Stressed marriages are hard to endure (with divorce not a God-pleasing way of escape; see Malachi 2:16; Matthew 5:32; Luke 16:18). The proximity of this passage to 1 Peter 2:21–25 surely indicates that Christ’s example in suffering is distinctly the model that wives and husbands are to follow in their marital hardships. Their effort needs to remain a continuous attempt to keep their conduct honourable so the unbelieving and/or unrepentant spouse may be won for Christ (1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Peter 3:1). It can be done because the believer has his/her eye focused beyond the struggles of today to the glorious inheritance to come in the ultimate Promised Land (1 Peter 1:3–4).
1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,