Join us as we explore 1 Peter chapter 3 in depth, highlighting its teachings on a biblical approach to marriage and personal integrity. Alan J. Huth provides personal reflections from his journals, sharing both joyful and trying moments, including a pivotal family story. This episode encourages listeners to pursue peace, understanding, and God-honoring relationships, reinforced by the wisdom and comfort of the Scriptures.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 02 :
Today we are in 1 Peter chapter 3. We’ll listen to Faith Comes By Hearing’s reading of the 22 verses of 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3
SPEAKER 04 :
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, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” 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. Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
SPEAKER 03 :
For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
SPEAKER 02 :
In 1990, I split 1 Peter chapter 3 into two days of readings. So the first day I read verses 1 through 12, and I wrote, Submissive wives, women with a gentle, quiet spirit. Husbands, honor wives, so that their prayers will not be hindered. Give a blessing, so you can inherit a blessing. Pursue peace, do good, and know the eyes of the Lord are upon those who seek good. He hears our prayer. And the next day I read chapter 3, 13 through the end, and I wrote concerning verse 13, Prove zealous for what is good. Verse 15, Defend the hope that is within me. And verse 16, Keep a good conscience. In 2002, I was reading 1 Peter during a very special celebration of my parents’ golden anniversary. And on this day, something tragic really happened in our lives. It was that Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. I wrote, drove to Denver yesterday to buy a car from Jason. My oldest son was selling cars that summer between baseball seasons. So I continued to write. My Acura had 175,000 miles and I needed a head gasket over $2,000 of repairs. It was time. He sold me a 2001 Nissan Maxima. Nice car. Great deal. From my son. First new car I ever bought and first lease I’ve ever done. Went back down to Colorado Springs to see everybody, but then got a call from Ryan, my other son. Terry came in crying and motioned for me. I went into the hall. She told me Shannon, our daughter, was in the hospital. She had taken a bunch of pills and slit her wrists trying to commit suicide. Oh my God! We ran out on everybody and drove back to Denver. Got to the hospital. Shannon was stable, stomach pumped out, one arm with knife marks not deep and scabbed over already. She had been trying to hide her arm to relieve her external pain. Her story was that since her friend Jeremy hung himself in Steamboat Springs about a year ago, she had been in pain. Then Grandma died. Then her and Alex broke up. And my life isn’t going anywhere, so I wanted to stop the pain for a while. She started her period yesterday, so after meeting Alex in a park, she went home and took a couple of Advil, then took the rest, then the Tylenol and the ibuprofen we had in the medicine cabinet, maybe 20 pills. She panicked, called Ryan crying and said she’d done something stupid. He got over here, took her to the emergency room. She’s home, physically okay, but mentally troubled. Now we sort out what this is all about. She told Terry and me she didn’t want to die. We could have lost our daughter last night. What a scary thought. Shannon, I love you. I’m glad you’re okay. Somewhere in the midst of all that, I read 1 Peter chapter 3, and I wrote, Compassion on one another. Love. Be tender-hearted. Be courteous, be a blessing. And I wrote my prayer, Shannon and my family. Friends, it is not my habit to go back through my personal Bible reading journals. I do them because they’re a part of these podcasts. And sometimes I’m shocked or amazed at what I’ve written in these journals. Today, this journal entry is a very painful reminder of an event that happened in the middle of a great celebration today. some 18 years ago. When I come across journal entries like these, I have decisions to make about these podcasts, whether to share them with you or not. Most often, I decide to share them with this audience to show that my life is probably much like your own, filled often with the good, the bad, and the ugly. But through it all, I gain comfort in God’s Word. I will share more about the incident with Shannon in the days to come in 1 Peter. For now, we will turn to some of the key points of 1 Peter chapter 3. In the first few verses, the Bible tells us clearly how to have a biblical marriage. It tells wives to be subject to their own husbands. Maybe not a very popular cultural concept today, but still a biblical concept. It tells a wife to demonstrate an imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. So, wives, you can follow the ways of the world or follow the ways of the Word. And for us husbands, the Word of God tells us to live with your wives in an understanding way, showing them honor. So to us husbands, if we want a submissive wife, we need to understand they’re a weaker vessel and honor them and treat them correctly. And for us men, there’s a penalty if we don’t. Our prayers may be hindered. So a model of a biblical marriage, according to Peter, is that a husband respectfully honor his wife and live with them in an understanding way. And for our wives, they will be far more likely to be submissive to us if we treat them accordingly. Terry and I have been married for over 40 years. We have based our marriage on these kind of biblical principles. And our goal is not just to be married, but to be happily married. So I encourage married couples to consider the concepts of 1 Peter chapter 3. If you’re struggling, go back to the biblical model of marriage. Though it may not be culturally popular, it is God-honoring and is a formula for success. Peter concludes the matter in verse 8. Speaking to both men and women, Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. O friends, those characteristics would go a long way toward a healthy marriage. But he goes on, Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. To have unity in a marriage, have a tender heart, have a humble mind. Don’t repay evil for evil, but on the contrary, bless one another. Father, might you strengthen marriages because of 1 Peter chapter 3 today. Thank you for the reminder of biblical marriage, not cultural marriage. May wives be biblical wives and husbands be biblical husbands. Where there are marital problems… might you encourage us to come back to your biblical principles of marriage. Where marriages are strong, we thank you for the biblical principles we have built our marriages on. We thank you for your word that is practical for living. Holy Spirit, help us strengthen our marriages based on biblical principles. May our spouses see it. May our children see it. May those of us around us see a marriage built on your word. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. Maybe you wonder if Old Testament prophecy is true, came true already, or is coming true in the future. First, most prophets had a recurring theme. God loves us. Because he loves us so much, he gave us commandments, rules, statutes to live by. If we live by them, we can be blessed beyond what we can think or imagine. But when we choose to disregard, ignore, and set aside his rules, we are subject to his curses. We live under curses until things get so bad we cry out to God. He’s always there, waiting for our cry. Most often, but not always, He responds with grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. We get back in line, then the cycle repeats. The Old Testament prophets cover this cycle over and over. Sometimes we wonder how the Israelites could have been so foolish. Yet, in our day, we have the same choice. We know God loves us. We generally know the rules, and we’d know them a lot better if we were more consistent in our time in God’s Word. Yet, we decide, like those in the Old Testament, to ignore them and live out our lives. Things don’t often go well, so we finally cry out to God. As we see in the Old Testament, prophecy comes true as God restores rebellious, disobedient people like us back into right relationship with Him. But it is not always the case. Sometimes He has enough and does not deliver them. So yes, Old Testament prophecies are true, They came true and they will come true in the future as we cycle through the same life choices the Israelites made. Thus, the value of reading all the Old Testament prophets. Maybe we will learn what they tried to teach. God loves us. Keep his rules, love him back, and enjoy his blessings. I know you’re going to like it and want to share it with others.
