1st Peter 3:1-7 SUBMISSION IN MARRIAGE The example of our Lord is given to us so we can understand how we can be truly submissive to authority and at the same time maintain our identity as a consistent Christian. The subject of humility is given from 2:19 through 3:12. Subjection is linked with humility as we live in the social setting in which we are found. "Submit" is the key word beginning with our submission to God ("for the Lord's sake"), to government, to masters and wives to husbands in the same spirit. Leadership in an ordered social structure is important to maintain order and proper function. The government leader, the employer and the husband each have an area of social responsibility to which we must submit.
Our outward testimony displays an inward attitude that reflects our upward conduct before God. Submission of wives to husbands does not imply inferiority, but recognized authority. The strategy for believing wives to win their husbands is given here by Peter. Submit to your husband’s leadership in the way you submit to God, government and masters.
In the time in which this was written, the husband and father had absolute authority over all family members by Roman law. When a woman became a Christian, she could endanger her marriage if she made demands of her husband. The strategy was to "win" her husband to the Lord.