Wed Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

“Showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel.” (I Peter 3:7)

You almost take your life in your hands today when you refer to a woman as a weaker anything, but just understand what Peter was saying. The terminology that Peter uses here is referring primarily, if not strictly, to the physical body of the man and the woman. There is one major difference between men and women that has been true since the beginning of time and will be true for the rest of time and that is, on average, men are physically stronger than women. Just by the very nature of their physical strength there are certain things that men can do better than women just because they are more physically able to do it.

That is why in cases of spousal abuse, there is a 2-to-1 probability it is the man abusing the woman and not the other way around. Unless you are Justin Bieber or PeeWee Herman you are usually going to be stronger than your wife. Now, that is not always the case. A little boy named, Nathan, heard his dad telling his next door neighbor about a recent argument that he had with Nathan’s mother. Nathan’s dad said, “I let her know exactly where I stood and I told her how it was going to be around here.” The next thing I know, she is crawling toward me on her hands and knees.” Nathan then looked at his dad and said, “Is that when Mommy told you to get out from underneath the bed and fight like a man?”

Peter is not in any way denying the equality of men and women in many ways. Intellectually, men and women are equal. Frankly, spiritually speaking oftentimes it is the woman that is more mature than the man. I don’t even understand why we call women the weaker sex. Women outlive men by seven years and they are the ones that bear the babies and do most of the housework. I can assure you there are a lot of areas where my wife, Teresa, is a lot stronger than I am.

Peter is looking at how much bigger and stronger the man is than the woman on average. He simply says in effect, “Don’t use your size to intimidate your wife. Instead, because she is the weaker vessel you are to give her honor.” That word “honor” literally means to “give someone a certain rank of order in the community.” The NIV translates this, “Give your wife respect.” When you put all of that together, here is what Peter is saying, “You are to give your wife the place of honor in your marriage.” The husband may be the head of the home, but the wife is the heart of the home and she is to be put on a pedestal.