Pastor Chris’ Corona Quarantine Epistles to the Flock of AIC Ngong Road, in Dispersion and Isolation. 128th. Edition.
Dear Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven,
Today’s passage (1 Peter 3:1-2) introduces a controversial theme. The issue of wives submitting to husbands has been made uncomfortable by the push for equality and demonized by many, who feel that it places women in a position of inferiority and servitude. That discussion is not going to be concluded here, but we will definitely give it a shot. The verses that deal with the submission are the first six of this chapter. We will divide them into three:
Testimony (vv. 1-2), Temperance (vv. 3-4),Trust (vv. 5-6).We will deal today with Testimony (vv. 1-2). Wives are encouraged to submit to their husbands in order to be a good testimony that may draw unbelieving husbands to the Lord. This is not a license to marry an unbeliever. It is the acknowledgment of the prevailing circumstances. Many people gave their lives to Christ, whose spouses did not. Of course, there are many cases in modern times, when Christians, in disobedience, marry unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Even in such a marriage, the wife ought to be a testimony through submission. The submission has often been equated with oppression but the two are miles apart. For the sake of clarity, a submission is an act of the will.
A person can be forced to comply, but not to submit. You may have
heard of the story of the woman who was threatened with violence by
her husband if she did not sit down. She sat down, then told him,
“Honey, in my heart, I’m still standing.” The husband got compliance, not submission. Submission is not an admission of inferiority but a recognition
of the need for order. In the Godhead, the Son submits to the Father,
yet the two are equal.
We have a President (in some countries a sovereign) who is not greater than his fellow citizens, but the whole country defers to him, for the sake of law and order. The need for the order should not be confused with the issue of equality. It is true that women have been abused for centuries –no, millennia, in the name of submission. That is inexcusable but it is not just for throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The instructions on submission, it should be noted, are directed at wives.
One of the problems we encounter with the passage is that husbands use it as a weapon to brow-beat wives. Husbands should pay attention to the command directed to them, and that we will soon come to. The wives are responsible first to God for submission. Submission should not be pegged to the husband but to God. It is important to state here that submission does not always require obedience.
To give priority to a husband should equal acceding to his foolishness and poor judgment. Submission is more about respect and honor. That is what will bring unbelieving husbands to Christ, not blind obedience.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.