1 Peter 3:1

Likewise. Christian wives are to honor their husbands in word and in conduct (see on Gen. 3:16; Eph. 5:22, 25).

Wives. Peter here confirms Paul’s teachings regarding the ethics of a Christian home (see on Eph. 5:22; Titus 2:5).

Be in subjection. Or, “continue to be subject.”

Your own husbands. Peter here emphasizes the unique relationship involved in marriage. A believing wife must at all times be a Christian in spirit, living at peace even with an unbelieving husband. Their Christian vows have not freed her from her earlier vows to a pagan husband.

Any. That is, unbelieving husbands.

Obey not the word. That is, do not accept and obey the gospel. It was not uncommon for a wife to accept the truth in Jesus Christ and for her husband to reject it and to set himself in opposition to it. Nevertheless, the Christian wife was not to seek freedom from her marriage bond so long as her husband was content to live with her (see on 1 Cor. 7:12-15). She was to continue to live with her husband, in subjection to him as his wife, hoping and praying that her godly life would win him to the Master.

Without the word. Literally, “without a word,” “without talk.” The Greek construction makes evident that “word” here does not designate the gospel message, as in the previous occurrence of “word” in the same verse. In view of the fact that conduct (“conversation”) is to be the means by which believing wives are to win their unbelieving husbands, “word” here, by contrast, evidently designates verbal persuasion. Sometimes a believing wife may be tempted to argue, and to attempt to overwhelm her husband by logical evidence. Generally speaking this is not the best way to win an unbelieving husband. A spirit of nagging, argumentative discussion is foreign to the spirit and methods of Christ.

Be won. That is, to faith in Christ.

Conversation. Gr. anastrophe, “conduct” (see on ch. 1:15). A quiet self-restraint, a gentle, holy life of self-denial, presents an unanswerable argument, and is usually much more effective than constant talk and argument.