1In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word, 2seeing your pure behavior in fear. 3Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing, 4but from the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. 5For this is how in the past the holy women who hoped in God also adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. 6So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror.
7You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel, as also being joint heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
8Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous, 9not rendering evil for evil or insult for insult; but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10For,
“He who would love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit.
11Let him turn away from evil and do good.
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears open to their prayer;
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13Now who will harm you if you become imitators of that which is good? 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “Don’t fear what they fear, neither be troubled.” 15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear, 16having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ. 17For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing what is right than for doing evil. 18Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, 19in whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20who before were disobedient when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
While in Athens, Paul met with philosophers from the Epicurean and Stoic philosophical schools, rival schools of thought, and two of the most prominent philosophical schools of the age. Epicureans were followers of the Greek thinker Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), who taught that pleasure was the chief goal of life, because how one lived in the here and now was important, rather than a misplaced hope for the future or afterlife, since, in their view, the soul does not survive the death of the body. He was also a determinist, believing people’s lives are governed by the interplay of atoms. Epicurus also believed that people should strive for a self-sufficient life of tranquility, free from pain or too much passion, should not fear death, and should spend life surrounded by friends. Epicureans were the secular agnostics and deists of their day, indifferent to monotheism and polytheism, believing that any God or gods were too far removed from human activity to be of value and were controlled by the same determinism as people. Although they did not advocate licentious behavior, the tendency of their philosophy to encourage immoral conduct led later generations to dub persons bent on self-indulgence as epicurean.
The Stoics, on the other hand, followed the teaching of the Greek philosopher Zeno (c. 334-c.262 B.C.), who came from Citium, Cyprus. Stoics got their name from the Painted Stoa (i.e., Porch), the marketplace in Athens where Zeno taught. Stoics were pantheists who believed that all of humanity and the world were united with impersonal divinity, and were thus diametrically opposed to the Epicureans. Stoics tried to achieve goodness and peace of mind from living a life of virtue in harmony with nature. The only genuine good is virtue, which led Stoics to inculcate indifference to everything but virtue. Since such indifference requires an unemotional disposition and high tolerance for pain, persons even today refer to those who exemplify these personality traits as stoic.
This passage demonstrates that Paul was willing and prepared to engage the culture and ideas of his day with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 1:16; 2 Tim 4:2; see also Peter’s encouragement in 1 Pet 3:15).