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  • Suffer for Good – a letter from Peter – 6

    Suffer for Good – a letter from Peter – 6

    To do good or evil?

    Previously, from the background of Psalm 34 Peter urges the church to be like-minded in doing good. The Christian Standard Bible labels these verses, “Do No Evil” and the New King James Version, “Called to Blessing.” Yet just five verses later Peter calls on us to suffer.

    Our action? “Seek peace and pursue it.” [1 Peter 3:11b CSB]

    Peace, from the greek, εἰρήνη – eirēnē, is a trait of witness for followers of Christ, therefore Peter insists that we must pursue it to be Christ-like.

    Depart from evil and do good;
    Seek peace and pursue it.

    The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
    And His ears are open to their cry.

    Psalm 34:14-15 NASB

    This, too, Peter urges from the Psalm; but then he draws an application from this Psalm of David applying it to followers of Christ.

    Pursue Suffering?

    1 Peter 3:

    The CSB calls it, “Undeserved Suffering” and the NKJV heads this section, “Suffering for Right and Wrong.” J.B. Phillips summarizes Peter’s central message of his letter to the church, “Do good, even if you suffer for it.”

    13-16 [PHILLIPS] After all, who in the ordinary way is likely to injure you for being enthusiastic for good?

    It’s a question of fairness, but also one about our motives in what we pursue.

    We may sense some fairness from unbelievers when we do good. Yet those who pursue good (but not Christ) sometimes pursue evil and may turn against Christ-followers.

    The Greek idea of pursuit here, διώκω – diōkō, actually suggests:

    ‘to make to run or flee, but also, to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after or to press on.’ Metaphorically to pursue good, to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavour to acquire.

    Peter reminds from the Psalm that the Lord watches both those who pursue evil and those who pursue good.

    14 CSB But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed.

    Peter quotes the Prophet Isaiah [8:12] urging:

    Do not fear what they fear or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

    Christ, holiness in your heart

    Patiently endure suffering, for our Lord and Savior also suffered.

    The NKJV states: 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and the NASB urges: 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. What does this mean to a follower of Jesus?

    Who is Lord? Who is supreme in your life?

    Peter’s guidance to the church comes from his own personal witness.

    – excerpt from Mark 8:27-29 CSB

    Jesus had asked Peter and the Twelve, “Who do people say that I am?” He then asked the Disciples, “… who do you say that I am?”

    Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

    Christ Jesus Lord!

    Χριστός Christos Ἰησοῦς Iēsous κύριος kyrios

    All of the Apostles (not just Peter) witnessed Jesus as the Christ to the church. John, who would have been with Peter here, also writes the Good News of their earlier calling:

    One of the two who heard John [the Baptist] speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon [that is, Peter] and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).

    John 1:40-41 NASB

    Have you found the Messiah?

    That is, do you have Christ [God with us] in your heart, Peter asks those who suffer for Jesus?

    Sanctify Christ as Lord

    If God is with you, then act like Jesus so that unbelievers may see the Lord in the actions of your heart.

    15-16 NKJV But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

    Sanctify Him in your hearts.

    What does that mean, what must I do?

    Understand the holiness of the Lord God!

    The Creator is not like any other man or object of His creation. And the Messiah Jesus must be honored with this same Holiness.

    Sanctify – ἁγιάζω – hagiazō – from hagios, ‘sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)’ – 1. to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable [commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity] or hallow; 2. to separate from profane things and dedicate to God; 3. to purify

    Some will recall Jesus’ instruction to the Apostles about prayer from the King James Version:

    Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

    Matthew 6:9a KJV

    Hallow the Lord in your heart, Peter tells us. καρδία – kardia, which we recognize as the heart ‘denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life.’

    All tradition from Jewish teaching recognizes the heart not only in the physical sense, but more importantly as ‘the centre and seat of spiritual life.’

    A Model for Suffering

    Gentleness and respect begin Peter’s list here of qualities of a sanctified heart for Jesus.

    He continues with keeping a clear conscience, so that unbelievers who slander you for doing good are put to shame before the Lord.

    Suffer only for doing good, but not for doing evil as the false followers of God will claim.

    For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God.

    1 Peter 3:18a CSB

    Do you realize that your suffering for Christ Jesus may lead someone unrighteous to God?

    Peter, having God’s own Spirit in his heart, puts forth Jesus as our example of both suffering and hope.

    He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…

    1 Peter 3:18b CSB

    He went and preached to the spirits in prison.

    Peter witnessed the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus! And Peter tells us more of the Lord’s victory over sin and death.

    Without Jesus’ death for our sin we would have no victory. Those who died not knowing Jesus had no victory, though they did suffer death.

    Who are these spirits in prison?

    It’s a somewhat secondary debate from the greek of Peter’s letter, but consider the events following Jesus’ death and His appearance three days later.

    The Gospel records that He yielded up His spirit [gk. pneuma].

    Matthew 27: NKJV

    Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints [ hagios or holy ones ] who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

    Peter now proclaims a cleansing of the spirit comparing baptism (permanent change possible only in Christ) to the Lord’s cleansing of the earth at the time of Noah.

    One understanding of prison as a Greek metaphor for waiting illustrates the time of one of the three watches of the night. (See Stongs’ explanation.)

    1 Peter 3:

    NIV 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

    Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

    1 Peter 3:21-22 CSB

    Why Suffer?

    1 Peter 4:

    Therefore since Christ suffered physically, Peter begins, understand why you must suffer for doing good for Him as your Lord. (Remember that these first century believers were already suffering for their faith in Jesus.)

    “Arm yourselves also with the same purpose,” the NASB reads.

    Why?

    “… because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…

    You, beloved believer are changed permanently in Christ. For you suffer in the flesh as did our Lord AND you have ceased to sin.

    [You are] finished with sin— 2 in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

    What an uplifting encouragement from Peter to the suffering church. Yet he strengthens their personal resolve further.

    What remaining time did these suffering believers have?

    Perhaps little; some only days or weeks.

    And you, beloved follower of Christ, what little time might you have left to suffer in the flesh?

    Our Former Sin

    3 For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

    Judge yourself, fellow sinner. Even if we have not committed some of these godless offenses in the eyes of the Lord, our flesh without Christ has coveted evil. Peter warns suffering believers to hold firm in our faith.

    4 They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living—and they slander you.

    And I remind us where Peter began this contrast between you or me and those who cause us to suffer for Christ.

    2 … live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

    Peter then assures us of God’s fairness and judgement.

    They will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

    1 Peter 4:5 CSB

    Hope in the Gospel

    Peter speaks of Jesus preaching even to the dead. The end is near for some of the believers to whom he writes. What is the hope for those who suffer? Why must we suffer for Christ?

    For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.

    1 Peter 4:6 CSB

    We were once dead in our sins. Yet God wants us to live in the spirit according to His will.

    Jesus, our Savior will judge, separating those who follow from those who will receive the justice of their own sin — punishment without the grace of God’s mercy.

    Endure in your suffering for Christ Jesus, in these last days.

    To be continued...

  • Psalm 34: Like-minded with Peter – 5

    Psalm 34: Like-minded with Peter – 5

    We might describe Peter and David as like-minded, that is, men after God’s own heart.

    Of course, Psalm 34 is a Psalm of David. So what does this Psalm have to do with a letter from Peter (where we left off previously by asking, ‘Why Submit?’)?

    Psalm 34 would have been familiar to first century believers and Peter quotes David’s message as a unifying foundation of hope for these new believers in Christ.

    1 Peter 3:

    8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

    Stick with this short list of characteristics of relationships between believers.

    • like-minded
    • sympathetic
    • love one another
    • be compassionate
    • be humble
    • do not return evil for evil
    • never insult
    • bless your brother or sister in Christ.

    Remember the church’s persecution as exiles and their hope from many familiar stanzas of this Psalm Peter does not even mention. We have much to unpack from Peter’s instruction to the church here.

    For now, because he moves on to the Psalm and we most likely lack the familiarity of the first century believers, I will attempt to open the scripture of Psalm 34, returning later to Peter’s letter.

    Psalm 34

    Introduction to Psalm 34

    Charles Spurgeon provides some helpful insight into this Psalm.

    Although the gratitude of the psalmist prompted him thankfully to record the goodness of the Lord in vouchsafing an undeserved deliverance, yet he weaves none of the incidents of the escape into the narrative, but dwells only on the grand fact of his being heard in the hour of peril…

    David in view of the special peril from which he was rescued, was at great pains with this Psalm, and wrote it with considerable regularity, in almost exact accordance with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

    C.H. Spurgeon

    Spurgeon also helpfully points out that this Psalm of David divides into two parts: a hymn [vs.1-10] and a sermon [vs.11-22].

    Have you ever been in such a situation as David when your life as you know it is at stake? Did you praise the Lord for saving you?

    Perhaps this hymn was sung by the persecuted first century church. And maybe the church receiving Peter’s letter already knew well the sermon David preaches. From this context the Apostle’s recalls Psalm 34 in his first letter to the church.

    I will bless the Lord at all times

    [[A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.]]

    לְדָוִ֗ד בְּשַׁנֹּותֹ֣ו אֶת־֭טַעְמֹו לִפְנֵ֣י אֲבִימֶ֑לֶךְ וַֽ֝יְגָרֲשֵׁ֗הוּ וַיֵּלַֽךְ׃ אֲבָרֲכָ֣ה אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה בְּכָל־עֵ֑ת תָּ֝מִ֗יד תְּֽהִלָּתֹ֥ו בְּפִֽי׃

    Psalm 34:1 WLC

    I will bless the LORD at all times;
    His praise shall continually be in my mouth. – Psalm 34:1 NKJV

    Most contemporary Christians know that David was a man after God’s own heart. Certainly the newly founded and persecuted church to whom Peter wrote knew the same. Bless the LORD at all times! It is a good start.

    3 O magnify the Lord with me,
     And let us exalt His name together.
     4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
     And delivered me from all my fears.

    6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
     And saved him out of all his troubles.
     7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
     And rescues them.

    Spurgeon commentary – Psalm 34:6

    Once again Spurgeon relates David’s verse from from the Psalm in a way Peter also knew would resonate with Christians in fear for their lives.

    Verse 6. “This poor man cried.” Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless that his life was in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a poor man’s cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for “the Lord heard him,” and to be heard of God is to be delivered; and so it is added that the Lord “saved him out of all his troubles.”

    Peter then refers to this next stanza [in 1 Peter 3:10]:

    8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
    How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

    Psalm 34:8 NASB

    Peter’s Psalm 34 Sermon

    Peter urges the men of the church to whom he writes:

    1 Peter 3:

    10 For the one who wants to love life
    and to see good days,
    let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit,
    11 and let him turn away from evil
    and do what is good.
    Let him seek peace and pursue it,

    Keep your tongue from evil, Peter urges. Also turn away from evil to do what is good. Pursue peace (with each other, between members of the church).

    12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are open to their prayer.

    This too is from the Psalm [v.15].

    Do you, beloved believer, pray to the Lord? His eyes look toward the righteous.

    Are your actions now righteous because of Christ? His ears are open to your prayers; therefore pray to the Lord in whom you now take refuge. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

    And a reminder from Peter as he continues quoting from Psalm 34 [v.16]:

    But the face of the Lord is against
    those who do what is evil.

    1 Peter 3:12b CSB

    This is actually encouraging to those who have turned to the Lord. For in Christ we no longer want to do what is evil.

    The vengeance of the Lord will prevail against the enemies of God, as when David called on the Lord for help. Again, this Psalm of David will be familiar to the persecuted church of the first century.

    Psalm 34 beyond Peter’s quote

    9 O fear the Lord, you His saints;
    For to those who fear Him there is no want.

    Do we realize that all like-minded servants of the Lord are referred to as saints?

    11 Come, you children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
    12 Who is the man who desires life
    And loves length of days that he may see good?

    Like Peter, the Apostle John also encourages the church. We are called to be like-minded faithful, ‘children of God.’

    But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name

    John 1:12 NASB

    When Peter earlier referred to ‘not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult‘ his advise came from Psalm 34 and other scripture.

    13 Keep your tongue from evil
     And your lips from speaking deceit.
     14 Depart from evil and do good;
     Seek peace and pursue it.

    15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
     And His ears are open to their cry.
     16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
     To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
     17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
     And delivers them out of all their troubles.
     18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
     And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

    Like-minded believers

    What do the faithful do with Scripture?

    Peter’s readers applied Old Testament Scripture to the promises of their faith in Christ Jesus.

    The Lord has done this before and the Lord promises these things; therefore we have faith.

    David, a man after God’s own heart, preaches the sermon of Psalm 34 to the church. Yet first century persecuted followers of Christ probably seemed just as crazy to others as David had when he pretended madness before Abimelech.

    The Psalmist assures us that God hears the cries of the righteous and sees our suffering. Furthermore, the Lord prevailed and saved David.

    The Lord also saves us in spite of humanly impossible circumstances many times; therefore the faithful hear:

    Psalm 34:21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
     And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned
    22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
     And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned

    Is your soul saved?

    The Lord redeems the soul of His servants.

    Are you a servant of the Lord? Will you become like-minded with Jesus in suffering?

    Do you take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ?

    Once again, turning to the preaching of Spurgeon:

    “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants”—with price and with power, with blood and with water. All providential helps are a part of the redemption by power, hence the Lord is said still to redeem. All thus ransomed belong to him who bought them—this is the law of justice and the verdict of gratitude. Joyfully will we serve him who so graciously purchases us with his blood, and delivers us by his power. “And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Faith is the mark of the ransomed, and wherever it is seen, though in the least and meanest of the saints, it ensures eternal salvation. Believer, thou shalt never be deserted, forsaken, given up to ruin. God, even thy God, is thy guardian and friend, and bliss is thine.

    Charles Spurgeon commentary Psalm 34:22

    Peter continues

    Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Peter asks, are you all these things in Christ?

    • like-minded and sympathetic?
    • Do you love one another?
    • Are you compassionate and humble?

    Peter will continue by asking the church to be Christlike.

    • Do not return evil for evil and never insult anyone.
    • Bless your brother or sister in Christ.

    Do good, even if you suffer for it.

    If we are in Christ we must be like-minded. For we are now children of the Living God through Christ Jesus!

    Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.

    Isaiah 8:12b;1 Peter 3:14b CSB
    To be continued...
  • Why Submit? – a letter from Peter – 4

    Why Submit? – a letter from Peter – 4

    Why should we submit to anyone? If a follower of Christ Jesus encounters difficulty from your community, your boss, your spouse or anyone else, why submit to their will rather than your own?

    We began last time with Peter telling us the purpose of our good works through Christ Jesus:

    Submit to every human authority because of the Lord… For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.

    1 Peter 2:13a,15-16 CSB

    The Apostle opened his first letter to the persecuted church with blessings and encouragement concerning this salvation through Christ Jesus. But Peter quickly proceeds, warning the faithful against those opposed to the risen Savior.

    He assures us that Jesus is the cornerstone of the church and that faithful followers of Christ are living stones. Yet because of Christ some will stumble because they disobey our Lord.

    Peter now adds specific applications to their lives and ours.

    Remember Our Example Before Men

    No witness is better than a personal witness.

    For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

    1 Peter 2:21

    Although Peter had been part of the inner circle of the Lord, most first century believers had only the good works of the Apostles as their image of Christ risen and the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Part of Peter’s authenticity becomes evident by his own admissions of failings. We first hear of this humility in Peter when Jesus first called him.

    Luke 5:

    The crowds are pressing into Jesus who is teaching near Lake Tiberias, as the Romans called this Sea of Galilee. He sees two boats having returned from less than successful fishing that day.

    3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

    Peter, of course, also listens to Jesus preach from his boat.

    4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

    5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”

    6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear…

    When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!”

    Luke 5:8 CSB

    Peter, James and John that day all became Jesus’ closest Disciples and friends. Surely believers who witnessed Peter during his brief years following the Lord’s resurrection came to know this humble, yet sometimes boisterous redeemed sinner who writes this letter.

    1 Peter 2:

    9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

    1 Peter 2:9 CSB

    If you are the one receiving this letter doesn’t this make you feel special, that is, set aside for God?

    God chooses you through Christ! Peter is just the Lord’s humble messenger of the Good News. But then he explains this further to the largely gentile or non-jewish hearers of his letter.

    10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

    In Christ Jesus we are chosen, therefore we must act differently than the world around us. By God’s grace we have received mercy and can show our good works to others.

    How to submit to others

    13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord…

    We have already looked at the list of those we resist by our lack of humility. Peter will remind us later in his letter:

    Since Christ had to suffer physically for you, you must fortify yourselves with the same inner attitude that he must have had.

    1 Peter 4:1 JB Phillips New Testament

    In this sense we feel the prescribed holiness of the priest made possible only by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit.

    Masters

    We abhor slavery. Yet in a sense all are slaves of servants to someone; Christians moreso, as Peter insists.

    19 For it brings favor if, because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it?

    This is a fair question the Apostle asks. For such a situation, whether physically or metaphorically, our beating is punishment for sin, a transgression of some law of man or a Law of God.

    But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

    Christ’s example before men

    21 For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

    This witness of Jesus by Peter stands as a question to new Christians for every example to follow his mention of slaves or servants.

    • Are you a servant of God? Then the Father is your Master.
    • Is Christ Jesus your Lord? Then Jesus must be your new Master.

    Why then do you not follow Jesus’ example before men?

    22 He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; 23 when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

    We just have trouble doing that, new Christian or long-time believer, don’t we?

    Then Peter reminds us of the reason Christ came to us as a man, the suffering servant predicted by scripture.

    24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree [cross]; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness.

    The sinless Son of Man, Jesus, became the sacrificial lamb, His Blood the covering for our own sins. Therefore, we must live to righteousness.

    For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

    1 Peter 2:21 CSB

    Submission to Husbands

    In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands…

    Once again, a topic perhaps as malaligned as slaves serving masters.

    Some translations soften the blow of this topic offensive to some women of the church. Wives are often more zealous for Jesus than their husbands.

    It may be helpful for Christian wives to remember that Peter was a devoted husband, who called Jesus his Master. MacArthur’s outline heading: Submission in the Family may be most appropriate.

    1 Peter 3:

    Peter tells our sisters in the Lord why they must submit and how they must act to reflect Christ’s glory.

    … so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live when they observe your pure, reverent lives.

    Pure and reverent lives. How often do we hear this call even to Christian men? Other translations shed additional light on Peter’s meaning:

    • While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. KJV
    • when they see your respectful and pure conduct. ESV
    • as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. NASB

    Twenty-first century culture nearly everywhere has strayed far from these original meanings and we must not devalue Christian women in any way simply because the Bible clearly states the roles of both men and women.

    Chaste and respectful behavior

    ἁγνός – hagnos chaste – exciting reverence, venerable, sacred, pure; pure from carnality, chaste, modest; pure from every fault, immaculate; clean (in the Hebrew sense of cleansed)

    Paul, in his letter to Titus uses this same word for wives when he encourages older women to mentor younger women in the church:

    ‘to be sensible, pure, G53 workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.’

    Titus 2:5 Strongs Concordance BlueletterBible.org

    φόβος – phobos respectful – fear, dread, terror or alarm, that which strikes terror; also: reverence for one’s husband

    What does it mean to reverence the Lord God? Or reverence Jesus Christ as your Lord?

    Let us not confuse fear and dread with respect and reverence, not even of husbands, who must honor their wives. For the enemy of Christ would have some men fear their wives, having no reverence for Christ or God our merciful Father.

    ἀναστροφή – anastrophē behavior – manner of life, conduct, behaviour, deportment” from G390; behavior:—conversation.

    Of course our good works (or evil works) quickly become most evident by our words in women and especially in men. Peter’s additional encouragement to wives faithful to their husband and faithful to the Lord points toward a Christ-like example from women as well. The writer of Hebrews uses this same word also translated as conduct when he writes:

    Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, G391 imitate their faith.

    Hebrews 13:7 NASB Strong’s concordance from BlueLetterBible.org

    Your inner beauty

    Remember, Peter is married. He may also have a sister or daughter – the Bible does not confirm this. Many, perhaps most of the Apostles were married, had daughters and sons, sisters and brothers.

    Isn’t it most familial that in Christ the early church referred to each other as “brother” and “sister,” and greeted each other with a kiss?

    Therefore acknowledging our humility of role, as Christ also humbled Himself as a servant, Peter points inward to our soul rather than the desirable outward appearances of the world.

    3 {NASB} Your adornment must not be merely external…

    The cultural particulars of the time or locale carry less importance, but reflect the appropriateness of the saints.

    The imperishable qualities of a wife in Christ

    4 [NASB] but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

    She is a quiet and gentle soul. Oh, such a compliment to her husband, such a witness to a gentle Jesus. She also will submit to the Father – a bruised reed she will not break.

    Peter puts forth the example of Sarah, wife of Abraham, as a holy example of a wife who does submit to her husband. She called him ‘lord,’ the Apostle reminds. A servant calls their master, lord.

    Do you call Jesus Lord?

    Peter also calls upon husbands to ‘live with your wives in an understanding way.’ What does he mean?

    The Apostle presumes that as a brother in Christ that you have a ‘gnosis‘ of scripture and the Lord; that is, a deeper more perfect and enlarged knowledge of this religion, such as belongs to the more advanced.

    She is ‘the weaker vessel,’ knowing less about God while she submits to you. It may have been so in the first century, yet in this day I must ask you, husbands who claim Christ, is it so?

    Do you know more about the Bible and about the Lord than your wife? Who is truly ‘a weaker vessel’ in knowledge of Christ our Lord?

    Is Christ your Lord?

    Are you an unrepentant sinner or by grace a sinner saved in Christ Jesus?

    In addition to living honorably as a witness to unbelievers, the Apostle next suggests how to live honorably among other Christians.

    Beloved Christian brother, dear sister in the Lord,

    Peter will next call upon all brothers and sisters in the Lord to do no evil. He has more instruction to those of us who submit to the teaching of Jesus. 

    To be continued...