Bible Commentaries
1 Peter 3

Verse 1

Be in subjection to your own husbands ; treat them as the rightful head of the family.

The word ; the Scriptures and the preaching of the gospel.

Be won ; led to embrace the gospel.

Verse 2

Chaste conversation ; pure deportment.

Fear ; a reverential demeanor, such as becomes the wife. Compare verses 1 Peter 3:5-6 . The salvation of relatives should be earnestly sought, and a uniformly Christian deportment is one of the most powerful means of promoting it.

Verse 4

Let it be the hidden man of the heart ; instead of outward adornments visible to man, let it consist in the inward spiritual state of the heart, invisible to sense, which alone God regards. 1 Samuel 16:7 .

In ; consisting or lying in.

That which is not corruptible-quiet spirit ; or, the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, like that which Jesus manifested, and which those possess who imitate him. Matthew 11:29 .

Verse 6

Calling him lord ; thus acknowledging her subjection to him as her rightful head. Genesis 18:12 ; 1 Corinthians 11:3 .

Amazement ; such apprehension of danger as would prevent them from doing their duty. The most excellent, lovely, and enduring ornaments of women are not those which are external, but those which are internal- purity of heart, meekness, contentment, and delight in doing good.

Verse 7

According to knowledge ; knowledge of the nature and duties of the marriage relation.

Giving honor ; due respect, kind attention, and affectionate assistance; such as love guided by wisdom dictates.

Heirs together ; mutual partakers of divine grace, equally entitles to the blessings of the gospel. Daily family prayer is one of the most powerful means of grace; and husbands and wives should so live that uniting in it will be delightful, and a means of fitting them for the joys of earth and the bliss of heaven.

Verses 10-12

Quoted from Psalms 34:12-16 .

Verse 11

Eschew ; avoid.

Ensue ; follow, practise.

Verse 12

Over the righteous ; for their protection and benefit.

Against them ; he disapproves and will punish them.

Verse 13

Will harm you ; the general effect of a righteous life is to deter men from harming us. Even should wicked men persecute us for righteousness’ sake, God will overrule this for our good, as Peter immediately shows.

Verse 14

Happy ; Matthew 5:10 .

Of their terror ; of any evil which they threaten. This, and the first clause of the next verse, are taken from Isaiah 8:12-13 .

Verse 15

Sanctify the Lord God ; treat him as God, trust in him to protect you and do for you what you need.

To give an answer ; state the reasons why you believe the gospel, and hope to be saved by it.

Verse 16

A good conscience ; one that is enlightened, whose dictates you follow, and whose approbation you enjoy.

They ; the wicked.

Good conversation ; consistent life. So great is human wickedness that men will often be called to suffer for doing right; but instead of being discouraged, they should, with greater steadfastness and fidelity, go forward in duty, trusting in God to enable them so to live as never to be called to suffer for any other cause.

Verse 18

In the flesh ; in his human nature.

Quickened ; made alive again; raised from the dead.

By the Spirit ; his own divine Spirit. John 10:17-18 .

Verse 19

By which ; divine Spirit.

He went and preached ; by Noah.

Unto the spirits ; which, when Peter wrote, were confined in torment as in a prison. Matthew 5:25-26 .

Verse 20

Which sometime were disobedient ; when they were alive on the earth, and Christ, by Noah, preached to them during the building of the ark.

Wherein ; in the ark.

Eight souls ; Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives. Genesis 7:7

Were saved ; through believing and obeying God, preparing an ark and entering into it.

By water ; by the instrumentality of water. The water which destroyed the wicked bore up the ark and floated it in safety.

The idea that the apostle Peter, or any other writer of the holy Scriptures, teaches that there is such a place or state as purgatory, is false and pernicious.

Verse 21

The like figure whereunto , even baptism ; or, baptism, the antitype of which; that is, baptism which was in a certain way foreshadowed in the salvation of Noah and his family by water.

Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh ; it is not the use of water merely, or the purifying of the body that saves us;

but the answer of a good conscience toward God ; the literal rendering is, the inquiry of a good conscience towards God. Some, as our English version, understand the word inquiry of the whole process of questioning and answering in connection with the baptism of a convert. The meaning will then be, the belief and sincere profession of the gospel, in which obedience to its commands is necessarily included. Others explain the words as meaning, the seeking of a good conscience after God. Taken either way, the idea is for substance the same.

By the resurrection of-Christ ; which was the proof that his atonement was accepted as a propitiation for the sins of men. 1 John 2:2

Faith and obedience in this life, in those who know the will of God, have ever been essential to salvation; and both his providences and his ordinances have been suited to impress this on their minds.

Verse 22

Gone into heaven ; , as the forerunner and intercessor of his people, and head over all things to his church. Hebrews 6:20 ; Hebrews 7:25 ; Matthew 28:18