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1 Peter 3:1ff – You Can’t Use That For This
The woman is a believer, but her husband is not – or else is not a faithful believer (1 Peter 3:1ff). And what example does Peter give for the woman to pattern her behavior after? Sarah and Abraham – A power couple of the covenant of faith!
Sarah and Abraham? Wasn’t he a believer? Isn’t his example of faithfulness used in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and James? I’m sorry, but Peter shouldn’t have used Sarah and Abraham to help a believing wife deal with an unbelieving husband. It doesn’t fit.
And yet he did, and Peter was inspired. So…what lessons can we learn?
1. A Biblical text doesn’t have to be a one-to-one parallel to be used.
2. A Biblical text can be used if the principle applies even if the particulars don’t.
3. Every Biblical text can be excluded from application if we want to nit-pick details and ignore the comparative point. That’s because no text is a perfect match from one culture, one time, one covenant, one person, to another.
4. Therefore let us all look to see how the Biblical text applies to us. Just because it was not written to us, does not mean it wasn’t written for us.
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