ANNOUNCER: Today in 1 Peter, the conduct of a godly woman in an ungodly culture, inner beauty and external beauty, submission, but also implications and imperatives for a godly husband. This is Grace in Focus. Thank you for joining us today, friend. Grace in Focus is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society located in North Texas. Our website is faithalone.org. Take advantage of early bird registration for our national annual conference coming up in May, May 18th through the 21st. Read all about it at our website, faithalone.org/events, get the information and get registered. Faithalone.org.

And now with the continuation of our 1 Peter series, here are Bob Wilkin and David Renfro. 

BOB: And we’re continuing our trek through 1 Peter. We talked about the fact that 1 Peter is all about the salvation of something called the psuche. What is that? 

DAVID: Well, it’s where we get our word psychology in the English and it is translated in most English translations as the soul. 

BOB: Salvation of the soul, but that can be a little misleading because a lot of people think saving of the soul means going to heaven when I die, saving the soul means being born again. But yet we know, for example, in the New Testament that the salvation of the soul often refers to physically surviving, like Noah and his family. There eight souls were saved in ark.

DAVID: David in the Psalms, he would cry out to the Lord, save me. And of course, that doesn’t mean let me go to heaven. It means people are trying to run me through with a spear. 

BOB: Right. And in 1st Peter 1, it’s verse 9, right? He talks about the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your psuche. And there, it’s not talking so much about salvation of your physical life here and now, but more the inner self. In fact, I think you have the notes from Zane Hodges, from his class on 1st Peter at Dallas Seminary and what did he say about the salvation of the psuche? 

DAVID: He said, it’s that total transforming work of God upon our lives, psuche, which is presently being realized in the midst of Christlike sufferings and which in the future will be unveiled in Christlike glory. I love that. 

BOB: So in other words, there’s a transformative impact now. Our lives through suffering are being made more like Christ. And in the life to come, it will involve heightened sense of his glory, experience of his glory. 

DAVID: I agree. And in a way, it works out for us to be more like Christ, which is one of the things the New Testament talks about.

BOB: Absolutely. Now we’re in the working out of the salvation of the psuche in chapter 3, verses 1 through 12, in this one, and it basically breaks down pretty easily. Verses 1 through 6 deals with wives, verse 7 deals with husbands, and verses 8 through 12 basically deals with the assembly, the local church, and how we’re to love one another in the local church. So let’s break it down. What does he say about wives? What are wives to do? 

DAVID: Well, verse 1 of chapter 3, it does talk about wives. Notice it says likewise or in the same way. And what he’s talking about there is the same kind of submissive attitude that all of us are supposed to have to people that are in authority over us. 

BOB: Especially the Lord Jesus Christ. 

DAVID: And then the governmental authorities that are over us presently. 

BOB: Which he talked about in 2:13 and then 2:18 and following was slaves to their masters. Which would be like an employer/employee. Okay. And then he says wives are supposed to be submissive. 

DAVID: They are supposed to be submissive to their husbands. 

BOB: Not to all men, but specifically to their own husbands. 

DAVID: No, it just says to be submissive to your own and it makes it—the Greek is very clear on that—to your own husbands, not somebody else’s husband. And notice even if some do not obey the word, in other words, we’re talking about a woman who becomes a Christian, a believer that before was married to a non-believer husband. 

BOB: Two unbelievers married, one comes to faith. And now the wife has a husband who she wants to come to faith. 

DAVID: Yeah. And see her submissiveness to him, even though they disagree spiritually, her submissiveness is a, and I think this is Peter’s point. It is a testimony to that unbelieving husband of the love of God. And that’ll work out, even if she suffers in that relationship, which is possible, it’s still a testimony. And that’s what the Lord wants, wives who do that are going to be greatly rewarded. 

BOB: And she’s according to verse three, she’s not only to be beautiful externally, but she’s also to be beautiful internally. In fact, the emphasis seems to be on the internal.

DAVID: Yeah, verse two does say that: “Observe your chaste,” or pure, “conduct accompanied by fear.” And fear doesn’t mean I’m scared. It’s a reverential, sober, if you will. 

BOB: Just like we have this reverential awe toward the Lord, wives are supposed to have a sense of honor and respect to their husband. 

DAVID: Exactly. And once again, that’s supposed to be a testimony to the unsaved world, the unbelieving world. Verse three says, essentially, don’t be obsessed with how you look. I think in that Roman culture, the more jewelry you had, the more status, oh, you must be really wealthy. If you have that jewelry and that you’re wearing that kind of dress, it’s a difference between wearing dresses from the famous fashion designers or a local store or something. 

BOB: Yeah, Notice how Peter talks about the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. 

DAVID: Exactly. That’s more beautiful than physical beauty. 

ANNOUNCER: We will rejoin in just a moment. But years ago, Zane Hodges wrote the Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true. And GES president Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob’s new book, The Gospel is Still Under Siege, is a book about theological clarity on the Biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now. Secure yours today at the Grace Evangelical Society’s bookstore. Find it at faithalone.org/store. That’s faithalone.org/store. Now back to today’s content.

BOB: Power can often be shown in the fact that we don’t need to always speak up. We can be quiet and submissive and that sort of thing. Notice too that Peter uses the example of godly women or holy women in past times. And specifically, he mentions Sarah. 

DAVID: I think it’s very interesting that he does that. Notice it says in verse five, they trusted in God and adorned themselves being submissive. They trusted in the Lord, knowing even against our culture that the right priorities. In other words, the inner beauty of the woman was way more important than the external beauty. And therefore maintain your priorities. 

BOB: Absolutely. And then in verse seven, he doesn’t give as much attention to the men, but it is powerful. “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel.” And weaker vessel there doesn’t mean weaker intellectually. It doesn’t mean weaker emotionally or whatever. It means weaker physically. 

DAVID: It’s women and children in that culture were considered vulnerable parts of the society. And that’s what this is talking about. 

BOB: And notice, he says, “and as being heirs together of the grace of God [sic].” Now, of course, that can be taken one of two ways. It’s either the passive heirship that all believers have, all believers are heirs of God, or this could be taken as the heirship that the faithful believer has, the one who has the salvation of the psuche. And so it’s not crystal clear to me which way this goes. Do you have a feeling on whether this is referring to something all believers have, or whether the faithful believers have? 

DAVID: It tends towards the faithful believers, I think. 

BOB: Yeah, I just looked in Hodges commentary in 1 and 2 Peter and Jude. And on page 39, he seems to indicate that he takes joint heirs as a reference to something that’s true of all believers and it’s this grace of life, the favor of God we experience in life. Notice what he says too, that they’re to dwell with their wives in an understanding way, giving them honor so “that your prayers may not be hindered.” Notice if the husband is not dwelling with his wife properly, his prayers will be hindered. 

DAVID: Yeah, I think what he’s saying in this verse to sum it up is: husbands don’t be selfish. It’s not all about you because your wife, if she’s a believer, is a fellow partaker of God’s grace. She needs to be treated that way. 

BOB: Right. Of course, we know from Paul that were to love our wives as Christ loves the church. Who gave himself up for the church so that it’s a sacrificial love. 

DAVID: Right. I think what Peter is saying here is that if you do not go along with that, your prayers will be hindered, meaning you will be disciplined for that. I think that’s what this is saying. And he’s telling, you know, husbands are not, you know, lord high rulers of the household. They are joint heirs with their wife and should be treated as equal partners in the household. There are different priorities, but they should be treated with honor. 

BOB: Yeah. And it’s interesting, although they are the ruler. In fact, Sarah called Abraham, Lord, we’re told, yet they’re to do this in a servant leader, a loving leader. And so that they’re not to be abusive. And that’s one of the dangers, of course, people who believe that husbands are to be the head of the wives and the head of the family. Sometimes they can be abusive. And that’s wrong. 

Well, let’s just summarize these last verses, verses 8 through 12. We’re to have compassion, be tenderhearted, courteous, not returning evil for evil. 

DAVID: And that’s human nature is that somebody does us wrong. We want to pay them back. And the Lord says no. 

BOB: All right. And what’s this long quote from in verses 10, 11 and 12? 

DAVID: It’s from Psalm 34 and 10, 11 and 12 cover Psalm 34:12-16. It’s just to summary. And what Peter’s doing is he’s using the Psalms probably to approach his Jewish audience too. In verse 10 is control your speech. Verse 11 is control your actions and also control your relationships, meaning pursue peace. And the last one, verse 12, is this is the reason for doing it. And that is the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. His ears are open to their prayers, the face. Notice there’s all those, you know, the Lord’s ears, the Lord’s eyes and the Lord’s face are all there. 

BOB: And we know he’s omniscient. He knows all things. But what this is saying is he’s favorably disposed toward this sort of person. And he’s going to favor them with his blessings. Which is what the previous verses we’re talking about if you would love life, etc. 

Well, thanks so much, David. I will hope this will whet y’all’s appetite for 1 Peter 3:1-12. I would urge you to study it, teach it in your Sunday school class, teach it in your home Bible study. But this is a really powerful passage. And in the meantime, what are we going to do, David? Keep grace in focus. 

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On our next episode: expecting to suffer for Christ. Please join us and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.