3
1 Wives, similarly, must submit themselves to their husbands. Then, even if a believing woman’s husband refuses to believe the message, by his wife’s conduct he may be won over without any need for words at all,+
2 when he sees how reverently and with what holiness+ she conducts herself.+
3 It is not with outward things like elaborate hairstyles and gold jewelry or fine clothes that you wives are to adorn yourselves,
4 but with character on the inside, with the undying beauty of a spirit that is humble and peaceful,+ which is in God’s sight so very valuable.+
5 It was in this way, after all, in times past, that those holy women, too, who placed their hope in God, used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their husbands.
6 Sarah, for instance,+ was obedient to Abraham, calling him master.+ You show yourselves to be her daughters when you follow her noble example,+ without being afraid of human threats and intimidation.+
7 Husbands, similarly: Your conduct toward your wives must conform to the gospel.+ You must treat them considerately as the weaker partner,+ showing them honor and respect as fellow heirs of the gift of coming life.+ Do this so that your prayers will not be ignored.+
8 Finally, all of you are to have the same mindset and are to share each other’s joys and sorrows;+ love one another like family, be compassionate, maintain a humble attitude,
9 not repaying anyone evil for evil or insult for insult, but responding, instead, with blessing. It is this kind of patient response,+ you see, to which you were summoned,+ of repaying with blessing,+ so that you may a blessing inherit.
10 For,
“If someone longs to possess+ life and see blessed and joyous+ days,
he must keep his tongue from evil words
and his lips from deceitful speech.+
11 He must shun evil and do what is good,
he must strive for peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their prayers.
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”+
13 And so who can do you any lasting harm+—if it is the upright course+ to which you show yourselves devoted?
14 The truth is, if you find yourselves+ suffering because of righteousness, you are blessed. “Do not be afraid of them,+ nor be intimidated.”+
15 The Lord, rather, the Messiah, “is the one you must fear and worship, and no other.”+ In your hearts+ be ready at all times to give an answer to anyone who asks you to explain your hope.+ Yet do this with humility and reverence,+
16 keeping your consciences clear, so that when you are slandered, those who malign your honorable conduct as followers of the Messiah+ will be made ashamed.
17 It is better to suffer for doing good, you see, if it is God’s will, than for doing evil.
18 For the Messiah, too, himself experienced undeserved suffering, as an offering, once and for all, to atone for sins,+ a “righteous+ person for+ the unrighteous,”+ to give you access into the presence of God. Although he was put to death in a lowly mortal body,+ he was brought back to life clothed in the glory of the Spirit,+
19 in which state+ he went and announced his triumph,+ too, to the spirits in prison—
20 to those who disobeyed long ago, when God held back his judgment so patiently+ in the time+ of Noah as the ark was being built, in which only a few, that is, eight people, were rescued by the waters.+
21 Those waters+ were a foreshadow of baptism, by which you, likewise, are yourselves rescued in the present era+—not a removal of dirt from the body, but an appeal to God for a clear conscience+ on account of+ the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah,+
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him.+