Honorable Husbands (1 Peter 3:7)

Honorable Husbands 1 Peter 3:7 Context • Peter has been instructing Christians all across Asia Minor regarding their relationship: world, governance, employers, spouses, and believers. • Today, Peter addresses husbands with one, instruction-packed verse. • Although there are technically no imperatives, at least 7 implicit commands can be inferred. Let us Submit to God’s Created Order • Peter leads the verse with, “Likewise.” His instruction is a continuation of what came before. • Just as citizens, servants, and wives voluntarily bring themselves under God’s order, so should we. • By beginning with “likewise,” Peter addresses Christian domesticity in every culture and in every age. • Peter rules out self-definition, personal excuses, perpetual adolescence, ill-defined detachment, and more. Let us Live with Our Wives • Just as “wives, be subject” is an implied imperative, so “live with” is here. • The word is rare but is plain enough – live at home (under the same roof) with your wife. • Peter speaks to careers that take men out of the home for extended periods of time (a consideration that should be pondered prior to marriage) • Peter would also affirm that lifestyle choices often pull men from home: indebtedness, time-consuming hobbies, and distractions that make one present but absent. Let us Know our Wives Better all the Time • The word “in an understanding way” in our translation could be rendered, “according to personal knowledge.” • Peter’s “live with” is thoroughly present – be living according to personal knowledge right now and into the future.” • The law of love dictates asking, listening, waiting, and assuming the best (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). • Here we find a complementary encouragement to our wives to make growing, personal knowledge easy on their husbands. Let us Hold our Wives in the Highest Regard • “Showing honor” has a background in worship. • Honoring our wives, holding them in the highest regard, is an act of worship to the Lord. • The act of honoring cuts to exclusivity – we honor them alone in our hearts. Let us Embrace our Wives’ Constitution • “Weaker” vessel simply refers to the physical advantages most husbands have. • Strength shows itself strongest not just by guarding but preserving the more treasured person. • Peter is not here referring to the knight-inshining-armor syndrome, but to protection from unnecessary strain, relief from excessive stress, and refusing to despise her vulnerabilities (or trying to “toughen her up”). Let us Define our Marriages Salvifically • Peter’s entire reasoning for knowing, honorable domesticity finds its roots in the gospel. Wives are coheirs of the husband’s living hope. God entrusts the care of one of His adopted children to a graced man. • Both husband and wife are objects of God’s grace – we deserve nothing in life but punishment for our sins. Yet, God has gifted us not only with salvation, but a coequal, graced companions. Every aspect of our marriage relationships should display the grace that forges Christian marriage from the outset. Let us Make Prayer Vital to our Lives • Peter says that a husband’s refusal live knowingly or to honor graciously causes God to turn a deaf ear to his prayers. • Sadly, most Christian husbands would see little change in their lives change if prayer were suddenly removed – it would be business as usual. • We must make prayer so central to our lives that any threat to it would wake us immediately to the danger. Closing Thoughts for Men • Live within your means. • Make the local church central. • Choose hobbies that are helpful to others and inclusive for the family. • Spend substantial time every day with God.