1 Peter 3:7

‘You husbands, in the same way, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honour to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life, to the end that your prayers be not hindered.’

Christian husbands are to respond to their wives ‘in the same way’ (i.e. by being obedient to God) and to behave appropriately, for if they do not it will be a hindrance to their spiritual lives. Dwelling with their wives ‘according to (or ‘in accordance with’) knowledge’ may indicate:

· Doing so ‘in lawful sexual knowledge’ (intercourse - compare Genesis 4:1; Matthew 1:25). It may thus be indicating that he too is to be faithful in his sexual relations.

· Keeping in mind a recognised body of Christian moral teaching (‘knowledge’) about relationships, which he is being called on to follow.

· Keeping in mind the then generally acknowledged ‘knowledge’ of women as the weaker sex held by all, especially in view of their no doubt continual pregnancies, so that he is tender and caring.

The ‘giving of honour to the woman as the weaker vessel’ indicates the general conception of the woman as the weaker vessel physically. She did not go to war or do the heaviest tasks, was often weakened by pregnancy, and tended to die younger (on average lower-class women expected in those days to die in their thirties, men in their forties). Clearly the definition must not be overdrawn, and circumstances have changed. But there is still some truth in it. If we want to be awkward we can rightly ask ‘weaker in what way?’ but Peter would simply be using a recognised expression for describing a woman living under the conditions of those days, and we will therefore leave the debate to others as it is irrelevant to the context. The idea of people as ‘vessels’ is found elsewhere (Acts 9:15; Romans 9:21-23; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:20-21). It normally refers to them as being useful, or even breakable.

Peter then stresses that what men are always to bear in mind is the equality of both of them in God’s eyes, they are to remember that they are ‘joint-heirs in the grace of life’. This may be looking back to Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:23-24, seeing them as those who have together received life from God, or it may have in mind their spiritual oneness in Christ as inheritors of eternal life. Either way it is describing their mutual compatibility and oneness, and indicating an equality rarely thought of outside the Bible in those days. Both will share an equal inheritance.

‘To the end that your prayers be not hindered.’ These words demonstrate the premium that God puts on a good marriage. Not to be in harmony in every aspect of their married lives will hinder their prayers. It is a reminder that when we do anything displeasing to God it affects our ability to pray acceptably. We may not notice the difference, but God does. We cannot lift up holy hands (1 Timothy 2:8) when we are at loggerheads with our partners. And the same is in fact true of all our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ (Matthew 5:23-24).

We note that no mention is made of the possibility of the man having a non-Christian wife. It is a reminder that being the female partner in a religiously ‘mixed marriage’ in those days was far more difficult than it was for a male, and required far more delicacy with respect to behaviour, and a firmer resolution in order to be a good witness. A husband would often expect his wife to conform to his ideas. But it does not, of course, indicate that Peter considered that a man in such a relationship had no responsibility for his wife. Simply that the same problems were not likely to arise.