1 Peter 3 - Girl Power
1 Peter 3 - Girl Power
I have been looking forward to jumping into 1 Peter 3, as a father of two wonderful and beautiful daughters. I am also married to an amazing woman of God, who is such a blessing. I want to jump into these few verses and try and unpack them and bring a little clarity as I see it. I think these verses and many other verses around women are so taken out of context. Remember chapter 2, a considerable section was under the title of Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society. Peter was driving home the importance of being a witness of Jesus, and how to live.
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” - 1 Peter 2:12 NIV
So now, Peter jumps into the marriage and addresses husbands and wives under this context of living good lives among the pagans.
“Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your 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, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” - 1 Peter 3:1-2 NIV
“Husbands, in the same way, be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” - 1 Peter 3:7 NIV
Two directives, one for wives and one for husbands. I think the concept of submitting throws people off when we read Peter's words around women and wives. I think this might be why the authors of The Passion Translation took it another direction;
“And now let me speak to the wives. Be devoted to your own husbands, so that even if some of them do not obey the Word of God, your kind conduct may win them over without you saying a thing.” - 1 Peter 3:1 TPT
Submission is not control or subjugation; this is a problem because submission can be taken the wrong way. I like “be devoted.” I can look at my relationship with Robin and how she does this in such a wonderful way. Robin has a small build, but a loud voice. Robin shares her thoughts, opinions, and leads actively. But frequently, Robin leads at home with her conduct and her actions and expresses herself by her devotion. There are often that her leadership in the house is influential because of her devotion, and her submission, and I a moved and compelled to follow her guidance and leadership. We can take a lot from Jesus’ live about quite, submissive leadership. I know a lot of men, including me, that would be better leaders if they listened and submitted first before speaking or acting.
Husbands, it’s our turn. I adding the TPT version here as well, I love the words and language.
“Husbands, you, in turn, must treat your wives with tenderness, viewing them as feminine partners who deserve to be honored, for they are co-heirs with you of the “ divine grace of life,” so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” - 1 Peter 3:7 TPT
There is NO language here of dominance, control, or power. This is important again to go back to the word submission. Submission works when husbands do their part! Treat with tenderness is essential, but the next part, we must hammer into. View, this is our mindset and how we not just physically see our wives, and women, this is how we understand women and think about them holistically. View women as partners, honor them, and realize they are co-heirs. Do you understand what co-heirs mean? Equality. Co-heirs mean it’s equal, the same, and this must be our mindset and understanding of our wives, and women in general. Yes, we might be different, have different gift mixes, and bring different strengths, but we are equal in God’s eyes. And finally, husbands, if you do not do this well, your prayer will be hindered. Whoa! I am not sure what that means theologically, but I do not want my prayers hindered, so I need to get this right.
Husbands and wives, co-heirs, equal before God. Let’s make sure we comprehend this and understand this!
Finally, I want to hit on another verse here, and this touches my heart deeply, having two teenage daughters.
“Let your true beauty come from your inner personality, not a focus on the external. For lasting beauty comes from a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is precious in God’s sight and is much more important than the outward adornment of elaborate hair, jewelry, and fine clothes.” - 1 Peter 3:3-4 TPT
Peter here is drilling into this topic, and again context is important. This letter was written to the Roman culture, a culture that magnified and was obsessed with appearances. To say it bluntly, the Roman culture objectified women, and Peter was NOT ok with this. Women are not objects, and need not be treated like one. This is the same in our culture today, simply turning women into an object the is glorified by how they look on the outside, not on the inside. As a father, this is disgusting and hurts my heart and hurts the heart of God. Women, teenage girls, adolescent girls, please understand your true beauty comes from your inner person! Lasting beauty comes from a gentle and peaceful spirit which is precious in God’s sight. I understand the desire for nice hair, jewelry, and fine clothes but husbands and fathers we must do our best to honor, love and speak words of affirmation that help our daughters, and wives understand that our love is not conditional, and their beauty in our eyes and ultimately God’s eyes is not external, it’s internal.
“Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another.” - 1 Peter 3:8 TPT
Girl power! I love seeing women rise in leadership and step into all that God has equipped and called them to be. I genuinely, as a father of two amazing daughters, would love to see a female president here in America to model again the extraordinary leadership women can and need to bring. As women rise and step up to the podium that I feel men have already been afforded, we need to keep v8 in mind. Live in harmony with one another and demonstrate love, sympathy, and kindness. Humility is vital for us humans. This goes for our gender, but it goes for race as well. Humanity calls for humility and empathy towards each other. Let’s learn to love one another as Jesus modeled and as he died for.