Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Peter 3:1-7, A wife who does not share her husband's gods
Wives are to submit to their husbands so that husbands who do not believe may be won without a word, by their conduct. Their beauty should be a gentle and quiet spirit rather than braided hair and gold, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him lord. Husbands must be considerate and honor their wives as co-heirs of the gracious gift of life.
1 Peter 3:1-7, in every translation this tool compares.
Peter tells wives to accept their husbands' authority, hoping that unbelieving husbands may be won over more by their wives' conduct than by argument. Their beauty should lie in a gentle, quiet spirit rather than in costly hairstyles, jewelry and clothes, after the example of Sarah and other holy women. Husbands in turn must live with their wives considerately and honor them as fellow heirs of God's gift of life, or their prayers will be hindered.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-household\/","n":"The household and its head","s":"A household gathered family, slaves, freed slaves and workers under one head, and it was expected to follow that head's religion. When the head turned to a new god, the house often came too.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/veils-and-head-coverings\/","n":"Veils, hair and head coverings","s":"In much of the eastern Mediterranean a respectable woman covered her hair in public, while fashionable rich women showed theirs off. Romans covered their heads to worship and Greeks did not, so in Corinth a covered or bare head sent several signals at once.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/children-of-abraham\/","n":"Children of Abraham","s":"Jews called Abraham our father, and many believed that being his descendants all but guaranteed a place among God's saved people. The Gospels and Paul argue over who his true children are.","r":""}
Wives were expected to adopt their husbands' religion, and Jewish or Christian women who refused the family's gods could be charged with atheism (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). The ESV Study Bible quotes Plutarch: it is "proper for a wife to recognize only those gods whom her husband worships". Pagan households often exposed a second or later baby girl; Christians, like Jews, refused, so marriageable Christian women were plentiful, and wives winning husbands was a main way the faith spread (Wright's commentary). Well-to-do women braided their hair after costly fashions (the cultural backgrounds article on dress), and moralists condemned such display and praised a gentle, quiet spirit (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Many writers complained of women's weakness, and Roman law assumed it; Peter uses the word only as a reason for consideration and calls wives co-heirs (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes), "a radical break with normal culture" (Wright and Bird). Sarah calling Abraham lord is read differently: Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes say little should be read into it, since Abraham also obeyed Sarah; the ESV Study Bible sees a wife following her husband's leadership; the CSB Study Bible stresses that Sarah's daughters do not fear.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 1 Peter 3:1-7, and on 1 Peter 3:1, 3:3, 3:4, 3:5, 3:6 and 3:7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Peter 3:1-7, 3:3, 3:4, 3:5, 3:6 and 3:7
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on 1 Peter 3:1 and 3:6
- CSB Study Bible, notes on 1 Peter 3:1-6 and 3:7
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 32, The Argument of 1 Peter, section 3
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article Dress and Fashion in the Greco-Roman World
- N. T. Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone, comment on 1 Peter 3:1-7
