1 Peter 3
The chapter in full, then what it says, what the Greek or Hebrew decides, and where readers have disagreed.
1 Peter 3 WEB
- 1 In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, even if any don't obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word,
- 2 seeing your pure behavior in fear.
- 3 Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing,
- 4 but from the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.
- 5 For this is how in the past the holy women who hoped in God also adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.
- 6 So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror.
- 7 You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel, as also being joint heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
- 8 Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous,
- 9 not rendering evil for evil or insult for insult; but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
- 10 For, "He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
- 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.
- 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
- 13 Now who will harm you if you become imitators of that which is good?
- 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Don't fear what they fear, neither be troubled."
- 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear,
- 16 having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
- 17 For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing what is right than for doing evil.
- 18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit,
- 19 in whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,
- 20 who before were disobedient when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
- 21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
- 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
1 Peter 3
What is happening
Peter is writing to churches scattered across Asia Minor, Christians who are, in his word, "sojourners" — a minority faith community under social pressure, if not yet systematic persecution, from a pagan majority. Chapter 2 closed with an extended argument that suffering unjustly, after the pattern of Christ, is itself a form of witness. Chapter 3 continues that argument into the most intimate arena there is: the household. It moves through wives (3:1–6), husbands (3:7), the whole church (3:8–12), and then out to the world that watches and sometimes harms them (3:13–22). The household codes here are not a detached ethics lecture; they are the domestic instance of the letter's larger claim — that a life visibly good, even under provocation or unbelief, is itself a form of preaching.
The passage, walked through
Peter opens with wives told to be "in subjection to your own husbands" (3:1), so that a husband who "don't obey the Word" — literally apeitheō, the same disobedience word used of unbelief generally — "may be won... without a word" (3:1), through observing "your pure behavior in fear" (3:2). The strategy is deliberate: where speech has failed (or where speech is not the wife's to give, given an unbelieving husband), conduct becomes the argument.
Verses 3–4 turn to what that conduct looks like, not by prescribing plainness but by relativizing outward ornament — braided hair, gold, fine clothing — against "the hidden person of the heart" (ho kryptos... anthropos), adorned instead with "a gentle and quiet spirit" (praeos kai hesychiou pneumatos), called "very precious in God's sight." This is not a ban on jewelry; it is a claim about where beauty actually resides, reinforced by appeal to precedent: "the holy women who hoped in God" adorned themselves this way, Sarah among them, who "obeyed Abraham, calling him lord" (3:5–6). The example matters more than it's often given credit for — Sarah is invoked not as a passive figure but as one who acted, notably in Genesis 18, out of faith rather than fear, which is exactly Peter's qualifier: believers are Sarah's children "if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror" (3:6).
Verse 7 turns to husbands with the same adverb, "in the same way" (homoiōs) — signaling that this is not a lesser obligation but a parallel one. Husbands are to "live with your wives according to knowledge" (kata gnōsin, with understanding), "giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel" — a phrase about relative physical or social vulnerability, not spiritual or intellectual worth, since the verse immediately calls the wife a "joint heir of the grace of life" (synklēronomois), fully equal in the inheritance that matters most. The stakes are given bluntly: failure here hinders prayer.
Verses 8–12 widen out to the whole community: "like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers... not rendering evil for evil" — and Peter grounds this in a quotation (from Psalm 34) about the one who "would love life and see good days" keeping tongue and lips from evil, seeking peace, because "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous... but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (3:10–12).
Verses 13–17 press the logic that has run since chapter 2: if you pursue good, "who will harm you?" (3:13) — and yet suffering may still come, in which case it is not to be met with fear but readiness: "sanctify the Lord God" — the Greek actually reads Kyrion... ton Christon, "sanctify Christ as Lord" — "in your hearts," and "be ready to give an answer... concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear" (3:15). This verse is the classic charter for Christian apologetics, but its own qualifiers are usually dropped: the readiness is paired with gentleness (prautētos) and a good conscience, aimed at silencing slander through conduct, not winning arguments through cleverness.
Verses 18–22 ground the whole chapter in Christ's own suffering: "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous" (3:18), a substitutionary death stated plainly, followed by one of the most disputed sentences in the New Testament — Christ "went and preached to the spirits in prison" (3:19), tied to "the days of Noah" (3:20) and then to baptism, "which now saves you — not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God" (3:21), closing with Christ ascended, "angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him" (3:22).
Where readers have disagreed
Three cruxes dominate. First, the household code itself: some read it as a fixed pattern for marriage in every age; others read it as pastoral strategy suited to a specific missionary situation, where a wife's silent, godly conduct was the only evangelistic tool available to her given an unbelieving husband and a hostile culture. The text does not resolve this by itself; what it does say plainly is that a wife's "subjection" and a husband's "honor" are paired obligations, not a license for the husband, and that the wife's worth as "joint heir" is not in question.
Second, "spirits in prison" (3:19–20) has drawn at least three major readings across church history: that Christ, between death and resurrection, preached to fallen angels or departed souls from Noah's day; that "spirit" refers to Christ preaching through Noah to Noah's contemporaries, by the Spirit, before the flood; or that the "spirits" are fallen angelic beings (echoing Genesis 6 and 1 Enoch's expansion of it, which is background, not scripture). The text itself gives only the bare statement — no expositor should claim more certainty than Peter supplies here.
Third, "baptism, which now saves you" (3:21) is read by some traditions as teaching that the rite itself effects salvation, and by others as teaching the opposite of that reading — Peter's own parenthesis, "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God," explicitly locates the saving power not in water as such but in what the water signifies and pledges.
What it asks of a reader
The chapter presses one claim from beginning to end: that conduct under pressure — in a marriage, in a hostile culture, under threat — is not incidental to faith but is itself the argument faith makes. It asks that goodness be pursued without a guarantee of safety, that suffering for doing right be counted "blessed" rather than merely endured, and that hope be held ready to explain but never coerced into an answer void of gentleness. It grounds all of that in the shape of Christ's own suffering, "the righteous for the unrighteous," as the pattern rather than the exception.
The verses this turns on
In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, even if any don't obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word,discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ὁμοίως γυναῖκες, ὑποτασσόμεναι τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν, ἵνα καὶ εἴ τινες ἀπειθοῦσιν τῷ λόγῳ, διὰ τῆς τῶν γυναικῶν ἀναστροφῆς ἄνευ λόγου κερδηθήσονται,
- Ὁμοίως ὁμοίως adverb G3668
- γυναῖκες, γυνή noun · nominative plural feminine G1135
- ὑποτασσόμεναι ὑποτάσσω verb · present middle or passive participle, nominative plural feminine G5293
- τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
- ἰδίοις ἴδιος adjective · dative plural masculine G2398
- ἀνδράσιν, ἀνήρ noun · dative plural masculine G435
- ἵνα ἵνα conjunction G2443
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- εἴ εἰ conditional G1487
- τινες τὶς indefinite pronoun · nominative plural masculine G5100
- ἀπειθοῦσιν ἀπειθέω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G544
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Colossians 3:18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
- Ephesians 5:22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know 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 and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good,
seeing your pure behavior in fear.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐποπτεύσαντες τὴν ἐν φόβῳ ἁγνὴν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν.
- ἐποπτεύσαντες ἐποπτεύω verb · aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine G2029
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- φόβῳ φόβος noun · dative singular masculine G5401
- ἁγνὴν ἁγνός adjective · accusative singular feminine G53
- ἀναστροφὴν ἀναστροφή noun · accusative singular feminine G391
- ὑμῶν. σύ personal pronoun G4771
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 1 Peter 2:12 having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify God in the day of visitation.
- 1 Peter 1:15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior,
- Philippians 1:27 Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;
- 2 Peter 3:11 Therefore, since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,
- Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
For this is how in the past the holy women who hoped in God also adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οὕτως γάρ ποτε καὶ αἱ ἅγιαι γυναῖκες αἱ ἐλπίζουσαι εἰς Θεὸν ἐκόσμουν ἑαυτάς, ὑποτασσόμεναι τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν,
- οὕτως οὕτω adverb G3779
- γάρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- ποτε ποτέ particle G4218
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- αἱ ὁ article · nominative plural feminine G3588
- ἅγιαι ἅγιος adjective · nominative plural feminine G40
- γυναῖκες γυνή noun · nominative plural feminine G1135
- αἱ ὁ article · nominative plural feminine G3588
- ἐλπίζουσαι ἐλπίζω verb · present active participle, nominative plural feminine G1679
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- Θεὸν θεός noun · accusative singular masculine G2316
- ἐκόσμουν κοσμέω verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural G2885
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 1 Timothy 5:5 Now she who is a widow indeed and desolate, has her hope set on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.
- Titus 2:3 and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good,
- Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
- Luke 2:37 and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn't depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.
- 1 Timothy 2:15 but she will be saved through her childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with sobriety.
So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὡς Σάρρα ὑπήκουσεν τῷ Ἀβραάμ, κύριον αὐτὸν καλοῦσα· ἧς ἐγενήθητε τέκνα ἀγαθοποιοῦσαι καὶ μὴ φοβούμεναι μηδεμίαν πτόησιν.
- ὡς ὡς adverb G5613
- Σάρρα Σάρρα noun · nominative singular feminine G4564
- ὑπήκουσεν ὑπακούω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G5219
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Ἀβραάμ, Ἀβραάμ proper noun (indeclinable) G11
- κύριον κύριος noun · accusative singular masculine G2962
- αὐτὸν αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative singular masculine G846
- καλοῦσα· καλέω verb · present active participle, nominative singular feminine G2564
- ἧς ὅς relative pronoun · genitive singular feminine G3739
- ἐγενήθητε γίνομαι verb · aorist passive deponent indicative, 2nd person plural G1096
- τέκνα τέκνον noun · nominative plural neuter G5043
- ἀγαθοποιοῦσαι ἀγαθοποιέω verb · present active participle, nominative plural feminine G15
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Genesis 18:12 Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"
- Romans 9:7 Neither, because they are Abraham's offspring, are they all children. But, "your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac."
- Daniel 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, "Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- Isaiah 57:11 "Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven't I held my peace for a long time, and you don't fear me?
- Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves,
You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel, as also being joint heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Οἱ ἄνδρες ὁμοίως συνοικοῦντες κατὰ γνῶσιν ὡς ἀσθενεστέρῳ σκεύει τῷ γυναικείῳ, ἀπονέμοντες τιμήν ὡς καὶ συνκληρονόμοις χάριτος ζωῆς, εἰς τὸ μὴ ἐνκόπτεσθαι τὰς προσευχὰς ὑμῶν.
- Οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- ἄνδρες ἀνήρ noun · nominative plural masculine G435
- ὁμοίως ὁμοίως adverb G3668
- συνοικοῦντες συνοικέω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G4924
- κατὰ κατά preposition G2596
- γνῶσιν γνῶσις noun · accusative singular feminine G1108
- ὡς ὡς adverb G5613
- ἀσθενεστέρῳ ἀσθενής adjective · dative singular neuter G772
- σκεύει σκεῦος noun · dative singular neuter G4632
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular neuter G3588
- γυναικείῳ, γυναικεῖος adjective · dative singular neuter G1134
- ἀπονέμοντες ἀπονέμω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G632
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and don't be bitter against them.
- Genesis 2:23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken out of Man."
- Matthew 19:3 Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?"
- Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her,
- 1 Corinthians 7:3 Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband.
Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous,discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Τὸ δὲ τέλος πάντες ὁμόφρονες, συμπαθεῖς, φιλάδελφοι, εὔσπλαγχνοι, ταπεινόφρονες,
- Τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- τέλος τέλος noun · accusative singular neuter G5056
- πάντες πᾶς adjective · nominative plural masculine G3956
- ὁμόφρονες, ὁμόφρων adjective · nominative plural masculine G3675
- συμπαθεῖς, συμπαθής adjective · nominative plural masculine G4835
- φιλάδελφοι, φιλάδελφος adjective · nominative plural masculine G5361
- εὔσπλαγχνοι, εὔσπλαγχνος adjective · nominative plural masculine G2155
- ταπεινόφρονες, ταπεινόφρων adjective · nominative plural masculine G05012
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Romans 12:10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor prefer one another,
- Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
- 1 Peter 1:22 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently,
- Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
- James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
For, "He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὁ γὰρ θέλων ζωὴν ἀγαπᾶν καὶ ἰδεῖν ἡμέρας ἀγαθὰς παυσάτω τὴν γλῶσσαν ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ χείλη τοῦ μὴ λαλῆσαι δόλον,
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- θέλων θέλω verb · present active participle, nominative singular masculine G2309
- ζωὴν ζωή noun · accusative singular feminine G2222
- ἀγαπᾶν ἀγαπάω verb · present active infinitive G25
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἰδεῖν ὁράω verb · aorist active infinitive G3708
- ἡμέρας ἡμέρα noun · accusative plural feminine G2250
- ἀγαθὰς ἀγαθός adjective · accusative plural feminine G18
- παυσάτω παύω verb · aorist active imperative, 3rd person singular G3973
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- γλῶσσαν γλῶσσα noun · accusative singular feminine G1100
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Psalm 34:12 Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
- James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man's religion is worthless.
- 1 Peter 2:1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
- 1 Peter 2:22 who didn't sin, "neither was deceit found in his mouth."
- Revelation 14:5 In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.
Now who will harm you if you become imitators of that which is good?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Καὶ τίς ὁ κακώσων ὑμᾶς ἐὰν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ζηλωταὶ γένησθε;
- Καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- τίς τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G5101
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- κακώσων κακόω verb · future active participle, nominative singular masculine G2559
- ὑμᾶς σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular neuter G3588
- ἀγαθοῦ ἀγαθός adjective · genitive singular neuter G18
- ζηλωταὶ ζηλωτής noun · nominative plural masculine G2207
- γένησθε; γίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent subjunctive, 2nd person plural G1096
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good for one another and for all.
- 3 John 1:11 Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn't seen God.
- Psalm 38:20 They who give evil for good are also adversaries to me, because I follow what is good.
From the interpretive tradition
He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome.
The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked.