The overarching theme of 1 Peter 2:11 – 3:7 was subjection. Yet Peter uses different verbs in his instruction to wives (be subject
) and husbands (live with
). He does so because of the different roles God had ordained for man and woman respectively (Genesis 2:15, Genesis 2:18). Though today’s (Western) world insists on egalitarian standards for men and women (in marriage and elsewhere), as if the genders are interchangeable, Peter knows from Scripture that the two genders are not identical but are complementary (as anyone can also see). Men need the assistance of women to thrive; women need the protection and leadership of men to flourish. This is an unchanging norm in God’s world, which people reject only to their own (and society’s) hurt.
1 Femmes, que chacune soit de même soumise à son mari, afin que, si quelques-uns n'obéissent point à la parole, ils soient gagnés sans parole par la conduite de leur femme,