Eliezer Roque Cisneros / General
1 Peter 3; 1 Peter 3:1–2
If you’d like to annotate your Bible, these are the words I highlighted in mine for this message today:
1. Likewise
2. subject
3. won
4. conduct
The Text
1 Peter 3:1–2 ESV
1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
Likewise
English Standard Version 1 Peter 3:1
Likewise
Greek text says: Homwios
It means of the same stuff or “as previously stated”
• What was previously stated?
• “Be subject” is a thread of consciousness that Peter begins in chapter 2 and continues through chapter 5
• Peter introduces the idea this way:
• 1 Peter 2:13 “13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,”
• Then he expands on this
• 1 Peter 2:18 “18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.”
• 1 Peter 3:1 “1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,”
• 1 Peter 3:22 “22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
• 1 Peter 5:5 “5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””
Subject - or Yield
ὑποτάσσω
English Standard Version 1 Peter 3:1
subject
the Greek text says: Hupo-ta-so
it means the same as yield
Like you yield at a traffic circle or at a crosswalk with pedestrians, even if there is no stop sign.
• often we don’t like to yield because it indicates defeat, or at the very least it means the inconvenience of letting the conflicting opinion of another person take priority over my plans or ideas.
• Yielding is not a task of the proud
• for many yielding in an ongoing argument with a spouse or parent can feel like losing.
• And it is.
Definition
• miriam-websters compares it to the following words:
yield, submit, capitulate, succumb, relent, defer mean to give way to someone or something that one can no longer resist.
Some example
• To give way to pressure or influence: To submit to persuasion, urging, or entreaty. For example, "Carmen yielded to general pressure and grudgingly took the child to a specialist"
• To give up and cease resistance or contention: To submit or succumb. For example, "After several hours of debate, the opposition yielded"
• To allow someone else to have control or responsibility for something: For example, "Canals yielded to the railways for transporting goods".
Gain
κερδαίνω
English Standard Version 1 Peter 3:1
won
The Greek text says: Ker-den-o
That means you obtain something you didn’t previously have, it’s a transactional word. you can think of the word profit as in business loss and profit.
• While we don’t tend to enjoy yielding, we do tend to like gaining, for many of the opposite reasons
• gaining means winning. it means your hard work paid off or that your solid arguments were impossible to dismiss.
This contrast of ideas to achieve a noteworthy task is known as a subversion. (for my fellow arm-chair film-critics, you should know that word quite well!)
• peter subverts the idea of evangelistic gain by calling for us to yield
• Willingness to lose for the sake of the gospel leads to winning
• By why does this work?
• This brings us to the last word
Conduct
English Standard Version 1 Peter 1:15
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
English Standard Version 1 Peter 3:1
conduct
The Greek text says: Anastro-fe
it means behaviour as a habitual way of living
Peter speaks about conduct as one of his main themes alongside this idea of submission - - not as special treatment or special occasional responses under specific circumstances but as a way of life
So now what?
do you yield?
Christ is taught to be the husband of the church, do we yield to him?
a. do we embrace difficult teachings?
b. do we stop our plans to make way for his plans?
c. do we admit defeat in the face of his rebukes?
d. do we respect and honor the leaders he has allowed in our church?
e. do we put aside our ideas in favor of his?
Likewise in the context that Peter wrote:
a. do we restrain what we would say for the sake of our unbelieving partner?
b. is submission a way of life or only something we do when we’re in public?
c. are we known to yield or are we known for our combative attitude?
Christ is calling you to yield
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