READINGS ON PETER'S FIRST EPISTILE - 1 PETER 3
READINGS ON PETER’S FIRST EPISTILE - 1 PETER 3
In the unfolding of the subject of the government of God it is to be expected that the great question of subjection should be introduced, subjection by all [p. 413] saints to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, and then servants subject with all fear to their masters, and here, the wives. The government of God necessarily contemplates this principle. Then there are certain moral results in each case, so that, as our chapter shows, an unconverted husband may be won by the pure conversation of the wife. The apostle stops short of the children, possibly because those addressed were scarcely in the light of Christ and the assembly; children morally are to be affected by this relationship.
The subjection of children is taken up in Colossians, Ephesians and in 1 Timothy, but you do not find that subject treated of in Romans or Corinthians. A man’s family is set in the light of God revealed as Father. A father of a house should reflect what God is. The children, Moses insisted, must go with them out of Egypt; it was a question of household’s; so today, Christian parents are responsible to take their children out of the world, but the bringing of them up is in the light of the position in the land, so you get instruction as to them in Colossians, and particularly in Ephesians. Family relationships in nature belong to the wilderness, but they are influenced from above. When Paul was leaving Tyre (Acts 21), the saints accompanied him out of the city with their wives and children (evidently the households in that assembly were in the light of Ephesians); the children were not only out of the world, but were in sympathy with the testimony, as represented by Paul. We are responsible to take our children out of Egypt, and to influence them spiritually in the wilderness. The apostle Paul quite expected the children to hear the letters to Colossians and Ephesians read. Isaac when a youth knew about the burnt offering; Genesis 22. It is a cheer to see the children of the saints acquainted with what takes place in the house of God.
[p. 414] This epistle recognises the external position of believers in regard to the governments of the world; if we are employed by masters, we are to be subject to them. Then as married, the principle of subjection is to be there in the wife; the spirit of meekness and quietness being there would affect the household, so that the children would also be subject by the example set before them. Peter, however, does not go on to speak about the children, but rather to call attention to the results of subjection in the wife that the husband may be saved. It contemplates an incongruous state of things, but does not give countenance to what we speak of as “mixed marriages”. Here it would be that the wife was converted in these circumstances. You do not get such a thought as this in Ephesians or Colossians, although it might appear in the government of God. A Christian wife may have an unbelieving husband, but Christianity is such that instead of having to put him away, or (as in Ezra 10) the Christian husband having to put his wife away, the one or the other may be won. It shows the superiority of Christianity to anything that previously existed.
The Jewish believers were dispersed throughout the Roman Empire, and instead of evincing a rebellious spirit against the Romans, they were to be subject to the king as supreme and to his rulers in the provinces. That would be a testimony for God, as it says, “because so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye put to silence the ignorance of senseless men”. 1 Peter 2:15. The best way to learn the government of God is to be subject. Adam lost the moral right to rule when he became insubject. We qualify for future rule by subjection now. Sarah sets forth subjection, as it says, “calling him lord”. 1 Peter 3:6. The women of the East had plenty of jewellery, for they were accustomed to wear it, but that was not her adornment; as we read, “whose adorning let it not be that outward one [p. 415] of tressing of hair [we may add now, not of cutting it off!], and wearing of gold, or putting on apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price”. 1 Peter 3:3,4.
The thought of ornament is very interesting throughout the Scriptures, and therefore should be of great interest among the people of God. It is remarkable that it should be especially connected with a wife. In Titus it is connected with a slave; he is to adorn the teaching by his conduct; Titus 2:10. If we took account of God’s creation, we should be struck with the principle of ornamentation that pervades it, whether in the heavens or on the earth. It is a most important point that God will have ornamentation, and since it is a propensity with women to adorn themselves, God here lays down what true adornment is. Viewed naturally, it is something added to one; but the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is the outcome of the “hidden man of the heart”, 1 Peter 3:4, which is Christ.
The woman was placed in subjection at the outset, but the principle of subjection came in especially after the fall; Adam was to rule over Eve, inasmuch as she took the lead in departure from God. Genesis 4 would allow that she was slow in learning the lesson, because she took the lead in naming the children. Subjection is not natural to fallen man, and is found only in those born of God. The Holy Spirit is given to those that obey Christ; Acts 5: 32.
This scripture shows Sarah hoping in God, whilst Abraham was marked by faith. It came out especially in connection with the birth of Isaac; hope would be the expectation of a fulfilment of promise. Both holiness and hope marked Sarah. This ornamentation that God indicates is so near to hand that it ought to have a voice to us: “the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price”. 1 Peter 3:4. Sarah, we may say, saw Christ in Isaac; he was the hidden man of her heart. A meek and quiet spirit is brought about in the apprehension of Christ, the secret of which is “the hidden man of the heart”. 1 Peter 3:4. If you have subjection of heart, it works out in your conduct and spirit, so that the evidence of the “hidden man of the heart” is the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. This “hidden man of the heart” should be noted; it is opened up by taking account of the different holy women of the Old Testament that are emphasised. Sarah had a promise, and so Isaac was cherished. Rebecca would have a thought of the promise, as the result of the prayer of her husband (Genesis 25: 21), and so all down the line. Take Hannah, she had an exercise and asked for a child. These women illustrate the idea of what is hidden, a cherished thought. Now it is no longer in type, the Man has come in; the gospel presents Christ objectively. Paul says to the jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus”, Acts 16:31. The title “Christ” may he omitted. (See New Trans.) He believed on the Man up there. He is presented objectively and the subjective answer is that you have that Man in the conception of your soul. Where this is present, Christ is rightly apprehended as presented in the gospels, especially in Luke.
Referring to Luke: Elizabeth had a promise; she had a husband, but what her heart cherished was a son. There is the thought of hiding too with Elizabeth, the thing of value is hidden. Mary herself has unfolded to her the facts regarding the child Jesus who was to be born. Luke takes up all this. Joseph and Mary later bring the child into the temple to be presented to the Lord. He was in Mary’s heart, so that she kept the things spoken about Him in her heart. There are several instances in which she betrays considerable ignorance and negligence, nevertheless, she kept the things spoken in her heart,
[p. 417] and would see the child grow in favour with God and men: all this should have a loud voice to us as to what we have in our hearts. There is an interesting passage in Proverbs 22. It says, “Incline thine ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee”. It is not what we have in our bookcases or in our memories, but what is kept “within thee”. Then it adds, “They shall be together fitted on thy lips”, Proverbs 22:17, 18. What you have thus within you, as heard with the inclined ear, comes out effectually in your ministry.
In verse 8 we come to the final word which the apostle had specially on his heart: “Finally, be all of one mind, sympathising, full of brotherly love, tender hearted, humble minded; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but on the contrary, blessing others, because ye have been called to this, that ye should inherit blessing”. 1 Peter 3: 8,9. You have in several of the epistles such an expression as, “for the rest”. The thought is that the writer had reserved something he wished specially to lay upon the saints as a parting word. How constantly we are exhorted in Scripture to be of one mind amongst ourselves, it is not agreeing to differ; one mind is brought about as we are in subjection to Christ. It amounts to this, we have the Lord’s mind instead of our own. The great thing is subjection, which makes room for the Spirit. Then the mind which was in Christ Jesus is in us; Philippians 2.
The great secret of unity lies in subjection to the Lord and to one another in His fear, so that you consider for your brethren and seek to be with them in your spirit. Many of us come to the meetings with a definite line as to what we are going to do, but that is not the idea of one mind. If in subjection to Christ and to one another, we should wait on our brethren. One might be in the meeting with an exercise, but another may have “a revelation”
([p. 418] 1 Corinthians 14:30), and this makes room for freshness. When the Lord came to Abraham and ate of his provision under the tree, the calf was “tender and good”, Genesis 18:7, and the cakes were freshly baked, everything was fresh.
Possibly we regard ourselves too much in our natural family settings, to the shutting out of brotherly love, for after all, our relationship as brethren is greater than any natural relationship. If we valued our spiritual relationships more, the natural ones would take character from them and be expressive of God. Barnabas took account of natural relations unduly and was turned aside by them.
The thought of suffering for well doing is next brought in. There is no need for a Christian to suffer at all for sin; Christ has once suffered for that, that He might bring us to God. This leads the apostle to speak about the Lord’s activities, backward as well as forward: “in which also going he preached to the spirits which are in prison”. 1 Peter 3:19. The Spirit in which Christ was raised extends back to Noah in actual preaching, so that we have not only the government of God, but the servants of God linked up from patriarchal times right up to our own times. The Spirit in which Noah preached was the same Spirit as seen in Paul’s preaching. Peter looks at the Lord going in patriarchal times and preaching; and Paul looks at Him coming to preach to Jews and Gentiles; Ephesians 2: 17. The great principle of salvation announced in Noah’s time is available now. It is remarkable how the testimony of God in the gospel is thus linked up as covering all dispensations. The preaching is presented as by the Spirit and it is to the spirits of men. The door is left open by God through which He addresses Himself to man, namely, to his spirit; “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Jehovah” Proverbs 20: 27; He turns on the light in that way, and so Noah’s preaching was of that character.
We have the full position here: Christ in heaven [p. 419] endued with all power, and baptism, the outward sign of His death; we are saved through it. Here it is more as an instrument, the water being instrumental to our salvation. Just as in Noah’s case, those in the ark left a corrupt earth and reached a cleansed earth, so we are figuratively cleansed from the pollutions of this world through the death of Christ, which death is the death-knell of this world.
If Noah when in the ark could have looked abroad upon the deluge, the more he was with God, the more he would say Amen to it. Baptism is our only escape from the polluted world which figure saves us, and is made real to us in that Christ has gone into heaven, hence there is power to support us, as we accept the escape from the world through the death of Christ.