The time.

The topic of submission can be contentious, even within the church, but when we truly understand how the Bible defines submission, God's purpose for submission, it can become a means of blessing instead of a source of heated debate.

Today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg considers the place of biblical submission in a marriage.

I invite you to take your Bibles and we'll turn together to 1 Peter 1 Peter chapter 3.

And our focus this morning is on the first six verses, which I'd like to read in your hearing.

1 Peter 3 verse 1, wives in the same way be submissive to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without talk by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.

Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make

themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham

and called him her master. You are her daughters, if you do what is right, and do not give way to fear.

Father, I pray that as we turn our hearts to these verses of Scripture, that the Holy Spirit

might be our teacher, that you will give to us alert minds, the ability to think clearly,

the willingness to submit openly, to exactly what your word may

teach. And to this we give ourselves now, seeking your grace in Jesus' name. Amen. As we come to the

first verse of chapter three, we're at the midpoint of a section on submission,

which has begun for us at the 13th verse of the second chapter,

and which arguably continues until the 12th verse of the third chapter.

And having established the necessity of submission in relation to

civil government, and then in the realm of everyday employment, and having provided the foundational

basis for all of this in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he did that in verses 21 and following to the end of

chapter 2. Peter now turns to the family unit and says, if the family unit is to work in the

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