First Peter 3:7
3:7
“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live
with your wives, and treat them with respect as the
weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that
nothing will hinder your prayers.”
1 Peter 3:7
oi andreV HUSBANDS omoiwV
LIKEWISE
sunoikounteV DWELLING WITH THEM kata
ACCORDING
gnwsin TO KNOWLEDGE
wV AS asqenesterw
WITH A WEAKER EVEN skeuei VESSEL
tw WITH THE gunaikeiw FEMALE
aponemonteV RENDERING
timhn THEM HONOUR wV AS
kai ALSO BEING sugklhronomoi JOINT HEIRS
caritoV OF THE GRACE zwhV OF LIFE eiV to SO AS
mh NOT ekkoptesqai TO
BE CUT OFF
taV proseucaV umwn
YOUR
PRAYERS
Christian Husbands are to
be:
1)
Considerate
and dwell with knowledge with their wife
2)
Protective and
Supportive of the physically weaker
3)
Honoring their
unique spouse
4)
Cooperative
with a daughter of God who is joint heir in Christ
omoiwV LIKEWISE
Goes back to 2:17
These directions have been
to believers in general, believing slaves,
believing
wives and now believing husbands.
There is no instructions
here for the unsaved. God’s only advice,
command
and
requirement for the unbeliever is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Includes submission to human institutions
There is no discussion of
a believing husband having a non-believing wife.
Husbands in this culture
could forbid idols and require conformity
sunoikounteV DWELLING WITH THEM
“Dwell” refers to living
as a domestic couple
“Dwelling” is used only
here in the NT but occurs in the LXX in Dt.22:13;
24:1;
25:5; Is. 62:5; Pr. 19:14
“Dwelling” has an overtone
of living with a wife in a married state and
includes
the bedroom, the kitchen, the family room and the garage.
kata ACCORDING gnwsin TO
KNOWLEDGE
“Knowledge” refers to a
scriptural understanding of marriage
This is insight into God’s
plan and Christian character and sensitivity to the wife.
asqenesterw WITH A WEAKER EVEN
“Weaker” does not refer to
intelligence or will but to the physical structure.
Women were created
different than men.
Genesis 2:7 – “the Lord
God formed the man from the dust of the ground.”
Genesis 2:22 – “the Lord
God made a woman from the rib “part” he had taken out of the man.”
skeuei VESSEL
“vessel” is used in the NT
to refer to temple vessels and household vessels
Vessels where chosen and
used to accomplish a purpose
Acts 9:15 – Paul is a chosen
vessel o fGod
The husband is to dwell in a
domestic relationship with his wife but realize she
is vessel with a purpose
Four uses of vessel in
Greek:
1) Person is an instrument of God as Paul was in Acts
9:15
2) Physical Body is a vessel containing:
a. The soul as in 1 Thessalonians 4:4
b. The glory of God as in 2 Corinthians 4:7
3) An object or creation of the Creator or the Potter as
in 2 Timothy 2:20
4) The Rabbi’s taught that husbands had a possession in
the wife and she was their vessel or
object of possession. This is attitude is not supported in
scripture
Abraham and Sarah in Genesis
18:6 shows Abraham telling Sarah to prepare a meal but yet he himself
went
out to get the meat, set the table, served the meal and waited on the guests.
tw WITH THE gunaikeiw FEMALE
aponemonteV RENDERING
“Giving” means “to assign
to , to portion off.”
There is a special portion of respect, gentleness, recognition that the husband
gives the wife that:
1)
he does not
give to anyone else
2)
she does not
receive or accept from anyone else
Titus did this to the
troops when they destroyed
timhn THEM HONOUR
“Honor” same word in 1:19
translated “precious” which referred to Christ’s “precious
blood”
but not in monetary value but as rare, one of a kind, unique blood. The
only
way to God. So it is with the husband honoring the
wife. She is unique,
one
of a kind and rare among females.
This includes words,
attitude, and deeds
sugklhronomoi JOINT HEIRS
Same privileges, rights
and calling in Christ as husband in reference to “the grace of life”.
This does not mean that
men and women are the same. They are
created differently for different
purposes.
This is obvious in the
physical realm. But this difference is
only for this age.
Galatians 3:28 – in Christ
natural differences such as race, gender and social standing do not
matter.
They do in the natural
realm but not in the spiritual.
Society in the first
century AD didn’t teach this.
This was a new and radical
Christian way that believing men were to treat their wives.
caritoV OF THE GRACE zwhV OF
LIFE
ekkoptesqai TO BE CUT OFF
This word means to “to cut
in” or “to interrupt”
This word is used to
describe the breaking up of a road to slow someone down.
1 Thessalonians 2:18 –
Paul was “hindered” by Satan
Gal. 5:7 – Someone cut in
and hindered the Galatians when Paul asks, “Who broke up the road for you?”
Spiritual warfare teaches
us here that we must not let our prayers and fellowship with God be broken up because of our improper behavior with
our wives in our homes, bedrooms, kitchens, garages, etc.
Failure to live in
knowledge with his wife or to recognize her for who she is
will
result in an interruption in the husband’s prayers.
taV proseucaV umwn YOUR PRAYERS
“Your” refers to the husbands
who are being addressed here. This is not a reference to both the husband and
wife.