The teaching about submission was especially relevant to a first century married woman who had begun to follow Jesus. She would ask questions such as “Should I leave my husband?” or “Should I change my behavior towards him?” or “Should I assume a superior position to him because now I am in Jesus?” Peter carefully observed that wives are called to submit to their own husbands and not to all men in a general sense. Male headship is God’s commanded principle for the home and the church, not for society in general. Peter reminds them that God’s plan is that wives impact their husbands not through persuasive lectures, but through godly submission, chaste conduct, and the fear of God.

Peter described the kind of warm love that should be among the people of God. We should be compassionate, brotherly, tenderhearted, and even polite. The natural response to hostility is retaliation. This is what the terrible ethnic conflicts all over the world are all about – one group wrongs another, and dedicates the rest of its existence to repaying that wrong. Only the love of Jesus for our enemies can break the terrible cycle. 

Though some have regarded the visited spirits as human spirits in 1 Peter 3:19, it is also possible that they were demonic spirits. We know that their disobedience was in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:20, Gen 6). We have evidence that this was a time of gross sin for both demons and humans, when there was an ungodly mingling of humans and angels. We'll carefully review the text and see what answers we can discern.