Cheryl Schatz

Craig,
You said:

If Peter’s comment is confined to this incident I can see how it would remove the practical problem of a wife being told to submit to her husband, even when he says to do something unwise or sinful.

I think that we can be confident that the kind of obedience that Peter is talking about is the kind of obedience that surrounds the only incidence where Sarah calls Abraham “lord”. Here is the obedience that I see:

Genesis 18:6 (NKJV)
6So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.”

Abraham was looking for favor in the sight of God and how he showed his honor and respect depended on what Sarah did. She did what was right by listening to her husband and complying with his request. Peter writes that women are to be like Sarah who blessed her husband with this obedience “whose daughters you are if you do good”. Peter could not be referring to the wrong that Abraham did since the half-truth that both Abraham and Sarah told others about being brother and sister was the direct cause of God’s judgment to come to the Egyptians and a threat of death to come to Abimelech who was an innocent man. Sarah is never said to have done “good” in giving out a half-truth and God Himself was able to protect Abraham without his wife having to say what was not fully truthful. Since Peter specifically pointed out the passage where Sarah’s obedience was given to Abraham, the very time that she called him lord, I don’t think that we should interject the times where they acted in fear and input those instances into Peter’s specific commendation about the “good” that Sarah did through obedience.

I do believe that Sarah gave her husband a sign of respect by calling him lord, as a general term, but I can’t prove that since there is only one instance of where it happened. It is apparent that she respected her husband, no matter what she called him.

So I do not think that Peter is referring to telling half lies as the “good” that Christian women are to follow regarding Sarah. I believed it is her respectful attitude towards him and her willingness to listen when he asks her to do what he asked. I believe that it is a loving act when a woman respects her husband and tries to serve him. I also believe that it is a respectful thing for a husband when he serves his wife and gives himself up for her. I believe that both are examples of mutual submission.