Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00010A
|
00:22 Hello and welcome to "Books of the Book."
00:24 My name is Deyvy Rodriguez 00:26 and I'm glad you're able to join us in today's study. 00:29 Dr. Tom Shepherd is with us. 00:30 He is a professor of New Testament 00:32 at the Theological Seminary of Andrews University. 00:36 We've been studying the books of Peter. 00:37 And today we are talking about the silent evangelist. 00:41 So stay with us for the next half hour. 00:43 Dr. Shepherd, what's this silent evangelist? 00:45 Well it sounds like a--it sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? 00:49 An evangelist is somebody who speaks, 00:51 but if the evangelist isn't speaking, 00:53 how can they evangelize. 00:55 That's exactly what our passage that we're looking 00:57 at today is going to tell us about. 00:59 It's 1 Peter 3:1-7. 01:03 We want to read the passage 01:05 and then we'll take a look at some questions related to it. 01:07 1 Peter 3:1-7, why don't you read that for us? 01:10 "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, 01:14 that even if some do not obey the word, 01:16 they, without a word, 01:18 may be won by the conduct of their wives, 01:20 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. 01:24 Do not let your adornment be merely outward, 01:27 arranging the hair, wearing gold, 01:29 or putting on fine apparel 01:31 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, 01:35 with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle 01:38 and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 01:42 For in this manner, in former times, 01:45 the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, 01:49 being submissive to their own husbands, 01:52 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, 01:55 whose daughters you are if you do good 01:57 and are not afraid with terror. 02:00 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, 02:04 giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, 02:07 and as being heirs together of the grace of life, 02:13 that your prayers may not be hindered." 02:18 Okay, well, this is really 02:21 kind of a controversial passage for several reasons. 02:24 And we're gonna place it within proper context here. 02:28 In the Greco-Roman world of this time period, 02:33 the father was the head at the home. 02:35 He was called paterfamilias in their Latin term. 02:40 Basically, all power and authority in the home 02:43 was centered in the father figure, okay? 02:46 The family--he had much control over them, 02:49 both the wife and the children and the slaves, everybody. 02:53 And they were supposed to follow his lead. 02:57 In fact, they were supposed to adopt his religion 03:01 and they were supposed to worship his Gods. 03:05 So this setting we have in 1 Peter 3 03:09 with that kind of a set up, 03:12 it's interesting that once again, 03:14 Peter turns things upside down 03:17 instead of talking to the husband, 03:19 the father figure first, talks to the wives, you know. 03:23 And actually he talked to the slaves 03:25 before that back in Chapter 2 that we looked at before. 03:28 So it's rather an unusual kind of a setting 03:32 that we've got before us here. 03:34 So what does Peter tell women to do in this setting? 03:37 Well, what he tells them to do is to submit. 03:40 Now we've already noticed that he, 03:43 you know, he's changing power structures 03:44 and we're gonna see how this whole setting here 03:47 is part of that change process of subverting 03:52 the power structures of the Greco-Roman world. 03:54 When he tells the women to submit, 03:56 it doesn't sound like he's subverting power structures, 03:59 but he's going to do this for a particular reason. 04:05 All right, so we need to understand something 04:08 about this word submit, 04:09 because it is quite misunderstood today. 04:13 First, the terminology, the verb in Greek is Hupotasso. 04:20 It's a compound word, Hupotasso. 04:22 And tasso was actually a military term 04:25 that was used when you line soldiers up 04:28 and you are in charge of the soldiers. 04:30 So Hupotasso, you're under the command of somebody. 04:35 And the person who is in command had two things going. 04:39 They were in charge, yes, but they also had responsibility 04:42 to care for those who are under them, all right, so. 04:45 They are in charge, but they have responsibility. 04:49 The idea of submission, within the family, 04:53 the wife submitting to the husband is taught 04:55 elsewhere in the New Testament as well. 04:57 And sometimes people get the wrong idea about submission. 05:02 One of the mistaken ideas is 05:03 that submission means inferiority. 05:06 That if you submit, you must be inferior. 05:08 Well, if we turn to Luke 2:48-52, 05:13 we can help to alive that problem. 05:17 Luke 2:48-52 is the story of Jesus when He was a boy. 05:24 And He goes to the temple with His parents. 05:28 You remember this story when He's 12 years old. 05:31 And they leave Him in Jerusalem 05:36 and He ends up staying in the temple. 05:38 So this is when they find Him. 05:40 So if you'd read verses 48 to 52. 05:44 "So when they saw Him, they were amazed, 05:46 and His mother said to Him, 'Son, 05:48 why have You done this to us? 05:49 Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.' 05:53 And He said to them, 'Why did you seek Me? 05:55 Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?' 05:59 But they did not understand the statement 06:01 which He spoke to them. 06:03 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, 06:06 and was subject to them, 06:08 but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 06:11 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, 06:14 and in favor with God and men." 06:17 Okay, so here's Jesus in the temple 06:20 and they find Him there and He says, 06:25 "Why were you looking for Me? 06:27 Didn't you know that I must be in My Father's house?" 06:31 We tend to kind of glorify that a little bit. 06:35 I mean, it's of course a statement that our Lord made, 06:38 so it's right for us to think about those--that phrase. 06:41 But if you were to say something like that to your mother, 06:43 what would she say to you? 06:47 Maybe, she would be probably very upset. 06:50 I think so, she'd say, 06:52 "Young man, what do you think you're doing. 06:53 You can't talk to me like that." 06:56 So, I mean Jesus' words are true what He had said. 07:01 But Luke doesn't want you to get the idea 07:04 that He was a cheeky, young fellow that was, 07:06 you know, just talking back to His parents. 07:08 He wants to tell what Jesus said, 07:11 he wants to tell-- express the truth of this 07:14 that He's the Messiah and there's, 07:15 you know, great things coming out of this. 07:17 He's the Son of God, not merely, you know, there under them. 07:23 But he also doesn't want you to give the idea 07:26 that somehow He is, you know, disrespectful of His parents. 07:30 So when you look at the following verses, 07:32 they didn't understand. 07:34 And then it says in verse 51, 07:35 "He went down with them and came to Nazareth, 07:37 and was submissive to them," okay. 07:41 "And His mother treasured all these things in her heart." 07:43 Jesus submitted to His parents. 07:45 And it's the same terminology that Peter uses, submissive. 07:50 So was Jesus inferior to His parents? No. 07:53 No, actually, He was superior, wasn't He? 07:56 Because He was the Son of God. 07:57 So submission does not mean inferiority. 08:01 That's one idea that needs to be removed. 08:05 Submission also is not a denial 08:07 of a personal relationship to God. 08:10 In our text here, the woman is related to God 08:13 first of all and not to the husband. 08:16 She's going to obey God and evangelize her husband 08:18 rather than follow just what he has to say. 08:22 So submission does not mean inferiority, 08:24 it does not mean a denial 08:26 of a personal relationship with God. 08:29 And submission does not mean that you're a doormat, 08:32 that people can walk all over. 08:33 The wife is related to-- with moral language, 08:36 she is addressed as a moral agent by Peter. 08:39 So she's not a doormat, she's not just, 08:44 no relationship with God herself and she also is not inferior. 08:48 In fact, there are seven reasons from this one passage 08:51 that we can say that women are not inferior to men. 08:55 First of all, women are addressed 08:56 as moral agents, all right. 08:57 Second, women are a means of a evangelizing their husbands. 09:02 Third, women are told that they should not be afraid. 09:06 Fourth, husbands are told that they are to honor their wives. 09:12 Fifth, women fellow--are fellow heirs of the grace of life. 09:16 Sixth, mistreating women leads to prayers being blocked. 09:19 And seventh, women are examples for the congregation. 09:22 So over and over again, 09:24 Peter shows that women have this equal par with men. 09:28 He tells them to submit within this cultural setting 09:31 where they are, that's the norms of society, 09:35 he tells them to do that. 09:37 But his reasons for doing so 09:40 are somewhat different than what they expect. 09:43 So why does Peter tell women to submit then? 09:46 Well, he does this actually 09:48 not to meet society's expectations, 09:52 but rather so that the woman can win her husband 09:54 to Christ which is really a topsy-turvy kind of an idea. 10:01 Because as I said the, in that society 10:06 the family was supposed to follow the father's religion. 10:11 They were supposed to worship his gods. 10:13 And here's a woman who's not only rejected his gods, 10:19 but she's the means of winning him to the Christian faith. 10:25 So it's very interesting. 10:28 There's a subtext of again this changing of power structures 10:33 within the Greco-Roman world. 10:35 Now you said that the wife, 10:37 by her testimony or by submitting, 10:40 that she can win over her husband. 10:43 It sounds almost like what Paul is saying 10:46 in 1 Corinthians also 7 where He says that, 10:49 "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife." 10:52 In another verse, he says, 10:54 "For how do you know, oh, wife, 10:55 whether you will save your husband?" 10:58 Does that sound similar to what Peter's saying? 11:00 Yes. Yes, she can-- 11:01 the non-believing wife can win the husband to Christ. 11:05 Yeah. Okay. 11:07 That's a very important idea. Okay. 11:08 And how are the wives told to win their unbelieving husbands? 11:12 Well, it's very interesting. 11:15 The apostle Peter says that they do it without speaking. 11:17 This is the silent evangelists. 11:19 They are the silent evangelists. 11:21 And they do it, he says, without a word. 11:26 Now we've already noticed how powerful God's word 11:29 is in our study of 1 Peter Chapter 2. 11:32 The word of God is powerful, 11:33 you know, and it abides forever and things like that. 11:36 In one sense you could say there are couple of things 11:39 that are more powerful even than that. 11:41 One is the stubborn will of people who refuse to believe. 11:45 God is not gonna force them to believe. 11:47 But the other is the lifestyle of a Christian. 11:50 The lifestyle of a Christian speaks louder than the words. 11:54 And so here you are, 11:56 it's almost like the story of Jesus in John 4 12:01 where He heals the son of the king's servant 12:05 at a distance, you know. 12:07 He doesn't have to go to Capernaum to heal that boy. 12:10 He just speaks the word 12:12 and the boy is healed, at this distance. 12:14 So here is, you know, the woman is working just quietly, 12:19 just, you know, submissively, 12:21 she's just working-- And her husband is won to faith. 12:25 It's pretty amazing. 12:27 Well, you know, someone said once, 12:29 "Preach the gospel and when necessary use words." Yes. 12:33 So that's kind of the same kind of the same idea. 12:35 And I think that's true also 12:36 because, you know, I've seen 12:38 that happen in my family, Dr. Shepherd. 12:39 My mother married a non-Christian, 12:45 not of our faith. 12:46 And so she was married before, 12:48 you know, with him for 30 plus years, 12:52 who is my father and they're stay together. 12:54 But it will took 30 years 12:56 before he finally decided to attend church. 13:00 And she never really made that sermon 13:05 or made that appeal for him to come to church, 13:08 I mean she did-- It was without a word. 13:10 Yeah, there you go. It was without words. 13:11 I did see that she would preach through 13:13 her pious character, the gospel. 13:16 And not too long ago, a year ago actually, 13:19 my father joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 13:22 He was baptized and was won over to Christ by my mother. 13:26 So I think it's possible. Yeah. 13:28 Well, friends, this is a very exciting topic, 13:31 we're studying the Books of Peter. 13:33 So continue joining us after we return, after this break. |
Revised 2014-12-17