David B. Curtis
David B. Curtis
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Good morning, Bereans. We are continuing our study of 1 Peter chapter 3 this morning and will be talking about the role of the husband.
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. 1 Peter 3:7 ESV
This section to believing husbands is much shorter than that addressed to believing wives, however, it reflects a radically positive balance for Peter's day. As regards the historical context, there is a consensus among scholars that in the Greco-Roman society, women were considered to be weak and inferior. Wives were not independent, even in choosing their beliefs.
1 Peter 3:7 is located in a larger segment (1 Pet 2:11–3:12) where Peter exhorts his addressees to live godly lives among their unbelieving, hostile neighbors. This section hinges on the present, active, imperative verb parakaleō ("urge, exhort, encourage") that opens the passage in 2:11.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 ESV
For Peter, Christians' ethical living as strangers and exiles in the midst of their neighbors is the heart of his argument. Peter illustrates that the reason Christians suffer is because they have a different value system and identity that does not fit with the expectations and ethics of the broader culture.
The point of the whole section of exhortation is that we as Christians are to live in such a way that our exemplary lives will stop the mouths of those who criticize our faith. The entire section on Christian lifestyle falls under the heading of 2:12 which is: "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable."
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12 ESV
Christians need to maintain a reputation so that there is absolutely no reason for people to criticize and condemn them. The ultimate purpose for being submissive is to silence their ignorant slander and to glorify God.
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 1 Peter 2:15 ESV
Believers, our good conduct is to silence our critics.
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 1 Peter 3:1 ESV
Peter gives a unique reason for this subjection. He gives us the scenario of a wife who probably got saved after she was married, and the husband was still an unbeliever. This is a discussion of a mixed marriage in which you have a Christian partner and a non-Christian partner. That's the context here.
Let's look at our text.
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. 1 Peter 3:7 ESV
The words "Likewise, husbands" is in the Greek, "You husbands likewise."
The first words in the Greek sentence "You husbands" indicates emphasis.
"Likewise"—this is from the Greek adverb homoios which means "likewise, equally, in the same way." In most of the New Testament uses homoios conveys the sense of "to do likewise."
Likewise, what? What does it point back to? John MacArthur writes, "What do you mean 'likewise,; Peter? You submit too. There's a submission on our part. Go back and read Ephesians 5:21, 'Submit yourselves to one another,' wives to the husbands, husbands to the wives. Verse 7 says, 'You husbands likewise, you have to submit just like the wife, just like the employee, just like the citizen.'" Does that sound right to you?
Another commentator writes, "Likewise without a doubt clearly indicates that submission is the responsibility of a Christian husband as well. How is this possible? It is not naturally possible but is only supernaturally possible as the husband surrenders his will to the filling/control of the sweet will of the Holy Spirit."
Does the Bible teach mutual submission? Let's look at MacArthur's proof text.
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21 ESV
Some have derived from this verse the teaching of "mutual submission" (every believer must submit to every other believer), and they apply this to the domestic relationships. But this verse does not refer to the mutual submission of everyone in the church. Rather, it refers to wives submitting to husbands, children to parents, and slaves to masters, as spelled out in the following verses. The main argument for this view is that the semantic meaning of the Greek word for "submit" almost exclusively refers to someone subjecting himself or herself to another who is in authority over that person.
Hupotasso regularly functions to describe a one-directional subordination to another's authority rather than a symmetrical relationship. O'Brien writes, "It always has to do with an ordered relationship in which one person is 'over' and another 'under.'" Therefore, to say that the word can refer to a relationship of mutual and reciprocal submission would be to misunderstand the semantic range of the term. The word hupotasso disallows the "mutual submission" interpretation of the verse; rather, it denotes a one-directional submission to the proper authority in any given situation. If A is subject to B, then B is over A and A, therefore, cannot be over B.
As I said, hupotasso almost exclusively refers to someone subjecting himself or herself to another who is in authority over that person. In the forty-three New Testament occurrences, the verb carries an overtone of authority and subjection or submission to it.
None of the relationships where this verb appears is reversed: husbands are never told to be subject to their wives, nor parents to children, nor the government to citizens, nor slaves to masters.
Piper & Grudem state, "The word is never 'mutual' in its force; it is always one-directional in its reference to submission to an authority" Authority and submission are necessary to accomplish any purpose through a group, whether it is to build a house or to run a company, an army, a country, or family."
Hupotasso always requires one party in a relationship to submit to the other, and not vice versa. The context of Ephesians 5:21 supports this position. In this verse, Paul makes a general call to all Christians to submit to one another in whatever hierarchical relationships they are involved in. He then gives three specific examples of relationships in which submission of one party is required. Verse 21 is thus properly understood as an introductory verse to those which follow.
A completely reciprocal submission would involve wives submitting to husbands and husbands submitting to wives in exactly the same sense and to exactly the same extent. But neither Paul nor any other New Testament writer ever taught that husbands must submit to wives, that parents must submit to children, or that masters must submit to slaves.
So, Ephesians 5:21, where it is commanded, "be subject to one another," could be paraphrased, "Those who are under authority should be subject to others among you who have authority over them."
Now that we cleared that up, let me ask again—"likewise" what? Let me suggest that "likewise" means this: As the saved wife is to influence the unsaved husband by her life so the saved husband is to influence his unsaved wife by his life? So verse 7 is just the opposite of verse 6. How does a Christian husband win an unsaved wife? This situation is less frequent, but it does happen. What, then, is the responsibility of a Christian husband when he has an unsaved wife?
Carl Gross understands that the wives in 1 Peter 3:7 are non-Christians. He argues that the text should be taken to mean that husbands should honor their wives as those who are heirs of eternal life. [Gross, "Are the Wives of 1 Peter 3:7 Christians?," 90–91.]
Similarly, Nugent suggests that the wives in view are unbelievers and husbands are supposed to "treat their unbelieving wives with special care [like a weaker vessel]." [Nugent, "The 'Weaker Sex'," 10.]
As the Christian wife is to submit to her unsaved husband in order to win him to Christ, so also now the Christian husband it to honor his unsaved wife in order to win her to Christ.
"Live with your wives in an understanding way"—
"Live with"—is from the Greek word sunoikeō. Thayer Defines it as: 1) to dwell together 1a) of the domestic association 1b) of intercourse of a husband and wife.
The term, which occurs only here in the New Testament, appears in the Septuagint fourteen times used for intercourse. The corresponding Hebrew term usually means "to take a wife" or "to marry." It means to be together with someone in the house, stay intimate, stay close.
Michaels writes, "The term sunoikeō is indeed concerned with the general marital life, including sexual relations between husband and wife. It refers to "both its social and sexual aspects." [Michaels, 1 Peter, 168.]
Edmund Clowney notes that the term should not be "limited to sexual intimacy, but it has particular reference to it." [Edmund Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter (IVP Academic, 2021) 133–34.]
J. N. D. Kelly observes that, although the verb accents the sexual relations of husband and wife, it does not exclude the general and mundane relations between husband and wife. [ N. D. Kelly, A Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude (Baker, 1969) 132.]
So, this unsaved husband is to maintain a sexual relationship with his unbelieving wife. Why does Peter tell him this? Maybe he is refusing to have sex with his wife because he is familiar with Paul's teaching in in 2 Corinthians 6.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV
Maybe he is taking, "touch no unclean thing" as joining sexually with his unsaved wife. Maybe he doesn't know what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:14.
For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 1 Corinthians 7:14 ESV
So, maybe he's confused about sex with his unsaved wife. Let's talk about sex for a minute. I think it is important to understand what the Bible says about sex. First and foremost, sex is only for married couples. Sex outside of marriage is sin. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul encouraged Christians to get married and express their sexuality in marriage instead of immorally. Let's look at this text for a minute.
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman." 1 Corinthians 7:1 ESV
"Sexual relations" is the Greek word "haptomai" which means "to attach oneself to, to apply oneself to." It directly relates to the sexual relationship within marriage. So "sexual relations" is a euphemism for a sexual relationship, which Paul uses here as a metonymy for marriage.
What Paul is saying contextually is this: Considering your present circumstances and considering the responsibilities within marriage, it is good not to marry.
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV
This verse makes it clear that God does not approve of either polygamy or homosexual marriages. "Temptation to sexual immorality" is porneia. Because of porneia, Paul says that it is good to marry and that every man is to have his own wife, and every woman is to have her own husband. Is this why a person marries? It is one reason. To avoid porneia is not the only reason for marriage, but it is one reason.
Paul is not giving us here his doctrine of marriage. He is speaking of the danger of sexual sin for those who are single. What Paul is doing here is answering a specific problem that was given in a specific question in relation to a specific situation existing in Corinth at that time. Fornication was rampant in the city. Temptation abounded on every turn. A man could not walk down the streets of Corinth without being propositioned. What Paul is saying in this passage is that the real solution to the situation in Corinth is that each man have his own wife, and that each woman have her own husband. God has instituted marriage as the safeguard against such evil. Marriage is not the lesser of two evils—it is the God-ordained safeguard against the immorality that is existing in Corinth.
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 1 Corinthians 7:3 ESV
The words "conjugal rights" come from the Greek word opheilē, which according to Strong's means "indebtedness, that is, (concretely) a sum owed; figuratively obligation, that is, (conjugal) duty: - debt, due." Paul is saying that when you get married, you become obligated to meet the physical needs of your spouse. Marriage is no place for celibacy.
The general obligation is that I am to pay to my spouse what I owe him/her. I am to fulfill my duty as a spouse. Now there is a specific obligation, and it is found in verses 4-5.
For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1 Corinthians 7:4-5 ESV
It can be stated very simply because it is given to us in the first phrase of verse 5."Do not deprive one another." The word deprive is the Greek word apostereo which is a compound verb that comes from "apo" ("from") and "stereo" ("to deprive, or keep back"). The compound word means "to deprive another of what belongs to him or her." The object is the body, which belongs to the spouse in the marital union. What Paul is saying is that you do not have the right to deprive your marriage partner of their conjugal rights. You do not have the right to deprive them of their rights within a physical relationship in marriage. It is not enough for us to say that sex is a marital privilege. It is that, but it is also a sacred responsibility; it is a debt that we owe.
Where do you think that Paul got the idea that sex in marriage is a sacred responsibility?
To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: Acts 26:22 ESV
Notice carefully what Paul is saying here. He said that He was "stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place." Paul is saying that everything he is preaching comes from the Hebrew Scriptures. So, if you want to understand Paul or any New Testament writer, you MUST understand the Hebrew Scriptures—the first three quarters of our Bible.
If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. Exodus 21:10 ESV
Here we are told that food, clothing, and marital rights are the obligations a man has to his wife. And the text goes on to say the following:
And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money. Exodus 21:11 ESV
She is free from that marriage. Even though she came as a slave, she is absolutely free and there's nothing to pay. In other words, those are legitimate grounds for divorce. And this goes both ways. A man could say that the woman is not cooking the food and she's not taking care of the house and she's not reciprocating marital rights.
So, here we have three grounds for divorce to which the Lord added porneia.
And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery." Matthew 19:9 ESV
So, biblically you can only get divorced for these four things, which are stipulated in Scripture: porneia, lack of food, lack of clothing/shelter, lack of conjugal rights.
David Instone-Brewer writes, "In the first-century marriage contracts that we have found on Masada and in the Judean caves along with the Dead Sea Scrolls and things, in every marriage certificate which this part of it is preserved, you find this verse being quoted. And it says, 'You must not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.' It was written into a piece of paper that every Jewish bride owned and kept safe."
So, Paul is saying to the Corinthians and to us that conjugal rights in marriage are a sacred responsibility—a debt that we owe. Paul is saying that one of the ways to avoid porneia is to get married.
So, if one of the ways to avoid porneia is to get married, what happens when you get married, and your spouse won't have sex with you? You have grounds for divorce. God made men and women very different. The man's sex drive is usually much stronger than the woman's is. Because of this, the woman must understand that sex is a sacred duty in marriage.
Back to 1 Peter. Peter is saying to the husband that he has a duty to maintain a sexual relationship with his wife weather she is a believer or not.
Peter says, "husbands, live with your wives "in an understanding way"—I think this is twofold in that the husband is to understand his wife and also to understand what God's word says about how he is to treat his wife. It is probably primarily referring to knowledge of God's Word concerning the proper treatment of one's wife. This would include an understanding of the obligation of sex in marriage. If he is going to be a godly husband, he must not only know his wife but he must know Scripture as well and relate to his wife on the basis of it teaches. What is the husbands number one duty to his wife according to Scripture?
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, Ephesians 5:25 ESV
I think that this is one of the most difficult commands in Scripture. We are commanded to continually love our wives "AS" Christ loved the church. This is referring to redemption, about the ransom payment, about the purchase price, indeed, about the greatest price ever paid in love to purchase any bride.
"In an understanding way"—also refers to understanding your wife. What are your wife's greatest needs? What are her greatest concerns? If we are to lovingly respond to the needs of another, we must know what they are. It requires active listening to the wife as well as studying her temperament, emotions, personality, and thought patterns. Women are not like men. They were made to be different for a purpose. Often the man expects his wife to think and feel like he does, so he acts accordingly.
Tragically, one survey revealed that the average husband and wife had 37 minutes a week (not a day, but a week!) together in actual communication!
It is a tall order to know one's wife, to understand her, even to be understanding with her. One thing that can help you understand your wife is to know her love language.
Dr. Gary Chapman, a leading family and marriage therapist, describes in his book, The Five Languages of Love, five unique love languages men and women utilize in relating to one another. A love language is the ability to express love and concern to another person in the primary emotional language of the other person.
Have you ever been around people who were speaking a foreign language that you did not understand? You know they are communicating with each other, but you have no clue as to what they are saying. If you don't know the language they are speaking, their words are meaningless to you. What happens in foreign languages occurs with emotional languages. We may speak our emotional language, but it often comes across to other people as an unknown tongue. We say, "I love you" in our language, but they don't understand our language, so they have no clue as to what we are saying. As a result, our efforts to demonstrate love are frustrated. To avoid that frustration, we must learn the primary love language of our spouse. Your primary love language is evident in two ways: You speak it more often than other languages, and you feel most loved when it is spoken to you.
There are five ways of expressing love in action to our mate so that they actually feel loved. Affection is a great need of both men and women. Affection is one of the greatest needs that a person is born with, and it is one that we never outgrow. Affection symbolizes security, comfort, and approval. As we go over these five love languages, see if you can determine which of them is your predominate love language.
1. WORDS OF AFFIRMATION—One way of expressing love is by building up others through verbal encouragement. Taking the time to verbally pat someone on the back is a way of saying, "I love you."
2. QUALITY TIME—Quality time means giving someone your full attention. Sitting on the couch together watching television is not quality time. It means looking at each other while talking. This requires that you invest yourself in the other person by listening carefully to what she is saying. It involves two people who are actively participating in the conversation and going beyond the fact level of communication. Some ways of doing that are through participating in similarly enjoyable activities at the same time. It may be working in the yard, it may be walking in the neighborhood, it may be traveling, it may be playing a sport, or it may involve working on a hobby. Regardless of how it is translated, it means having quality time to interact together. A central aspect of quality time is togetherness. Togetherness is not just a matter of proximity; it has to do with focused attention.
3. GIFT GIVING—Impromptu gift giving (not obligatory holiday gift giving) sends a message, "I was thinking about you, I care for you." It is providing something that you can hold in your hand and saying, "This person was thinking of or remembering me." It may be a gift of something you purchased, or it may be a gift of something you made.
4. PHYSICAL DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION—Numerous research projects in the area of child development have made this conclusion: Babies who are held, hugged, and kissed develop a healthier emotional life than those who are left for long periods of time without physical contact. Some people find the predominate way that they sense affection is by touch. It may be a hug, it may be holding a hand, it may be just an arm around a shoulder. For the married, this would include sex, but sex is only one dialect in the love language of physical touch. There are many more.
5. ACTS OF SERVICE—We communicate love by serving others or by doing things for them that will help them out and make them appreciative. Whenever you do something for another person beyond the normal course of events, you are saying, "I love you" in action.
Out of those five love languages, one is your primary language. One of those modes of expression may mean more to you than the other four while another one might mean the least to you. Your primary love language is the one you most enjoy hearing and the one you tend to speak to other people. Learning how to love your wife means learning and choosing to speak her love language.
Your spouse's criticisms about your behavior provide you with the clearest clue to their primary love language. People tend to criticize their spouse most loudly in the area where they themselves have the deepest emotional need. Their criticism is an ineffective way of pleading for love. Husbands, we are to work at understanding our wives.
"Showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel"— "Showing" is from the Greek word aponemo which is used only here in the New Testament and means to apportion, bestow, or give. It means to grant that which is appropriate in a relationship (BDAG). Josephus uses aponemo to describe the honors Titus paid his troops after the destruction of Jerusalem.
"Honor"—is timē in the Greek and means to recognize the worth of someone in God's sight and, therefore, to treat him with dignity and respect. "Honor" and the related verb are used to refer to supporting or providing for a person's material needs (1 Timothy 5:17,3; Matthew 15:4,5; Ephesians 6:2; etc.).
Chapman concludes that in order for a husband to honor his wife, he must be responsible to provide for her. This would fit with the other passages that show that the husband should be the provider for the family (1 Timothy 5:8; etc.).
Honoring a wife was a radical teaching in the world in which Peter lived. In that ancient culture, a husband had absolute rights over his wife and the wife had virtually no rights in the marriage. Thus, Peter is urging husbands to reflect a different attitude towards their wives, as opposed to the norm in the Greco-Roman context.
Steven Bechtler indicates the uniqueness of Peter's command "to bestow honor on" the wives in the Greco-Roman context. He adds that, "from the standpoint of social-scientific analysis of honor and shame, the notion of a husband's bestowal of honor on his wife is striking." [Steven Richard Bechtler, Following in His Steps: Suffering, Community, and Christology in 1 Peter]
The Church was the first institution in history to declare the equality of men and women, an unheard-of position in the ancient world.
"The woman"—is gunaikeios which is a rare word. It is used only here it literally means, "the feminine one."
"The weaker vessel"—weaker is asthenes which describes a state of limited capacity to do or be something and is used literally of physical weakness. The only sense that the wife is weaker than the man refers to physical strength. She is not weaker in intellect, devotion to God, or ability to be of useful service to others. But generally, the average wife would be less strong physically than the husband.
It refers primarily to the difference in physical strength between men and women. We have seen this demonstrated by having transgender men play in woman's sports such as boxing and weight lifting. A woman is physically weaker. She must be protected. She must be provided for.
Throughout the Tanakh, women are spoken of as weaker. For them to rule over men, therefore, is a shame.
My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. Isaiah 3:12 ESV
This was seen as a curse, not a blessing.
In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the LORD of hosts shakes over them. Isaiah 19:16 ESV
He means, feeble and fearful. Xerxes said of his fighting men at Salamis: "My men have become women" (Herod; 8.88).
A sword against her horses and against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst, that they may become women! A sword against all her treasures, that they may be plundered! Jeremiah 50:37 ESV
To "become women," meant to be faint hearted, quite dispirited, and unable to act, or defend themselves.
The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed; they have become women; her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken. Jeremiah 51:30 ESV
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. Nahum 3:13 ESV
It makes no difference whether women want to admit it or not or whether they like it or not. God has designed the woman with a strong need to be provided for and to be protected by a man in exchange for loving service rendered to that man. There is a difference between the sexes; men and women are different. And our society is finally realizing this.
"Since they are heirs with you of the grace of life"—heirs of what? What is the grace of life? It doesn't say, "the grace of God," but "grace of life." The Greek word for grace is charis. Its basic idea is simply "non-meritorious or unearned favor, an unearned gift, a favor or blessings bestowed as a gift, freely and never as merit for work performed."
"Joint heirs"— means one who participates in the same lot, a joint heir in this case refers to marriage, the best relationship earthly life has to offer. The grace of life is not eternal life in marriage.
"So that your prayers may not be hindered"—hindered is egkoptō, which literally means to cut off or from. It was used as a military metaphor meaning to cut in on, throw obstacles in the way of, or cut up the road so that normal movement was impossible. It means to cause to cease by removing, to do away with, to eliminate and more figuratively as in the present verse to hinder, frustrate, impede, or retard.
Here in 1 Peter, it is used of God's thwarting the prayers of insensitive, inconsiderate husbands who are mistreating their wives. Peter assumed that the fear of hindered prayer would motivate Christian husbands to love and care for their wives as they should. Many Christian men have such a low regard for prayer that this warning may not motivate them at all.
The warning appears to be unique to the New Testament. Husbands are warned that God does not hear those who do not live with their wives with care. God blocks the prayers of abusive Christian husbands, for his ears are only open to those who are righteous (cf. 1 Pet 3:12). The relationship of Christian husbands with their wives determines whether the husbands' prayers are effective or not. In other words, disobedience to the will of God regarding how a man treats his wife hinders the husband's fellowship with God.
What do you think he's praying for? If this is addressed to a mixed marriage as we find in verse 6, is he is probably praying for the salvation of his wife. So, according to verse 6, how do you win an unsaved partner? By living an exemplary Christian life.
For women to not submit to their husbands is sin. For husbands to not love their wives is a sin. Therefore, we should be thanking God that salvation is all of grace. If obedience is required, you have a much better chance of getting saved if you don't get married. If obedience is required, we are all in big trouble. "Wives, submit to your husbands; husbands, love your wives"—these are commands! To fail to do this is to live in disobedience! If you sometimes think that this is an impossible task, let me encourage you with Paul's words.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 ESV
What does Paul mean when he says, "I can do all things through Christ"? He means that because he is in communion with Christ, the power of Christ is available to him for every need. Paul cannot do "all things" simply because he is a Christian. He can do all things because he is living in a dependent relationship with Christ. He is abiding in Christ.
Paul talked a lot about the power of Christ. Walking in fellowship with Christ gives us the power to deal with any and every situation. Have you ever seen Christians in a very difficult situation and asked, "How can they deal with the situation that they are in?" They can deal with it because the power of Christ is available to those who abide in Him, to those who walk in dependence on Him. No matter what circumstance you are facing, you have the power to handle it if you are abiding in Christ.
IF YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU MUST NOT BE DEPENDING ON HIM! The secret of power in the Christian life is to walk with Christ. Paul is saying, "I can go through anything through the strength of Christ, and that strength comes from a walk of obedience and dependence." I believe that the "all things" here would include a wife's submitting to an unloving husband or a husband's loving an unsubmissive wife. We have the power; Christianity is supernatural!
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