When we cave to the passions of our flesh, we are prone to contention. Submission, and/or dying to self, are the last things the old flesh wants to do. Peter therefore exhorts, as we have seen, Christians to respectfully submit to governing authorities, Christian servants to respectfully submit to their masters, and, in the text before us, Christian wives to submit to their husbands. He adds an exhortation to Christian husbands to so live with their wives that they will have little problem with holy submission. We will study this text with a view to wives and husbands being holy spouses, which requires biblically submissive wives and biblically sensitive husbands. We will do so under three broad headings:

1. The Power of Submission (vv. 1–4)

2. The Power for Submission (vv. 5–6)

3. The Partner in Submission (v. 7)