1st Peter #5: A couple in tune brings glory to God

sermon 1 Peter 3 : Patrice Berger, 2023_06_02, AB Lausanne church

title : 1st Peter #5: A couple in tune brings glory to God

1st Peter #5: A couple in tune brings glory to God

1 Peter 3:1-7
Likewise you wives, submit yourselves to your husbands.
So those who disbelieve the word can be won over without a word by the conduct of their wives, observing your pure and respectful way of life: 3 let your
adornment not be an outward adornment (braided hair, gold ornaments or elegant garments)
4 but rather the inner and hidden one of the heart, the incorruptible purity of a meek and quiet spirit, which is of great value before God.
5 This is how holy women who hoped in God once adorned themselves. They submitted to their husbands like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham by calling him her lord. You have become his daughters by doing what is right, without allowing yourselves to be disturbed by any fear.

7 Husbands,
live the same by showing understanding to your wife,
taking into account her more delicate nature;
show her esteem, for she must inherit with you the grace of life.
Do so so that nothing stands in the way of your prayers.

What a wonderful text!
How to understand this text?

Classical hermeneutics

Exactly with the same process that allowed us to understand the texts that announce Salvation in Christ to us.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, it is the natural logical meaning of the text in its enlightened context of the whole Bible that allows us to understand what God has communicated and to derive the biblical principle(s) from it. to live today in our culture.

Circumstances are not the reading grid
The error would be

to make the habits of the moment stick,
or that the habits of society are the reading grid.

It can only do damage.
This was the case during the Second World War, when certain German believers tried to make the Bible stick to Nazi theories.

God shows us, through the history of humanity, that his deposit in the Bible is crucial for us to be able to

understand him
and understand ourselves,
in the midst of the society of the moment.

Ultra-feminism is not the reading grid
Without beating around the bush, it is not ultra-feminism that should be the interpreter of this text.

equal value

However, some feminist positions are not all to be thrown away. It is obvious that the injustices suffered by women over the centuries did not match their deep aspirations.

And where do these inner aspirations come from?
Of their nature, in the image of God.
The woman is as much in the image of God as the man.
Genesis 1:27
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. He created man and woman
Of equal value.
For this, God sent Christ as much for the ladies as for the men.

The whole Bible gives an echo of this gaze of God, on one as on the other.

Relationship damaged by sin

God did not desire the distortion of the relationship between man and woman. This dysfunction follows humanity’s choice to rebel against God. One of the many consequences of this rebellion and of the upheavals caused by the entry of sin into human history is the degradation of the perfect harmony between man and woman which results in the domination of on the woman.
Genesis 3. 16
“Your desires will be for your husband, but he will rule over you”.

It is therefore logical that ladies feel that there are injustices in the harmonious relations that there should be between man and woman. This is not a scoop, God said so, following the entry of sin!

Faced with the damage of sin, the church is a beacon
Although we must not sit idly by and be fatalistic, all the laws and actions of our society will never manage to erase the consequences of sin in relationships altered between men and women

Those who are attached to Christ have a powerful support in Him, with the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the brothers and sisters, to tend towards the initial harmony put in place by the Creator.

And this is a source of powerful testimony that we can show to those around us.

Advocate for women’s rights
Our best way to advocate for women’s rights is to show that the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit makes it possible to tend towards the original woman-man relationship.
Even more than militating, it is a powerful testimony of Christ that we have to communicate around us . John 13. 34-35
“I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so love one another. This is what everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another.”

What harmony?
What was this harmony?

An equal value man/woman
Genesis 2. 18
The Eternal God says: “It is not good that the man is alone. I will make him a helper who will be his opposite.”

Similar help
Genesis 2. 22-23
The LORD God formed a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man. The man said, “Here this time is the one made of the same bones and the same flesh as me. She will be called woman because she was taken from man.

A complementarity!
I really liked this summary:
“Like you, different from you”.

An indispensable complementary counterpart to Adam
God did not make clones. But with a lot of pedagogy, God gave Adam time to see that the plant and animal kingdom was not fully satisfactory.

Only someone of the same nature, in the image of God, could be his vis-à-vis to carry out God’s project together, hence the creation of woman in a second step.

Adam,

in God’s perfection,
in God’s paradise,
understood that his counterpart could only be a woman.

Eve was not Adam’s “maid”, nor a belly to make

kids,
soup
and washing powder (well, there weren’t any yet!),
but, his fellow man, his helper similar, just like him, to the image of God.

A complementarity that will make a perfect team, where the roles will be different.
Just like in a football team, there are not 11 goalkeepers, nor 11 centre-forwards, but different roles, capacities, objectives
so that the whole team can win…

Equal value and complementary roles
Likewise, God did not make androgynous clones but different and complementary humans of equal value.

Adam and Eve had a common mission (Genesis 1/27 to 29) and different roles in creation, especially for Adam. God had given her to him, before the woman came.
Genesis 2:15-17
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. The Eternal God gave this order to the man: “You may eat the fruit of all the trees of the garden, but you shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the day you you will eat it, you will die, that is certain.”

Two particular attentions for Adam
Genesis 2. 15 shows two aspects specific to Adam:
the responsibility to ensure the continuity of what God gives by “cultivating”;
the responsibility to ensure the continuity of God’s instructions by “keeping”, living and applying the counsels of God.

Summary 1

In short, the complementarity of women and men could be summed up in a common action, where the richness of differences is an indispensable richness and the aspect of responsibility is entrusted to the man.

Specificity at different levels
We see that this occurs at different levels:

the man responsible for the couple and the family (Ephesians 5/22-33);
the man responsible for the people (Moses, Joshua, judges, kings);
the man responsible for the people of God in its community form (apostles, elders).

Example of the song expression for the woman
I really like the Proverb 31 , which in a very practical way exposes

the feminine action
and the specificity of the man.
You will read it…

Summary 2

In sum,

man is invited to enter into the specific task that God has entrusted to him,
the woman to express herself in everything, accepting the responsibility of the man.
Be careful, men

not to shirk this responsibility
or misunderstand it, by sliding towards authoritarianism!

Our best role model is Christ, a shepherd willing to lay down His life for those for whom He is responsible.

Ladies are called to trust, without taking on a role that is not theirs.

In Genesis chapter 3 , no one is in his place
In the drama that exploded humanity in Genesis chapter 3 , Adam is absent in his role of watching and keeping. Eve takes an initiative that is outside of her role.

Genesis 3
He said to the man,
“Because you have listened to your wife and eaten the fruit about which I commanded you:

We understood it well, the idea is not that you have to turn a deaf ear continually to your wife. But Eve took a different initiative with regard to the orders that God had given to Adam.

This initiative had consequences

personal,
for the couple
and the descendants (for the peoples).
Adam discards
Eve slips where God does not give her this responsibility.
The enemy attacks specifically on this point of responsibility and also of the content of what God has said.

Preamble linked to today’s text
This large preamble sheds light on today’s text.

Judgment and grace of God
Adam being absent subscribers, Eve does the greatest damage in creation!
Judgment for the man and for the woman, but God does not stop there…

In Genesis 3.15 , he indicates that the solution to sin will be through the woman.
Indeed, the Savior of the world, Jesus, was born of woman, without the intervention of man;
in Jesus’ victory over death and sin, the first person to see it is a woman.

God is not misogynistic!

God does not confine the woman to a subordinate role.

For what ? Because He was just as involved and He is just as involved for one as for the other.

Rereading
1 Peter 3.1-7
Also you wives, submit yourselves to your husbands.
Thus, those who disbelieve the word may be won over without a word by the conduct of their wives, by observing your pure and respectful way of life: 3 let your
adornment not be an outward adornment (braided hair, gold ornaments or elegant garments)
4 but rather the inner and hidden one of the heart, the incorruptible purity of a meek and peaceful spirit, which is of great value before God.
5 This is how holy women who hoped in God once adorned themselves. They submitted to their husbands like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham by calling him her lord. You have become his daughters by doing what is right, without allowing yourselves to be disturbed by any fear.

Likewise Likewise
(or perhaps “afterwards”), reference to 1 Peter 2/18 , not the same type of relationship as between slave and master.

Voluntary submission
Submission is voluntary, it is not said to submit one’s wife.
We voluntarily submit to the one we love and have chosen.

Objective
More than the couple, it is God.
Goal, more than mutual love, is God.

A biblical principle

Originally,

a biblical principle for the couple,
for all couples,
not only for Christian couples.

Being beautiful is not necessarily related to a dream figure.
Being won over by a pure and respectful conduct of life,

an inner treasure,
an incorruptible purity,
a gentle and light spirit.

Nothing new, see the fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5.

Nothing special for the ladies, just that they don’t get the beauty wrong.

Beauty is not the plastic dream.
Beauty is what radiates from the person.

The example of Esther

Moreover, at the biggest casting in the world with the position of Miss Universe as a prize, Esther was noticed not only because she must have been very beautiful:
Esther 2. 15 & 17

15 She won the favor of all who saw her.

17 The king preferred Esther to all the other women, and she won his favor and his sympathy more than all the other maidens. He put the royal crown on her head and proclaimed her queen in place of Vashti.

The aspect of his sympathy is related to his attitude of heart.
Her attitude meant that she was then admissible by the king and was able to save the Hebrews from genocide.

Confusion between beauty and plastic
Our society easily confuses

beauty
and plastic.
True beauty is what emanates from the person. We can have a plastic dream but be unbearable and discredit our Savior Christ.

We can be in the norm at the plastic level but release a beauty, a joy, a radiance which testifies to the work of Christ.

The dream plastic will pass. On the other hand, one can be magnificently beautiful even in old age.

The plastic side, new enslavement of women
I take advantage of this subject to make an observation of our society.

All the efforts made to get out of the condition of women who are too much confined to the role of model housewife (model of the post-war years) have now rather confined them to a role •
of a woman who is the object of desire

and of stereotypes of success.
(See what advertising, music and cinema offers)

Not sure it elevates the woman more. Isn’t it imprisoned in an even more restricted and frustrating role, as soon as one no longer meets the criteria?

May Christ renew our minds so that we can

learn,
understand
and live in God,
which elevates and gives full measure of who we are. For this, let us know how to feed on Him.

Example of the above, see
Titus 2 / 3-5
Similarly, older women should behave as befits servants of God. They are not to be slanderers or slaves to drink, but to teach what is right. 4 In this way they will teach young women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to be thoughtful and pure, to take care of their homes, to be full of kindness and to submit to their husbands, so that the word of God will not be not slandered.

Sarah: If Abraham is an example of faith, Sarah is an example of submission. More than one woman would have braked with 4 irons to stay in Ur in Chaldea.

Husband

But also because the husband has his share.

Reverse understanding of stubborn nag.
Take stock of resources, capacities and needs.
Appreciate rather than denigrate. The idea of mutual respect is emphasized for both.
We don’t play it personal or selfish, as a husband.
We aim for the same objective which is Christ.
And even, we have the responsibility to lead the couple in this direction Ephesians 5 / 26 & 27.

Bachelor

I’m single, that doesn’t concern me.

I can pray better for the couples around me.

I can better prepare myself, if the idea of the couple arose for me.

I can sort out

what God says
and all the other ideas that revolve around me.

Inspiration
This text urges us to give glory to God and, at the same time, to be a source of witness through a married life inspired by the thought of God.

Bible Passages

Genesis 1 / ASV Bible

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11. And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, [and] fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so.
12. And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good.
13. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:
15. and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16. And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.
17. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth,
18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20. And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good.
22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.
23. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so.
25. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.
26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28. And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food:
30. and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, [I have given] every green herb for food: and it was so.
31. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 3 / ASV Bible

1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
2. And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:
3. but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5. for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8. And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden.
9. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13. And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14. And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15. and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18. thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19. in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20. And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21. And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
22. And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever-
23. therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Genesis 2 / ASV Bible

1. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.
5. And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground;
6. but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9. And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads.
11. The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12. and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.
14. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15. And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17. but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18. And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.
19. And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20. And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a help meet for him.
21. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:
22. and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23. And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Genesis 2:15-17/ ASV

15. And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17. but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Galatians 5:22-24/ ASV

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23. meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.
24. And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.

Titus 2:3-5/ ASV

3. that aged women likewise be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good;
4. that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
5. [to be] sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed:

1 Peter 1:1-2/ ASV

1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2. according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

1st Peter #5: A couple in tune brings glory to God

1st Peter #5: A couple in tune brings glory to God

Classical hermeneutics

equal value

A biblical principle

Bachelor

Bible Passages

Genesis 1 / ASV Bible

Genesis 3 / ASV Bible

Genesis 2 / ASV Bible

Genesis 2:15-17/ ASV

Galatians 5:22-24/ ASV

Titus 2:3-5/ ASV

1 Peter 1:1-2/ ASV

Related Links / Notes