A Qualified Egalitarianism
1 Peter 3:1 “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands …”
In the Hellenistic world of the 1st Century women generally had a submissive role in society. There was little or no sense of egalitarianism – the full equality of men and women in ancient cultures. A women’s role, not only in relationship to her husband but to men in general, was seen as having lesser value. Paul Achtemeier puts it this way:
Dominant among the elite was the notion that the woman was by nature inferior to the man. Because she lacked the capacity for reason that the male had, she was ruled rather by her emotions, and was as a result given to poor judgment, immorality, intemperance, wickedness, avarice, she was untrustworthy, contentious, and as a result it was her place to obey (Achtemeier 1996, 206).
In footnoting that paragraph, Achtemeier references Plutrach, Seneca, Petronius, Plato, Josephus, Tacitus and others. There were always women in society who resisted this role of blanket subservience, but for the most part this was the plight of woman in the 1st Century world.
Peter speaks to wives who have become believers in the midst of this world. Along with other believers, these women are called aliens of the dispersion – people who belong to the kingdom of Jesus yet are living in the kingdom of Caesar. Continue reading “A Qualified Egalitarianism”
