1 Peter: Set ApartSample

A Call To Good Works

In this passage of 1 Peter, Peter looks at what it looks like for believers to live their lives for the good of others, even when it is difficult. His hope is that as non-believers see how believers live it leads them to question their assumptions about Christians. While the media and popular culture may communicate one thing about followers of Jesus, the hope is that people in your life who actually know you would allow how you live to challenge the popular (and often misguided) assumptions they have about Christians and Christianity.

For example, while believers are free in Christ, we should use our freedom to live as servants to others. Just because we don’t have to submit to or care for the desires of others, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t. Peter then gives the interactions between husbands and wives as an example of how to do this well.

He encourages wives that their worth is found in God, not in external things. It’s not that jewelry and nice clothing are bad, it’s just that it isn’t what defines them and their value. By loving and caring for their husband, they can demonstrate the love and care God has for them.

Husbands are actually given a pretty radical command given the cultural understanding and legality of marriage in their time. In the first century, all legal rights and privileges belonged to the man of the household. Legally speaking, a man could treat his wife however he wished. In many cases, it was even understood that a husband could mistreat his wife to get her to behave how he desired.

But Peter says it should not be so for men who know Jesus. Regardless of what culture allowed at that time, men should treat their wives with dignity and honor. It wasn’t just physically speaking that women were not as strong as men, but also legally and culturally speaking at that time. So men were not to use their power and authority for their advantage over their wives. Instead, because women are also heirs of the grace of life (verse 7), they should be treated as such.

The main idea of this passage is that as believers, we have experienced the goodness and forgiveness of God, which should lead us to want others to experience this as well. One way to do this is to live for the good of others above our own desires in the hopes that some may see how we live and desire Jesus as well.

Today’s reflection

What are some practical things you can do today to live for the good of others over yourself?