Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for October 2, 2016

“Identity Confirmation” 1 Peter 3:1-12 Bible Study 10/02/16

Our text this morning should be connected carefully to all that precedes it in 1 Peter. Chapter 1 emphasizes the believer’s hope and the necessity of holiness. Chapter 2 begins with a stirring reminder of the identity of believers as God’s temple and God’s people. The rest of the chapter addresses citizens and servants and their identity as citizens of heaven and servants of Christ. With chapter 3, two more distinct groups are addressed: wives and husbands. Finally, 1 Peter 3:8-12 makes an all-inclusive appeal for believers to live out their identity as God’s people. When God’s people apply their identity in their temporal relationships, the gospel is magnified and God is glorified.

I. Wives: Hope in God (1-6)

-Reverence for God motivates submission. (1-2)
-Inward character counts more than external cosmetics. (3-5)
-Confident expectation enables courageous compliance. (6)
-Consider the “window” of your marriage.
-What’s it like to be married to me?
-Confirm the location of your hope.
-When wives, and all believers, hope in God, they value what He values and fulfill His designed function for them.

II. Husbands: Practice Holy Husbandry (7)

-Exercise active sensitivity.
-Assign specific honor.
-Accentuate uninterrupted fellowship.
-Is my wife more like Jesus because she is married to me?
-Believing husbands are called to a holy husbandry that nurtures and cherishes their wives to the glory of God.

III. All Believers: Offer a Blessing Instead (8-12)

-Prioritize being a certain kind of people. (8)
-Practice a certain kind of behavior. (9)
-Pursue a certain kind of fear. (10-12) (Psa. 34:11-16)
-Enabled by the Lord’s power and motivated by fear of Him, believers can resist retaliation and respond with blessing.
-Remember who you are and whose you are.