Women are shown to be complicated or confusing, so there’s no reason to even bothering trying to understand them. Similarly, if God commands husbands to learn about and understand their wives, what is the world going to do? It’s going to try to convince men that it’s impossible to do so: “You can’t understand women!” Again, think of what we frequently see in the media. Consequently, Christian wives need to realize that when they choose to disrespect their husbands, they’re supporting society’s agenda instead of obeying God. There’s no way she can trust her husband to lead or do what needs to get done. Husbands are presented as incompetent and inept, to the point a wife has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. Whether it’s commercials, shows, movies, music, books, or general counsel from ungodly women, men are consistently made to look bumbling and foolish. How does today’s culture do this? One way is by making men look like they’re not worthy of respect. So if God commands wives to respect their husbands, what is the world going to do? It’s going to try to convince wives to disrespect their husbands. Then in chapter 14 we looked at the importance of obeying the Bible versus obeying the world.īecause we live in a fallen, sinful world, we can fully expect culture to contradict the Bible.
In chapter 12, we learned about God’s command for wives to respect their husbands. A husband ought to know as much as he can about the woman who will be at his side for the rest of his life. This means knowing what she likes and doesn’t like, enjoys and doesn’t enjoy, desires and despises. If it’s important to the wife, it is vital that the husband know about it. Now, what exactly are husbands supposed to know about their wives? Everything that is important to them. A lot of wives wish their husbands knew as much about them as they know about sports, cars, television shows, friends, food, music, video games, you name it. Similarly, husbands need to get to know their wives and learn about and understand them.ĭo wives want husbands who make a priority of learning about and understanding them? Definitely! Wives feel loved by being understood. We talked earlier about a wife learning about her husband: what his needs and strengths are to be a “comparable helper” to him, what he finds respectful and disrespectful. Peter commands husbands to develop an intimate knowledge or understanding of their wives that comes through personal relationship or experience. It describes a close intimacy-the same word is used in Luke 1:34, where Mary said, in response to the angel who told her she would give birth to the Messiah, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” Husbands are told to “dwell with with understanding,” and the Greek word translated “understanding” is gnosis, which is related to the word ginosko. I know of ( epistamai) Abraham Lincoln historically, but I know ( ginosko) my wife, Katie, relationally.On the other hand, I have played and coached football, which means I know it experientially, or ginosko. I know what rugby is even though I have never played it therefore, I know it intellectually, or epistamai.Here are two examples of how these terms can be applied: On the other hand, ginosko means “to learn, get a knowledge of, feel.” This is a knowledge that comes from personal relationship or experience. Earlier we learned about the different Greek words for love, and there are also different Greek words that translate to “know” or “knowing.” Epistamai means “to put one’s attention on or to fix one’s thoughts on.” This is an intellectual knowledge that comes by observing, but it lacks personal relationship or experience. Let’s begin with a look at the New Testament Greek words Peter chose when he admonished husbands about their conduct. A MAN TREATS HIS WIFE ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE BY LEARNING ABOUT HER The first six verses describe a godly wife, and then verse 7 correspondingly describes how a godly husband treats his wife. In verses 1 through 6, Peter instructed wives to submit to their husbands, and then in verse 7, he taught husbands how to treat their wives to ensure they didn’t abuse the authority entrusted to them by God. Whether that’s true or not, Peter packs so much into the one verse for husbands that it could be multiple verses: “Husbands, likewise, dwell with with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). After the service was over an elderly, wise woman came up to the pastor and said, “It’s because women can remember six verses, but men can only remember one.” There’s a story about a pastor who, when he preached on 1 Peter 3:1-7, he told his congregation that he didn’t know why there were six verses for wives but only one verse for husbands.
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