<p>3:7 <em>You husbands, in like manner- </em>The &quot;manner&quot; refers to submitting to the other just spoken about. For Peter will go on to appeal to all to be subject to each other (5:5).</p><p><em>Live with your wife with understanding</em>- This refers to having the wisdom to submit and be sensitive to each other.</p><p><em>Giving honour to the woman as to the weaker vessel</em>- To honour women for the sake of the fact they were weaker than men was unheard of in the ancient world. Women were dishonoured exactly because they were physically weaker. This was radical, counter cultural stuff- just as radical as the call of the Gospel in our age.</p><p><i>As being also joint-heirs of the grace of life</i><em>- </em>Peter describes sisters as &lsquo;joint-heirs&rsquo; with their husbands, implying &ldquo;full religious equality with man- a thought impossible for Judaism&rdquo;. But the grammar really suggests that they were both join-heirs. They were &quot;join-heirs with Christ&quot; (Rom. 8:17). But they were both join-heirs. Because they were both connected to Christ, they ought to therefore be with each other. Husbands and wives are &quot;<em>heirs together</em>&quot; just as the whole church are &quot;heirs together&quot; through being one in Christ (Gal. 3:29; Eph. 3:6).&nbsp;See on 1 Pet. 3:1. &ldquo;The grace of life&rdquo; may refer to the gift of life in the Spirit which is received now, and comes to full term in the eternal life of the Kingdom age.</p><p><em>That your prayers are not impeded- </em>1 Pet. 3:7 gives an unexpected reason for appealing for husbands and wives to get along with each other: that your prayers be not hindered. So important was prayer in the thinking of Peter. Comparing ourselves with the first century community, it seems to me that we simply don&rsquo;t give prayer the place of importance which they did. 1 Tim 2:1 reflects <em>their</em> balance: &ldquo;I exhort therefore, that, <em>first of all</em> the Greek implies &lsquo;most importantly&rsquo; rather than just being first in a list, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men&rdquo;. Marital strife results in prayers being &quot;impeded&quot;, the same word translated 'hewn down' (Mt. 7:19) in a judgment day context. The evidence that the experience of answered prayer is an indicator of God's pleasure with us is quite compelling.</p><p>The way Paul talks of how in 'marriage', the man represents Christ and the woman the church, helping each other towards salvation, would indicate that he presumed marriage was only relevant to believers; Christian marriage seems to be the only model of marriage he assumes. Here Peter speaks of husband and wife praying together (1 Pet. 3:7); he too assumed marriage in the Faith as the only model of marriage.</p>