1 Peter 3:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore this outward beauty is not beauty, but something superfluous. The fitting beauty of a wife is obedience to her husband. That this word is true is proved by the examples of holy women, such as Sarah.

"And holy women." In what way are they holy, when the holiness named is guarded at every step? It is either marriage, continence, or purity.

In confirmation, or even as the basis, of his exhortation that women obey their husbands as their highest adornment, the Apostle points to the example of the holy women of the Old Testament in their relation to their husbands. The distinctive feature of these relations was precisely their obedience to their husbands.

“Formerly” means in the Old Testament, as is evident from the example of Sarah cited immediately afterward.

“Who hoped in God”: hope in God was the basic feature of the holiness of these holy women. Because of their holiness and hope in God, they should be imitated in their manner of life and action.

“They adorned themselves, being subject”: obedience to their husbands served as their adornment, as an example for Christian women; cf. 1 Tim 2:9-10.

The duties of wives and husbands (1 Pet 3:1-8). To the former the Apostle commands submission to their husbands, so that by meekness and a pure life they may have a good influence on them. They are to adorn themselves not with outward braiding of hair or ornaments of gold, but with inward qualities of the heart, like the holy women, for example Sarah, who obeyed Abraham. To husbands he commands prudent and meek conduct toward their wives, as toward the weaker vessel and as toward fellow heirs of the life of grace.

Having defined the civic relations of Christians, the Apostle Peter now gives counsel concerning family life, which is first ordered by wives. He counsels them to obey their husbands and generally to live in the fear of God, since by this they can dispose their husbands toward Christianity.

Knowing women’s usual passion for finery, the Apostle counsels them to adorn themselves not with perishable beauty, but with spiritual beauty, that is, purity of heart. They should adorn themselves with what is especially precious before God: meekness and obedience, imitating the righteous wife of Abraham and other holy women.

The Apostle strengthens his exhortation to women to adorn themselves with spiritual virtues, which attract the blessing of the Lord and the goodwill of people, especially husbands, by pointing to the example of women of the Old Testament.

He calls such women holy not only because they belonged to the God-chosen, holy people consecrated to special service of God. He calls them so especially because they were personally holy. They hoped in God, consoling and strengthening themselves with the assurance that the virtues adorning them were precious in God’s eyes.