1 Peter 3
1 Peter 3 is the third chapter of the First Epistle of Peter in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but some writers argue that it is the work of Peter's followers in Rome between 70 and 100 CE. Text. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 22 verses. Textual witnesses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Attitude to the family (3:1–7). Wives, just  as slaves in the last part of chapter 2, were two vulnerable groups. Commentator Eric Eve suggests that the advice directly concerns their welfare but it is also indirectly employed to offer examples of proper submission for Christians. The words are addressed generally to all Christian wives but with special reference to those who have unbelieving husbands. ("homoiōs", "likewise") in verses 1 and 7 refers back to the commendation to "be submissive" in . However, 'Christianity gave dignity to the status of both', and here Peter teaches 'the spiritual equality of man and wife as "heirs" together', just as Paul also  guides married couples towards 'mutual submission', where 'the wife's submissiveness is to be matched by the husband's self-giving love' (), thus complementing each other. Attitude to the fellowship (3:8–12). Peter concludes the sections of special relationships with the exhortation of the attitudes Christian should display to one another. Suffering for doing good (3:13–17). To follow Christ's example of unjust "suffering" does not mean 'passivity', but an 'active doing of good' (='doing right'). Verse 14. Cited from b Christological grounding (3:18–22). Jesus really died in his humanity when being 'put to death in the flesh', so 'made  alive in the spirit' does not mean that a "part" of Christ survived death, but that 'God raised Christ to a new life in the divine realm' (cf. ; ; ). Verse 18. David Wheaton regards this verse as one of the 'most succinct and yet profound statements in the New Testament on the doctrine of the atonement', in which Jesus has repaired the broken relationship between God and the humanity in three ways: Jesus is the one person whose perfect righteousness means that he never deserves to die, but he endured the punishments (the pains of death) and took the place "for  (lit. on behalf of") all the unrighteous (KJV: "unjust") people, who did deserve to die, so thereby satisfying all God's own demands for reconciliation (an act of "propitiatory" and also "vicarious"; cf. ).