“In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.”
Since we just finished wading through verses on slavery, let’s dive into complicated gender roles! I know, it’s tough stuff. Ladies, don’t start getting defensive (as I am prone to do), and gentlemen don’t start elbowing your wives… Your turn’s coming. What we need to ask ourselves is this: why would God include these verses in the Bible? What might we need to take away from these words? How can we recognize our own cultural biases?
First, we have to remember that God is all for the empowerment of women. (Spoiler alert: read ahead to verse 7… I can’t wait to write that post!) God stands on the side of the oppressed, so he cannot be talking about the oppression of women. The point of today’s verses centers on how to win unbelieving husbands over to Christ. A spouse has a unique opportunity to have another person witness both their public and private lives. You are your most honest, ugly self in front of your spouse. So if, women, as Christians we are pure and reverent to Jesus 24/7, those who are closest to us will want to know Jesus too.
Here’s your freedom for today: you are most free when you follow Jesus behind closed doors. Sure, we can all seem like “good Christians” at church or at the weekly ladies’ Bible study. We can appear full of grace, poise, and piety. But how are we living at home? Are we bitter, resentful, or downright mean to our spouses or families? If your entire life were recorded, what parts might you want to delete? Those deletes can point you to the places you are not free. Sit in the presence of God in those spaces. Wherever you are farthest from Jesus, draw near to him at those moments by stopping everything else. Stop your words, stop your actions, stop thinking. Just go be with Jesus for a minute to re-center and re-group. No one you were about to yell at will ever mind.