1 Peter 3:1

Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Peter, writing to scattered believers in Asia Minor, addresses married women within a sequence of household instructions (3:1–7). The "likewise" connects this to the preceding call for servants to endure unjust suffering (2:18).

The words — ὑποτασσόμεναι (hupotassomenai), "be subject," is a military term meaning to arrange oneself in rank order under another; it carries the sense of deliberate positioning, not passive resignation. ὁμοίως (homoiōs), "likewise," ties the wife's posture to the servant's in 2:18, framing both as voluntary alignment under authority.

The thread — Colossians 3:18 and Ephesians 5:22 repeat the submission command; Ephesians 5:33 adds the reciprocal clause that the wife "must respect her husband."

Why it lands — It asks a wife to conduct her household life in a way that functions as testimony to an unbelieving spouse, with the stated goal being conversion "without words" (3:1b). The burden is on visible consistency, not persuasion.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

Cross-references

Colossians 3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Titus 2:3 Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.
1 Corinthians 7:16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
1 Peter 3:7 Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
Romans 7:2 For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
Esther 1:16 And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes.