I Peter 3
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I Peter 3:7:
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. |
Mar 17, 2023: Crossway: How a Husband Shows Honor to His Wife as the “Weaker Vessel”
Scholars offer more than one option of what this weakness in 1 Peter 3:7 could be. One perspective studies the word that Peter uses when he refers to “the woman,” which is plausibly translated “the one who is feminine.” According to this perspective, the feminine one is a weaker vessel because she shows a wider range of emotions and consistently loses in arm-wrestling contests. A husband is not to take advantage of her feminine characteristics, not least when it comes to his businesslike approach to problems or his physical power. Alternatively, Peter may have in mind a perception of weakness arising from the wife’s position as one who is not the higher authority in the home. She is weaker in that that he is the head and she is not. |
Jack De Jong
"....prayer in the life of a believer is often filled with many obstacles. The power of sin and the power of the devil try to block our prayers and lead our minds away from the Lord. Confusion and laziness attack us, and often we just don't take the time to pray. We are always in a hurry. Then there is the doubt, heaviness and melancholy of our hearts — sometimes we are just not in the mood to pray, and if we pray, we pray in doubt. (Heb. 11:6, Ja. 5:3) Our cares and concerns often become an obstacle to prayer, as well as our relation to our neighbours in the Lord. For if one cannot ensure the correct relation to his neighbour, it is impossible to have the correct relationship with God. (1 Peter 3:7).
All of these obstacles are real in our life, and we experience them in a way similar to what we read in the psalms of David, and in the cries of God's people. At one time or another, we all meet with turmoil and distress. And we must struggle daily with the weaknesses of our flesh. How then can we be sure that our prayers will be heard by the Lord? When we notice how great the differences are between the sort of prayer the Lord wants and our actual prayer, should that lead us to despair? Or can we expect the differences to be removed?
Yes, we may be assured that the Lord will remove those differences, if only we trust in Him, and believe in His Name. For the Lord Jesus (lid not teach prayer for nothing; He wants His disciples to pray, not as the Pharisees did, but in the way He taught them. Prayer doesn't come naturally; it requires training and discipline to pray correctly. Our hearts and lips must be circumcised, as Isaiah says. We must continually struggle to pray as we ought to pray.
As we grow in learning to pray, the Lord still accepts our prayers, even with their many faults and shortcomings. Why? Because the covenant promises of the Lord still stand. He still listens to His people for the sake of His steadfast love, and on account of His covenant promises that were sealed to us at our baptism. We can pray today and still be heard because, as we saw, this is the dispensation of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit no longer dwells with the Father, but now dwells and works in us through the preaching of the Word. He helps is in our prayers — He leads us to the prayer bench. He gives us the words to pray, and when we can't find the words, He still prays for us.
The Holy Spirit speaks for us to the Father, on the basis of the work of the Son. For, as Paul says, "we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." (Rom. 8:26) And because He intercedes for us, all our prayers are answered. There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. All else may fail, but our mumbling, our sporadic groaning, indeed, even our "brullen" will be heard by the Father, for the sake of His Son.
For He cares for us, and bends down to help us for His Son's sake. He visits us and unifies the 'ought' of prayer with our actual prayers. He unifies our words and deeds, our thoughts and actions. By the grace of His Spirit, he unifies our whole life, and so leads all of His children unto the end, when the prayers of the whole church shall be answered in full, and He will be all in all.
- Jack De Jong; Spindle Works; Prayer & The Christian 3/15/75
All of these obstacles are real in our life, and we experience them in a way similar to what we read in the psalms of David, and in the cries of God's people. At one time or another, we all meet with turmoil and distress. And we must struggle daily with the weaknesses of our flesh. How then can we be sure that our prayers will be heard by the Lord? When we notice how great the differences are between the sort of prayer the Lord wants and our actual prayer, should that lead us to despair? Or can we expect the differences to be removed?
Yes, we may be assured that the Lord will remove those differences, if only we trust in Him, and believe in His Name. For the Lord Jesus (lid not teach prayer for nothing; He wants His disciples to pray, not as the Pharisees did, but in the way He taught them. Prayer doesn't come naturally; it requires training and discipline to pray correctly. Our hearts and lips must be circumcised, as Isaiah says. We must continually struggle to pray as we ought to pray.
As we grow in learning to pray, the Lord still accepts our prayers, even with their many faults and shortcomings. Why? Because the covenant promises of the Lord still stand. He still listens to His people for the sake of His steadfast love, and on account of His covenant promises that were sealed to us at our baptism. We can pray today and still be heard because, as we saw, this is the dispensation of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit no longer dwells with the Father, but now dwells and works in us through the preaching of the Word. He helps is in our prayers — He leads us to the prayer bench. He gives us the words to pray, and when we can't find the words, He still prays for us.
The Holy Spirit speaks for us to the Father, on the basis of the work of the Son. For, as Paul says, "we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." (Rom. 8:26) And because He intercedes for us, all our prayers are answered. There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. All else may fail, but our mumbling, our sporadic groaning, indeed, even our "brullen" will be heard by the Father, for the sake of His Son.
For He cares for us, and bends down to help us for His Son's sake. He visits us and unifies the 'ought' of prayer with our actual prayers. He unifies our words and deeds, our thoughts and actions. By the grace of His Spirit, he unifies our whole life, and so leads all of His children unto the end, when the prayers of the whole church shall be answered in full, and He will be all in all.
- Jack De Jong; Spindle Works; Prayer & The Christian 3/15/75
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I Peter 3:15:
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” |
We must know what we are praying and talking about. hope=desire. I dare say this is actually something that most “christianese” languages and cliches dont handle very well. The question is not focusing on our hope, but only the reason for it. Simple pat answers like “cuz the Bible says so” or ” my pastor said” might give some indication of the direction you are coming from, but does not actually explain the reason. I, myself, came from atheism & agnosticism & even religion (the worst obstacle), and through some trying & emotional trials I realized that if the answer to everything was “nothing,” then my time was all hopeless vanity….so in seeking the truth there came a point when God entered the scene. And trading nothing for something is a great trade. And with that: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14)
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In apologetics, the metaphors tend to favor combat and competition – warfare and sports. But, there are other ways to exercise our minds with sharp apologetics without having to resort to these macho metaphors. Our minds also work like a garden insofar as we can plant, water, feed, and care for the various operations of our minds: cognition, perception, discernment, imagination, belief, reasoning, will-power, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, etc. When we can cultivate good and godly minds, we are that much better prepared for the mature demands of Christian living, including the universal commissioning of the church to make disciples (Matthew 27:18-20) and defend the faith (1 Peter 3:15). A well-ordered and well-trained mind is a thing of beauty requiring skillful and deliberate caretaking combined with steady growth and maturity. -Intelligent Christian Faith
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I Peter 3:18:
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit |
Jesus Christ brings us, who were unrighteous to God by His righteousness ("the just for the unjust"). Having been declared righteous, we are also regenerated and commanded to grow in righteousness, i.e, in our obedience to God and to our calling in Him to bring every area of life and thought into captivity to Christ.
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I was raised in a small community in Northeastern Oklahoma. Although we lived in town, we had a ranch a few miles west of the city. As I was driving hurriedly to our ranch one day, I suddenly was startled by the flashing lights of an Oklahoma highway patrol car. He stopped me and gave me a summons for speeding. I was to appear before a judge at the Pawnee County courthouse. As the judge came in, I noticed that he was a friend of the family. I thought to myself, "I know I'm going to get this traffic ticket dismissed." The judge greeted me, asked about my family and then said, "I'd like to show you mercy; I would like to show you grace, but I cannot in order to be a just judge." He heard the evidence from the highway patrolman and found me guilty as charged. His sentence was one day in jail or $50. Not having $50, I was prepared to go to jail. At this point the judge did an amazing thing. He took off his robe that distinguished him as a judge, stepped down from his stand, reached into his pocket and handed me $50.
Because he was a just judge he sentenced me and found me guilty, but in his mercy paid my debt.
That's what God did for us in Jesus Christ. Because He is a just and holy God he sentenced us (The wages of our sin is death; Romans 6:23), but in His mercy and love He paid our debt. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18). -Don Crow ; Discipleship Evangelism
Because he was a just judge he sentenced me and found me guilty, but in his mercy paid my debt.
That's what God did for us in Jesus Christ. Because He is a just and holy God he sentenced us (The wages of our sin is death; Romans 6:23), but in His mercy and love He paid our debt. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18). -Don Crow ; Discipleship Evangelism