Husbands, in the same way be considerate in your life with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weakest couple and as heirs with you of the gift of the grace of life, so that nothing hinders your prayers. (1 Peter 3:7 NIV)
What does the above writing mean? This scripture does not refer to a “weaker” partner in the sense of moral or intellectual ability, but in physical ability. What is Peter trying to teach husbands? I think Peter is telling husbands to honor and respect their wives by protecting them against outside influences and criminal abuse. If a husband is a man of God, he will protect his wife from harm.
Can you beat your husband in an arm wrestling match? Probably not. In Peter’s day, when a wife was not protected by her husband, she was taken advantage of in every way. She was vulnerable to being physically attacked and abused by ungodly men. Some women were even taken advantage of financially because men did not believe that a woman should be in charge of finances, even if she was single.
Compare those days with these days. A woman’s life may be a little easier today than it used to be in the days of the Bible, but women are still very vulnerable to criminal attack and physical abuse just because they don’t allow their man to protect them. More and more women are beaten, raped and killed because they have a rebellious attitude towards protecting their men.
Statistics also show that much of the poverty in this world comes from single mothers trying to make a living for themselves and their children. Many of them don’t have the money to get an education and that leaves them working, usually in factory and minimum-wage jobs to support a family. So nothing has changed.
Oh yeah, more women are climbing the corporate ladder than ever before, and more women who once had a man supporting them are getting divorced and raising children on their own and both guys are still being raped, abused, manipulated, beaten. and killed. So what has changed?
I think that if a husband was allowed to protect and care for his wife in the way that is instinctual for him based on his masculine and protective abilities, then he would. But unfortunately, many wives feel that they are not in control when their husband protects them in this way. They want to go out at night when it’s dark, they want to travel alone and they want to do all the things that men do, and without their man by their side.
In the above scripture, Peter is implying that if the husband does not take care of his wife properly by protecting her from outside influences and other mistreatment and abuse from society, then his prayers for him and his family may be hindered.
God wants us to live righteously by having a right relationship with Him first. So, the end result is that a husband must first submit to the will of God, so that he can respect and care for his wife properly so that her prayers for her family are not hindered and the relationship of she with God does not suffer.
Husbands treat your wives with RESPECT as the weakest partner in the area of ​​protection and leadership. Wives, let your husband be her man and let him lead the way God instructs him. A devoted husband will not divorce her wife and leave her unprotected, and a devoted wife will allow her husband to protect her.