Commentary on First Peter (87)

The above review reinforces the context within which we find our passage. It brings to the forefront the first point about 3:1-6 that we are about to consider, namely, the possible misconception about the Christian faith that the wives are supposed to counter and correct by their submission.

Ancient civilization recognizes the husband as the head of the house. His authority is so extensive that his religion is also the household religion, which everyone under him is expected to follow. A husband who is converted to Christianity would lead his wife and the rest of the family to join the church as well.

On the other hand, trouble arises when the wife converts to Christianity while the husband rejects the gospel and remains in paganism. To leave the husband's religion for another could be taken as a sign of insubordination. Then, for the wife to abandon the former beliefs and abstain from all pagan rituals could be seen as a direct challenge to the husband's authority. Naturally, the teaching of this new religion that has so transformed the wife would become suspect as well. Therefore, it is a matter of utmost urgency and importance to convince the husband that the Christian faith does not encouragee rebellion in the wife. In fact, it reinforces her submission, not by the authority of tradition or culture, but by the very command of God.

The wife could no longer affirm pagan religions and participate in their worship rituals, and this could not be helped. But other than this, the Christian faith does not repudiate the husband's authority, but rather reaffirms it. It does not take the wife away from her husband, but it makes her a better wife than before. The Christian wife ought to be gentle, feminine, intelligent, responsible, hard-working, fiercely loyal and devoted, not vain, and without private ambitions and selfish agendas (Proverbs 31). Instead, she submits to her husband as her head, with sincere love and for the Lord's sake.

We should mention that, in observing the context of the passage and thus the reason for Peter to discuss the topic, we are by no means suggesting that the command for wives to submit is merely pragmatic, or that it is only a matter of convenience. Rather, the principle that wives must submit to their husbands has been true since the beginning of creation. Here Peter gives it emphasis to address the situation faced by his readers.

To illustrate, if we were to address a group of Christians whose parents oppose the faith because of its alleged negative effects on the children, then we would naturally emphasize the command, "Obey your parents." But the command is in force whether or not the particular situation requires us to emphasize it. Likewise, wives must submit to their husbands. In fact, if the submission of women is considered undesirable or offensive in a given culture, the church would still have to teach and practice it, only that the command would receive attention from a different perspective.