Fear, hope, and doing good: wives as a paradigm of mission in 1 Peter

Abstract

Like 1 Corinthians 7,12-16, 1 Peter 3,1-6 indicates that mixed marriages may be opportunities for missionary witness. But the text in 1 Peter gives much more indication than does Paul about both the means by which this witness should be offered and the potential risks to wives in doing so. This article explores the stance recommended in 1 Peter for these wives, and shows how this forms a paradigm of the missionary stance expected of the community as a whole. The author of 1 Peter promotes a mode of missionary engagement that is essentially the quiet and gentle living of a good way of life. Verbal witness is to be given when requested or required, which may be in situations of legal trial. This missionary stance was both influential and important to the development of Christianity in the early centuries of its existence.