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[0:00] 1 Peter 3, 1-7 says this, Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and putting on of gold, jewelry, or the clothing you wear, 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 side is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, even calling him Lord. And you are her children. If you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening, likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, as the woman as the woman as the woman as the woman as the woman as the woman as the woman as the woman.

[1:59] And you are her children. And you are her children. And you are her children. And you are her children. Since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. That's jam-packed with a lot of information.

[2:17] Every believer in this room and church and world is called to keep or maintain a godly testimony in a very unbelieving world.

[2:37] Originally, I'd sit in there in an increasingly unbelieving world. To do that with any degree of success, we must live a life that is blameless, as Peter points out that this blameless life is to be lived in four areas of God, his established social interaction.

[3:12] These four areas are as follows. Live a blameless life as it pertains to society.

[3:23] We've already covered that. 1 Peter 2, 13-17. As it pertains to the workplace.

[3:36] 1 Peter 2, 18-25. As it pertains to the family. 1 Peter 3, 1-7.

[3:49] Which we'll cover tonight. And then, as it pertains to the church. 1 Peter 3, 8-9.

[3:59] 1 Peter 3, 8-10. When we started the subject, we looked at the requirement to be submissive in the arena of our interaction with civil authorities and how we interact with employees and employers.

[4:21] today we're going to learn that submission is also crucial in the family for the christian family this begins with the wife and her submission to her husband in our study peter's going to cover seven aspects of this family submission six of those verses deal with the wife and her submission to her husband but thankfully peter does not stop there he also will deal with a seventh verse as to how the husband can deal scripturally and appropriately with meeting the needs of his wife now before we go on i should point out that the roman culture where this verse is set was fraught with potential problems and landmines and they were landmines just waiting to go off this was a society where women were held to be inferior creatures in the greco-roman culture women received little or no respect in fact while the woman was still single and living in her father's house she was bound by the roman law of patria patria potestos that meant the single woman living with her father was under the father's power in the roman world the father was vested with life and death authority over their children when a female left home with a husband he exercised the same authority over the wife in roman society women were subject to three rules there were three of them rule one women were considered servants in many respects similar to a slave rule two women were expected to stay home and in rule three women were expected in all things to obey their husbands and in this portion of our study tonight we will consider the responsibility of the wife it is not difficult to envision the problems that might arise

[8:22] should a woman decide to obey the gospel of Christ if the husband remained unsaved that decision could have severe consequences now for her part the woman was expected by the Lord to win her husband to the gospel assuming that he is unsaved her essential duty was to live a life of obedience and submission and people were expected to do so in the instance of life under civil government and relations in the workplace one thing that was clear that a believing wife married to an unbelieving husband was expected to remain with him she was not to divorce him so she could then join with a believing husband and Paul is really the authority in scripture on this subject let me read a few of his passages 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 13 if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her she should not divorce him that's 1st Corinthians 7 13 our next verse is 1st Corinthians 7 39 a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives but if the husband dies she is free to be married to whom she wishes only in the

[10:36] Lord 1st Corinthians 7 39 and then 1st Corinthians 7 14 for the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband otherwise your children would be unclean but as it is they are holy and then Paul adds something really powerful and to do that he hearkens back to his teachings in the book of Galatians great book of the Bible book of Galatians and this is what he wrote in Galatians verse for as many of you as were baptized into

[11:41] Christ have put on Christ now listen to these words this is just powerful there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free there is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus mark this down brothers Christian men and Christian women are spiritually equal in Christ however God has ordained women to have certain obligations to their husbands Peter in his first gospel which we are presently studying identifies these as submission faithfulness and modesty

[12:50] Christian wives are to be submissive and faithful first Peter three verses one to two likewise wives be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respect and pure conduct and it appears that the word used here likewise refers back to a previous discussion which mentioned being submissive to civil authorities and submission of servants to masters in our day would we would refer to that as the workplace please note brothers that at no time does submission on the part of the wife imply any degree to any moral intellectual or spiritual inferiority in the family the workplace or society in general

[14:21] Peter refers to some men that do not obey the word that is an unbelieving husband that rejects Christ and his word but as severe as that is the believing wife may be able to win her husband to Christ through her lifestyle that reflects Jesus in observing as a wife in submission the husband could well be one because the wife has made by her actions and lifestyle the grace of God to be believable the greatest evangelistic tool a believing wife has for an unbelieving husband is a loving gracious and submissive attitude and the scriptures make it clear that

[15:39] Christian wives are to be modest do not let your adorning be external the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear 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 for this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord and you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening there is a word that shows up in the new

[16:41] American standard version it did not make it into the ESV and that's unfortunate it is the word merely simple word and it fits just before the word external in verse three so the proper translation should be do not let your adorning be merely external the word merely shows that this verse does not prohibit wives from styling their hair it doesn't prevent wearing jewelry or putting on beautiful clothing but women are not to be preoccupied with this as a way of casting for a woman as if she's out fishing maybe fishing for a husband

[17:44] Christian women are not to be consumed with their external appearance Christian wives must focus on the person hidden in the heart Paul gave this command to Christian women in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 9 and 10 that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self control not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works so we see there a joining together of professing godliness with good works now we've looked at the responsibility of the woman to be submissive faithful and modest does the husband have responsibilities in the marital relationship and the short answer is yes he does especially if he is a follower of Christ he has certain responsibilities well what are some of the responsibilities of the husband likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding way likewise husbands live with your wives in an understanding way showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel since they are heirs with you to the grace of life so that your prayers may not be hindered that's interesting this this suddenly takes on a new dynamic

[20:05] Peter says you don't want your prayers hindered again the ESV uses the word likewise as a comment on the earlier submission we discussed in previous lessons the difference is that this time the submission originates with the believing husband how do husbands obey that duty they must care for their wives needs in three areas these three areas that we're talking about caring for your wife are consideration chivalry and companionship now those three words search as you might are not found in the

[21:08] English Standard Version or the New American Standard Version so how can I come up with them well I didn't Dr.

[21:18] MacArthur did in his commentary on 1 Peter these words themselves are not there but the concept of the three words are there and first thing that we would mention is consideration 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 7 a the first part of verse 7 consideration live with your wives in an understanding way if you can live with your wife in an understanding way you are granting her godly consideration when we are understanding we are being sensitive and taking into consideration a wife's deep physical and emotional needs the word live is a

[22:23] Greek word meaning to dwell together in intimacy and cherishing each other again we appeal to Paul but this time from the book of Ephesians Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 to 28 husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself that's

[23:46] Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 to 28 chivalry is one of those words I had to look up showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel 1st Peter 3 7 B chivalry refers to an honorable and polite way of behaving especially by men toward women it was a word widely used in the old English style of living and women are described here as someone weaker in the Greek language that is referring to a woman typically possessing less physical strength than a man keeping that in mind Christian husbands should be sacrificial providers and protectors of their wives by the way it does not matter if the wife here is a believer or an unbeliever the husband is protector listen how

[25:04] Paul describes someone that fails at providing or protecting his family but if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever that's I don't think it gets any stronger than that guys I remember that was a definition of being an infidel which used to be a word we banded around a lot we don't so much now and then lastly companionship showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel why should we do that well they are heirs with us of the grace of life!

[26:09]  now here's this phrase again so that your prayers may not be hindered 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 7 C third part of verse 7 this is our last point tonight all married men here are to be a companion for his wife the motive behind this is that we are fellow heirs and share with her in the grace of life this is that we are fellow heirs it's not a reference to eternal life it's a reference to marital life being married how important is that well if we fail here our prayers could be hindered we can protect our prayer life by being a caring and loving husband let's close with a word of prayer gracious father we packed in much tonight and has potential of a tremendous impact on the church and on the body on wives and husbands and lord may we take these to heart and lord may we be found faithful in the way we treat our wives bring us back next week lord that we may continue our study of first peter we'll see where he leads us and i ask every bit of this in the name of jesus amen