How wives are to behave to their husbands. What ornaments they are to seek. Exhortations to divers Virtues.

¹ Similarly also, wives should be subject to their husbands, so that, even if some do not believe the Word, they may benefit without the Word, through the behavior of these wives,

² as they consider with fear your chaste behavior.¹

1. 3:2The word ‘conversationem’ in Latin can refer to conversation, but it more often refers to behavior or attitude.(Conte)

³ For you, there should be no unnecessary adornment of the hair, or surrounding with gold, or the wearing of ornate clothing.¹

1. 3:3The term ‘extrinsecus capillatura’ refers to any unnecessary adornment of the hair; ‘extrinsecus’ does not mean so much outer as beyond what is necessary. The word ‘cultus’ is essential to the meaning of the last phrase. The wearing of garments is obviously not prohibited, but the wearing of ‘cultus’ garments is prohibited, referring to overly embellished or overly ostentatious clothes.(Conte)

⁴ Instead, you should be a hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptibility of a quiet and meek spirit, rich in the sight of God.

⁵ For in this way, in past times also, holy women adorned themselves, hoping in God, being subject to their own husbands.

⁶ For so Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You are her daughters, well-behaved and unafraid of any disturbance.

⁷ Similarly, you husbands should live with them in accord with knowledge, bestowing honor on the female as the weaker vessel and as co-heirs of the life of grace, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

⁸ And finally, may you all be of one mind: compassionate, loving brotherhood, merciful, meek, humble,

⁹ not repaying evil with evil, nor slander with slander, but, to the contrary, repaying with blessings. For to this you have been called, so that you may possess the inheritance of a blessing.

¹⁰ For whoever wants to love life and to see good days should restrain his tongue from evil, and his lips, so that they utter no 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 upon the just, and his ears are with their prayers, but the countenance of the Lord is upon those who do evil.

¹³ And who is it who can harm you, if you are zealous in what is good?

¹⁴ And yet, even when you suffer something for the sake of justice, you are blessed. So then, do not be afraid with their fear, and do not be disturbed.

¹⁵ But sanctify Christ the Lord in your hearts, being always ready to give an explanation to all who ask you the reason for that hope which is in you.

¹⁶ But do so with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, so that, in whatever matter they may slander you, they shall be confounded, since they falsely accuse your good behavior in Christ.

¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if it is the will of God, than for doing evil.

¹⁸ For Christ also died once for our sins, the Just One on behalf of the unjust, so that he might offer us to God, having died, certainly, in the flesh, but having been enlivened by the Spirit.

¹⁹ And in the Spirit, he preached to those who were in prison, going to those souls¹²

1. 3:19This is one of the well-known references to Purgatory in Scripture.(Conte)
2. 3:19Spirits that were in prison: See here a proof of a third place, or middle state of souls: for these spirits in prison, to whom Christ went to preach, after his death, were not in heaven; nor yet in the hell of the damned: because heaven is no prison: and Christ did not go to preach to the damned.(Challoner)

²⁰ who had been unbelieving in past times, while they waited for the patience of God, as in the days of Noah, when the ark was being built. In that ark, a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.

²¹ And now you also are saved, in a similar manner, by baptism, not by the testimony of sordid flesh, but by the examination of a good conscience in God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.¹²

1. 3:21Whereunto baptism, etc: Baptism is said to be of the like form with the water by which Noe was saved, because the one was a figure of the other.(Challoner)
2. 3:21Not the putting away, etc: As much as to say, that baptism has not its efficacy, in order to salvation, from its washing away any bodily filth or dirt; but from its purging the conscience from sin, when accompanied with suitable dispositions in the party, to answer the interrogations made at that time, with relation to faith, the renouncing of Satan with all his works; and the obedience to God’s commandments.(Challoner)

²² He is at the right hand of God, devouring death, so that we may be made heirs to eternal life. And since he has journeyed to heaven, the Angels and powers and virtues are subject to him.