A Godly Wife And An Ungodly Husband

A point of contention in many marriages is “Who’s going to wear the pants in this family? Who’s going to call the shots? Who’s going to have the last word?” Many marriages break up because these power struggles are never resolved. So, Peter isn’t trying to get off on a women’s rights thing. In the Jewish culture, which was a patriarchal culture dominated by men, they had no rights. They were treated like livestock and furniture. In the Greek culture, they had rights—in fact they could vote and hold office. So we have to understand the cultural difficulty Pete writes about. But take those rights back into the home. If any Christian women in that culture struck out on their own and accepted a religion different from their husband’s religion, it was seen as insubordination…and that would make a mess out of their home life and eliminate any opportunity they had to be a witness to their husbands because he would already be reacting against her behavior. Instead, live your life in such a humble, submissive, loving way that he sees your inner beauty and knows that something special has happened to you.

Vs. 2 completes the thought of vs. 1 …so that they may be won to Christ without a word as they observe the chaste and respectful behavior of their wives.

--the lovely, gracious, gentle submission of a Christian woman to her unsaved husband is the strongest evangelistic tool she has. It is NOT what she says, it is what she is. Peter teaches us that a godly wife wins her husband, not through his ears, but through his eyes.

Notice the three things Peter says she should concentrate on:

1. Chaste / purity This isn’t just sexual faithfulness and purity. It has to do with all kinds of moral purity. It means, she should abstain from any sin that defiles the believer’s life. Moral purity…choosing right…choosing to be godly.

I Timothy 5:22 says, ”Keep yourself from sin.”

I John 3:3 says purify yourself as Jesus is pure.

2. Respectful – respect your husband. I heard about a wife who fell into bed and sighed, “Lord, I’m tired.” Her husband calmly said, “Dear, in the privacy of our bedroom, you can call me Jim.” That’s not the respect Peter is talking about. He means, honor, encouragement, faithful to him. Appreciating who he is and what he brings to the marriage.

3. Vs. 3,4 Inner beauty of a quiet and gentle spirit.

From the looks of the words Peter uses, there was a preoccupation with external appearance.

They took lots of time braiding the hair and wearing jewelry and putting on dresses. Now, is Peter against those things? Probably not. I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but I heard an old evangelist say, “ It is amazing what a little paint can do to help an old barn.” God is not saying that women should not adorn themselves in a lovely way. He is not talking about the absence of outward beauty but the problem of a woman making outward beauty the priority. He’s is warning about the obsession with external appearance.