1 Peter 3

Chap. III, Ver. 1—22. Domestic duties, and the advantages of domestic piety.—The greater part of this chapter is devoted to moral duties, and especially those of social and domestic life. Wives are directed to be in subjection to their husbands, after the example of Sarah, Abraham’s wife; and that not merely on the principle of moral duty, but with the special view, in case their husbands should not be already pious, of winning them over to the truth, by the meekness, modesty, and gravity of their deportment: not recommending themselves to public notice by the splendour and gayety of their clothing, but exhibiting the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

On the other hand, as all moral duties are reciprocal, so husbands are required to live with their wives ‘‘according to knowledge,” that is, as knowing and observing their duty towards them; particularly honouring them as the weaker vessels, affording them every comfort and convenience which circumstances may admit, and considering them as ‘‘joint heirs of the grace of (everlasting) life; and this particularly, that their mutual “prayers might not be hindered.” The being ‘‘heirs together,’’ or joint heirs, ‘‘of the grace of life,” says Archbishop Leighton, “is that which most strongly binds all these duties on the hearts of husbands and wives, and most strongly indeed binds their hearts together, and makes them one.”….

But “the breach of conjugal love, the jars and contentions of husband and wife, do, out of doubt, so leaven and imbitter their spirits, that they are exceedingly unfit for prayer…. And those who pray together should not only have hearts in tune within themselves in their own frame, but tuned together, especially husband and wife.” On the other hand, it is most certain that nothing contributes more to the peace of families, and especially between the heads of those families themselves, than the observance of mutual and family prayer. Their hearts must be bitter indeed, that can indulge resentment against those with whom they are in the habit of daily uniting at the throne of grace. Our apostle therefore urges the “pilgrims and strangers”

to whom he wrote, in all cases to “‘seek peace and pursue it”’—to chase it, as if it were the most important game—to seek it, as it were gold and jewels. But if peace prove utterly unattainable, and Christians are called to suffer for conscience’ sake, then let them sanctify the Lord God in their hearts, and rejoice in ‘‘a conscience void of offence both toward God and man;” remembering, that it is better to suffer for well doing than for evil; in which Christ is our example, “who suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.” One sentence particularly merits our attention, as it reproves equally a forward talkativeness, and a foolish backwardness in speaking on religious subjects: we are at all times to be “ready to give to every one that asks, a reason of the hope that is in us;”

while, at the same time, instead of obtruding our opinions or experience upon others impertinently or unseasonably, we must act with meekness toward them, and reverence before God. This brings us to a passage of peculiar difficulty, and which admits of various interpretations, whereof we shall name but two. It is here said, (ver. 19,) that Christ by his Spirit “went and preached unto the spirits in prison;” but the questions are—When, and where? 1. It was by some an early opinion, that when Christ died, he descended into the place of punishment, and preached to the infidel inhabitants of the old world there imprisoned; in consequence of which some, or (as others think) all of them, were converted and delivered.

But neither this, nor any other text that we are aware of, speaks of conversion after death; but the Scriptures universally represent the dead as waiting the event of the final advent, when all must “appear before the judgment seat of Christ;” nor does there seem either reason, or scriptural authority, for believing, that a whole generation of sinners, of the most abandoned character, should be privileged with a second opportunity of mercy—another day of grace. ‘‘To-day, if ye will hear his voice!—Now is the accepted time!—How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation!” 2. The general current of protestant expositors, among whom are Doddridge and Macknight, are therefore of opinion, that the preaching here referred to, took place in the days of Noah, by the instrumentality of himself and some of his family, who were inspired teachers.

The following is the substance of their interpretation:—‘‘For Christ also 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 [of God.] By which [Spirit] also he [formerly] went and preached unto the spirits [now] in prison; which were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah [120 years] while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by, or through, the water.”’ In the latter clause, we confess that we give preference to the common version, notwithstanding the critical authorities by which the other may go. For, 1. It was by the water probably that Noah and his family were, in the first instance, saved from the rage of that infidel, depraved, and persecuting generation.

2. It is more certain, that by the rising waters they were saved from the overwhelming effects of the deluge from above; from which, on land, it would have required a more signal miracle to defend them, when even the highest mountains were overflowed. And, 3. This sense of being saved by water, best agrees with the verse following: ‘‘The like figure,” or ‘‘The antitype to which (even) baptism doth now save us:” for baptism was unquestionably the ordinance by which the first Christians were separated from the world, even as Noah and his family from their infidel neighbours. Once more: On Baptism itself we remark, that the most essential thing is, not the washing or purifying of the flesh, but ‘‘the answer of a good conscience,’’ which the best expositors suppose to refer to the questions publicly proposed to the candidates for this ordinance in the Christian church, and in their answers to which, they

openly renounced the world, the flesh, and the devil, with all their works.

Notes on the verses

Ver. 16. A cloak.—Doddridge, ‘‘a veil.” Ver. 19. This is thank-worthy.—Doddridge, ‘‘graceful.” Macknight, ‘‘an Chap. III. Ver. 1. Ye wives be in subjection—Compare (Ephesians 5:22). Ver. 3. Platting the hair.—The Editor of ‘The Ruins of Palmyra’ discovered in the Palmyrene sepulchres, mummies embalmed in the ancient Egyptian manner: among other fragments which he carried off with him, was the hair of a female, platted after the manner (still) used by the Arabian women.—And of wearing of gold—Gill says, the Jewish women used to wear crowns (or coronets) on their heads, in the form of the city of Jerusalem, which they called a golden city. The Asiatics, in general, we know, are peculiarly fond of golden ornaments; and the Roman ladies emulated them to a degree of great extravagance.

But Plutarch quotes from Crates a passage very similar to this, and worth preserving. He says, that ‘‘Neither gold, nor emeralds, nor pearls, give grace and ornament to a woman; but those things which clearly express and set off their gravity, regularity, and modesty.” Ver. 6. Not afraid with any amazement.—This appears to us, as to Doddridge, to have a plain reference to the case of Sarah, but in a way which, we confess, we do not understand. Sarah was evidently confounded, and told a falsehood, which we can ascribe only to her “amazement” and alarm, on finding her secret thoughts discovered. But Macknight renders the passage, ‘‘whose daughters ye have become by doing well, and not being frightened with any terror.”

Ver. 11. Eschew—i.e. avoid; or, as in the Psalm here quoted, ‘‘Depart from.’’—Ensue—i.e. ‘‘pursue it.’’ Ver. 14. Be not afraid of their terror, &c.—See (Isaiah 8:12); which Lowth renders, ‘‘Fear not the object of their fear,” meaning their idols. Ver. 15. Sanctify the Lord God.—The most ancient MSS. read, “The Lord Jesus Christ.” So the Alexandrian, Vatican, and Codex Ephraemi, and three junior MSS. Likewise the Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian Versions, and some of the early Fathers: yet it is rejected by Griesbach, as not in the far greater majority of MSS. Ver. 18. Quickened by the Spirit.—Many able critics, as Vitringa, Schoetgen, &c. understand this of the divine nature of Christ; and Bishop Horsley, of his human Spirit, in a separate state; but the resurrection of our Lord is elsewhere attributed to the Holy Spirit—(see (Romans 1:4), and note; (Romans 8:11))—sometimes to Christ himself, but then by a power delegated from the Father, (John 10:18). See also our note on (Hebrews 9:14). Ver. 19. To the spirits in prison.—The state of these human spirits in prison appears equivalent to that of the fallen angels “reserved in everlasting chains.” Jude, ver. 6. Roman Catholic writers, indeed, here find a purgatory, which we can find nowhere in the Bible: but, 1. Purgatory is, according to their own doctrine, for venial offences only, and these were evidently guilty of mortal sin, and must therefore be consigned to hell, from whence they hold no deliverance; and, 2. These were so far from being delivered, that the apostle describes them as in prison when he wrote.

[Christ, as God, had gone, by his Spirit, inspiring his servant Noah, to denounce the approaching deluge, and preach repentance, to the incorrigible antediluvians, who perished in their sins, and whose “spirits” were in ‘‘the prison” of hell, when the Apostle wrote; being confined there till the judgment of the last day. This appears to be the genuine sense of the passage, as it is perfectly agreeable to the whole of the context.]—Bagster. Ver. 20. Which sometime.—Macknight, ‘‘formerly.”—Were saved by water.—Doddridge, “safely carried through the water:” and he adds, that Raphelius abundantly justifies this sense of the particle (déa) when used with a genitive case. Ver. 21. The like figure whereunto.—Doddridge, “The antitype unto which, meaning THE ARK.

But Macknight says, ‘‘The relative (which) being (in the Greek) neuter, its antecedent cannot be (kibotos) ‘the ark,’ which is feminine, but (hudos) ‘water,’ which is neuter.”