Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, - 1 Peter 3:1

Today's Scripture Reading (April 27, 2021): 1 Peter 3

Robert K. Greenleaf taught that "the Servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve." Greenleaf (1904- 1990) is the father of the modern "Servant Leadership" movement. And he is right. Servant leadership can never be a way of expressing leadership. It has first to be a condition of the heart. Our political system is actually built around this concept of Servant Leadership. We even call politicians and their staffs, as wells as a myriad of other government positions, including teachers, civil or public servants. The idea is that they have sacrificed their ambitions to do what is required for a healthy society. The problem is that, while they call themselves civil servants, most politicians seem to lack a servant's heart. As a result, servant leadership becomes just a tool on the leader's belt, and the unfortunate reality is that leadership is just a stepping stone to acquiring power. And holding power is the antithesis of being a servant.

Peter's words regarding women's role in a marriage are difficult to read in our egalitarian society. And we need to remind ourselves that Peter's letter was written to a patriarchal society, a society that believed in men's superiority. But there are egalitarian comments in the Bible. The earliest of these comments is found in the creation account when the author of Genesis comments that "God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). Literally, the text reads that God created Adam (mankind), male and female. There was no gender inequality in the original creation scheme; both males and females are made in the image of God. Gender inequality and limitations were, and remain, a human-constructed system.

But Peter is not wrong. Women should submit to their husbands, becoming servants so that their men can be won through their behavior. If there is any error in Peter's comment, it is that he does not command husbands to do precisely the same thing. In fact, becoming servants and servant leaders is not a "marriage" thing or a "gender" thing; it is a "Christian" thing. We are called to be servants so that the world might be influenced, not by our persuasive arguments, but rather through our actions. We exist to serve.

And the process starts not by feeling that we are being forced to serve but by developing a desire to be servants. We need to understand that Jesus was a servant, even laying his life down so that we might live. Possessing a servant's heart must come first. We were created to be authentic servant leaders, both in our marriages and in the world. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 4 & 5