so you get this going on. Well, guess what? We're all different, aren't we? And men do talk less. Their minds are wired differently. Our minds are wired differently.

I'm one of them. And women's minds are wired differently than ours are. And they are more emotional. And there's nothing wrong with that. God made us. And so in a marriage, you have to understand one another. You've got to come to appreciate the different sexes.

It says with understanding or knowledge, and when it says here, giving honor to the wife, the word actually means assigning or partitioning off.

The you and I should, in our minds and hearts, men, have a special place of honor for our wife.

That we have honor for them. We respect them. We love them. The word honor means to respect. And back here in chapter 1, verse 19, where it talks about the precious blood of Christ.

Same word is used. And it's talking about how precious our wives should be to us. And it says as to the weaker vessel. Aha! Always knew women were weaker.

Well, weaker here is not talking about morality or spirituality. Our intellect simply means a woman has less physical strength.

That's the general rule. There are times when that's not necessarily true. But normally a man is built bigger, has bigger muscle mass, stronger, especially in his youth, than a woman is. So she's the weaker vessel, but she's not a weakling. There's a difference. She's more delicate.

She's not a weakling. She's just more delicate. She's like a crystal goblet. Say, this is a crystal goblet. It's not, but let's say it's a crystal goblet. Something that is pure crystal, you could ping, you know, and ping! And you could rub it and it would make sounds, you know, and all of that. That's the way a woman is.

A man's like an old buffalo. You know, just sort of plows along, keeps going. And does that mean that the goblet is inferior to the buffalo? Well, no. The goblet could be worth much more money. But let's compare it to an iron skillet.

You know, an iron skillet. Bang, bang, beat on it, kick it, and do everything with it, and it just keeps going. It keeps on ticking. You take that goblet, bang, and it might crack, it might shatter. And so it is. So what he's trying to get across here is, look, you men, if you're in the church, you respect, you pay honor to her. Why? Because you are heirs together of the grace of life. That's why. And secondly, that your prayers be not hindered. So there is a basis for honor because there is spiritual equality between a man and a woman. There is a genuine recognition that the woman is fully as much a child a God is a man is if they're in the church. She was baptized. She had her sins forgiven. She has God's Spirit. And she's going to be in God's kingdom just like you will be. Her destiny is no less than yours. She's going to be a king and a priest. And her present relationship with her husband is ahead. Guess what? It's for this life, not for the life to come. The world to come, God's going to hand out the jobs, responsibilities, duties. And I fully expect that my wife will have a higher position than I am. Just simply because she does more. She's a help. And she fulfills her responsibilities. And I don't always do mine the way that I should, that I know. So what we have to realize is that our prayers can also be hindered. The word hindered here means cut in or interrupted. We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a message. So you're talking with God, and you're not getting along with your mate. We interrupt this prayer. It's not going to go through. It hampers our ability to communicate with God. Because guess what? Your mind, when you're having trouble on the home front, your mind gets involved in other things. And you don't concentrate as you should. Okay, that brings us down to verse 8. And I see here, actually, I should quit. But that covers the first section here. And the next time we have Bible study, we'll probably skip Bible study in April. Because of the Holy Days coming up, and we need to concentrate on the Holy Days and getting ready for those. But we'll pick it up in verse 8, the next go-around, and we'll continue on here. So, again, appreciate everyone's attention. And realize that the Bible is written in a way that doesn't matter if this was what was going on in the first century. Still, it gives us very clear instructions on how we should be treating one another as husbands and wives.