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NASB | 1 Peter 3:1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Peter 3:1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate, not as inferior, but out of respect for the responsibilities entrusted to husbands and their accountability to God, and so partnering with them] so that even if some do not obey the word [of God], they may be won over [to Christ] without discussion by the godly lives of their wives, [Eph 5:22] |
Bible Question:
I have been really struggling with some of the interpretations I am hearing of how to follow the directive for a wife to submit to her husband. I have been reading the verses in the Bible dealing with this subject and I've noticed that often the issue of slavery is not far in front of or behind the writers mention of submission. This, of course, is the case in 1 Peter, as my pastor had mentioned a couple of weeks ago. If I remember correctly, my pastor noted that the Bible did not support or condone slavery, rather gave directives with how to operate or submit within its confines. Why is it that we don't see the issue of women submitting to husbands in the same light? At the time of the writing of 1 Peter, abuse and suppression of women was completely normal, as was the institution of slavery. Women were often viewed as little more than slaves and as the property of the husband, weren't they? So why don't we see that the "institution of suppression of women" (for lack of a better term) was not supported by the Bible, and that the Bible was only giving directives for women to submit under that authority as long as it existed? Therefore that passage would have as much application as the verses pertaining to slavery - we would glean only the general concepts and principles. It is so easy for us today to see slavery as sinful, but it seems like we do the reverse by interpreting the wives/submission verses by continuing many of the sinful traditions of the past. Why don't we read/interpret the verse like, "as long as the culture supports and condones the suppression of women, and the defining of women as less than equal - Wives, submit to your husbands." Isn't that how we are reading the slavery verses? Weren't the roles of men and women during the time of the writing of the Bible a good example of an authority structure that we in America no longer adhere to, therefore don't need directions on operating within? I also would like to know why it is that we so literally are applying the 1 Peter verses, and others like them, but discount the verses pertaining to women wearing head-coverings. Also, Paul very specifically notes that women were not allowed to speak in the churches (1 Cor) - but we don't follow that literally today either. I am very confused by what seems like inconsistent interpretation. I have struggled with these verses and their interpretations for another reason as well. In my professional background, I have had a lot of experience with the DISC assessment, or others like them, which attempt to classify behavior and personality into 4 basic categories - sometimes they are also called Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic, and Melancholy. Every message that I have heard with regard to the role of women has described the women's character or role as being almost textbook "S" or phlegmatic - as if we had been given a prescription for a certain personality. It would seem that women are not allowed to be choleric, or at least I have never heard anyone in the church describe how a marriage should work specifically when, due to personality styles, the wife is a choleric, the natural leader, the idea person, the pioneer, and the husband is the phlegmatic, or quiet, easy-going, even-tempered one. Please know that I am searching for truth, not a "way out" or a convenient loophole with any of my questions. I am not trying to be argumentative or insubordinate. I do believe that the Bible is the complete Word of God - I completely believe in the verbal-plenary view of scripture. But I need to see consistent interpretations, or I am left with nothing but confusion. Could someone help me out with this struggle? All truth is God's truth. :) |
Bible Answer: Joy, Is submission for anyone today? Perhaps it would be easier for women to submit to their husbands if their husband were more willing to submit to the Lord. Or maybe not. We are a stiff necked people. What do you think of the passage below. It is not mine but has some good content though written about seventyfive years ago. "This precept the Apostle laid down when he said: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church," that Church which of a truth He embraced with a boundless love not for the sake of His own advantage, but seeking only the good of His Spouse. The love, then, of which We are speaking is not that based on the passing lust of the moment nor does it consist in pleasing words only, but in the deep attachment of the heart which is expressed in action, since love is proved by deeds. This outward expression of love in the home demands not only mutual help but must go further; must have as its primary purpose that man and wife help each other day by day in forming and perfecting themselves in the interior life, so that through their partnership in life they may advance ever more and more in virtue, and above all that they may grow in true love toward God and their neighbor, on which indeed "dependeth the whole Law and the Prophets." For all men of every condition, in whatever honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought to imitate that most perfect example of holiness placed before man by God, namely Christ Our Lord, and by God's grace to arrive at the summit of perfection, as is proved by the example set us of many saints. ... Domestic society being confirmed, therefore, by this bond of love, there should flourish in it that "order of love," as St. Augustine calls it. This order includes both the primacy of the husband with regard to the wife and children, the ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience, which the Apostle commends in these words: "Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church." [29] This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband's every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors, to whom it is customary to not allow free exercise of their rights on account of their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of human affairs. But it forbids that exaggerated liberty which cares not for the good of the family; it forbids that in this body which is the family, the heart be separated from the head to the great detriment of the whole body and the proximate danger of ruin. For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love. Again, this subjection of wife to husband in its degree and manner may vary according to the different conditions of persons, place and time. In fact, if the husband neglect his duty, it falls to the wife to take his place in directing the family. But the structure of the family and its fundamental law, established and confirmed by God, must always and everywhere be maintained intact . ...We have already mentioned, speaking of this order to be maintained between man and wife, teaches: "The man is the ruler of the family, and the head of the woman; but because she is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, let her be subject and obedient to the man, not as a servant but as a companion, so that nothing be lacking of honor or of dignity in the obedience which she pays. Let divine charity be the constant guide of their mutual relations, both in him who rules and in her who obeys, since each bears the image, the one of Christ, the other of the Church." These, then, are the elements which compose the blessing of conjugal faith: unity, chastity, charity, honorable noble obedience, which are at the same time an enumeration of the benefits which are bestowed on husband and wife in their married state, benefits by which the peace, the dignity and the happiness of matrimony are securely preserved and fostered. Wherefore it is not surprising that this conjugal faith has always been counted amongst the most priceless and special blessings of matrimony." Emmaus |