Untitled Sermon (37)

1 Peter 3:7 ESV

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

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“Likewise”: This is another area of submission, one in which the husband is not being treated well by his wife. In such situations the husband must submit to his wife by respecting her, and giving her honor by the way he treats her and speaks to her.

The Grace New Testament Commentary 4. Honoring One’s Wife (3:7)

This is another area of submission, one in which the husband is not being treated well by his wife. In such situations the husband must submit to his wife by respecting her, and giving her honor by the way he treats her and speaks to her.

What does it mean to be a Husband!

Ephesians 5:25–30 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

#1 Love their wives as their own bodies.

-He who loves his wife loves himself!

#2 Nourish: Provide food for, feed.

#3 Cherish: take care of, with the implication of cherishing and comforting. (Protect)

What if I don’t know how to nourish and Cherish?

Christ is our teacher!

live with your wives in an understanding way

“Live with your wives in an understanding way”

A godly husband undertakes the important job of understanding his wife. By knowing her well, he is able to demonstrate his love for her far more effectively.

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) 2499 θάλπω

take care of, with the implication of cherishing and comforting

10 ways to know your wife

When a husband has this understanding, God directs him to use it in that he is to Live with his wife with understanding.

He is supposed to take his understanding and apply it in daily life with his wife.

This is where many men have trouble following through. They may have understanding about their wives, but they don’t use it as they Live with them.

Live is the key word!

“Showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel”

To honor someone is to attribute value to them, to esteem them as having value.

Giving honor: A godly husband knows how to make his wife feel honored. Though she submits to him, he takes care that she does not feel like she is an employee or under a tyrant.

2 Thoughts -

ii. This was a radical teaching in the world Peter lived in. In that ancient culture a husband had absolute rights over his wife and the wife had virtually no rights in the marriage. In the Roman world, if a man caught his wife in an act of adultery he could kill her on the spot. But if a wife caught her husband, she could do nothing against him. All the duties and obligations in marriage were put on the wife. Peter’s radical teaching is that the husband has God-ordained duties and obligations toward his wife.

By weaker vessel Peter is not implying that wives are intellectually, physically, or emotionally inferior. Rather they are more easily hurt, physically or emotionally. And this weakness is to be respected rather than abused or exploited by the husband.

The Grace New Testament Commentary 4. Honoring One’s Wife (3:7)

By weaker vessel Peter is not implying that wives are intellectually, physically, or emotionally inferior. Rather they are more easily hurt, physically or emotionally. And this weakness is to be respected rather than abused or exploited by the husband. Why? He does this because as heirs of the grace of life with their husbands, they stand before God as equal participants in the eternal inheritance God is reserving in heaven for every saint (1:4). They are God’s special concern.

The “weakness” to which Peter refers are not so much a weakness with which a woman is born, but that role or position of weakness to which she submits, in obedience to the Word of God. To be weak is to lack power and prominence. For a woman to submit to her husband, to be silent and have a gentle and quiet spirit (as taught in 3:1-6) is to be weak in the eyes of the world.

The husband is to honor his wife because she has been divinely appointed to assume the “weaker” role.

What’s the purpose for the weaker role?

How then does the husband honor his wife as the weaker vessel? If the responsibility of the wife is to give priority to her inner beauty rather than to outward adornment, it is the husband’s duty to honor his wife, to promote her well-being and praise.

“Since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

The secret to a blessed house is an obedient husband!