Spotlight on Marriage

Peter again addresses people of inferior relational status–this time, wives. Wives are referred to as “the weaker partner” (7)–not denoting any spiritual or intellectual inferiority but acknowledging their comparative physical strength and their greater vulnerability in a patriarchal culture. Women at that time were weaker, economically and legally; they could also be divorced for trivial reasons, but could not initiate divorce themselves. A woman’s value and roles were culturally defined, but Peter does not challenge these limitations. Instead, he asks women to submit to their husbands. What he does challenge are the consumerist pressures on women regarding beauty.

For many women, self-esteem plunges if their looks, clothes, hair or weight don’t measure up. Peter frees Christian women from this bondage by locating beauty in the inner self, especially in a peaceful, submissive spirit. For Peter, Christian mission can be advanced by these characteristics. Peaceful women are less likely to be self-centered or quarrelsome. They are happier to submit to their husbands, and an unbelieving husband is more likely to receive the Gospel through the purity and submission of his wife–her behavior–than through words (1-2).

In contemporary, non-patriarchal countries, people are understandably suspicious about the emphasis on the submission of women, as it may open the door to domestic violence, where non-submission is used to justify wife-beating or abuse. That’s certainly not how Peter sees it. He insists that husbands should honor their wives and respect their vulnerability, recognizing them as joint heirs of God’s grace (7). This stronger note of equality puts submission in the bigger framework of reciprocal value and esteem. The door it opens is to our Christian focus today on marriage based in mutuality and love (see 1 Cor. 7).

If you are married, do something new to encourage your spouse. If you are single, do something new to develop your character to match the one described by Peter.