Wives according to 1 Peter: Models to the church

There’s a certain irony that it has recently been International Women’s Day, and I am writing about 1 Peter 3v1-6, which starts, "Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands…." If there is any topic that makes people view Christianity as outdated or anti-women, this is the one.

Yet our conviction as evangelicals is that the commands of the Bible are not just true; they are good. Here are three ways in which these instructions by the Apostle Peter are good for women.

1. Wives have an active calling to be models of Christian living
   
   Apparently there was lots of writing in the Roman world telling men to make sure their wives submitted to them. Peter is radical; the apostle of Jesus Christ addresses the wives personally. As with slaves, he considers wives to be people with moral agency, led by God and accountable first and foremost to Him for their behaviour.
   
   The "in the same way" of verse one takes us back to 2v13 and 2v18. Wives are to live as Christians, acting for the Lord’s sake and living in reverent fear of God. Their submission to their husbands is their responsibility, not that of the husband.
   
   Submission challenges us. Wives are called to model the submission that every Christian owes to human authority and that every Christian slave owes to his or her master. And remember that slaves are, for Peter, the great example of Christian living (2v16)!
   
   You may not be a wife. But you may be in a context where people think you have very little agency, where choices are often made on your behalf (rightly or wrongly). Peter shows us, through the example of wives, that every Christian, in every context, has an active calling to be a model of Christian living.
   
   
2. Wives can pursue a beauty that will never fade away
   
   Beauty is glorious. Beauty – or attractiveness – is often deemed to be a measure of worth, or status, or significance. In the Roman world, elaborate hairstyles were an indication of social class. Gold jewellery and fine clothes frequently mark status and wealth. Sometimes, women may try to draw eyes to themselves with revealing clothes. But all of these things are passing. Peter tells these wives they can have a beauty that is like their hope – imperishable and unfading (see 1v4).
   
   Rather than pursue a beauty that makes them feel seen by mortal humans, they can possess a beauty of great worth in the sight of God. This beauty is a gentle and quiet spirit, not a loud, brash attitude that seeks to draw attention to oneself. It is the gentleness of Jesus as He approached Jerusalem, utterly confident of God’s plan and therefore free of any self-promotion.
   
   This beauty has a power of its own. When wives have husbands who have heard the word of the gospel, but remain in unbelief, they can exercise a different, heart-winning power – by living lives of purity and reverence.
   
   Power, worth, status, significance, wealth, class – all these are sought after, or displayed, in many and different ways. But it all fades away. Wives are offered a beauty that God values and which will bring glory that never perishes.
   
   
3. Wives stand in a noble line of holy women who are honoured by God
   
   Abraham followed God by faith, going into new and dangerous territory. Sarah courageously submitted herself to Abraham, followed Him and honoured him. She was not the only holy woman to live such a life. All Christians are called to do what is good and right (2v15) and to live in a fearful world without fear (3v14).
   
   For much of history, wives had the additional challenge of living this way in situations of dependence and societal powerlessness. For such wives, putting their hope in God was an especially acute example of what all Christians are called to do (1v15), and therefore wives are examples to the church just as Abraham is an example to the church.
   

Peter, the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, focuses on Christians in their subjection to human authorities, and to slaves and wives, because in these groups he sees something exemplary about what it means to be the church – doing good in a pagan world and living with hope in a God who raises the dead in order to vindicate and glorify those who followed a rejected and suffering Messiah.

We can be thankful that wives today are, on the whole, not treated as wives were in the Roman world. Yet, in their submission to their husbands, in their pursuit of a true beauty, and in their courageous commitment to Christ, they continue to be models to the whole church.