1 Peter 3:3-4

‘Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.'

Thus Christian women are not to waste their time and effort on dressing in a way that will draw attention to themselves or will attract men to themselves (compare Revelation 17:4), or will even attract the gods who are subject to such vanities (many women would make great efforts to make themselves presentable to the gods), but are rather to give time to revealing what is now in their hearts, expressed in terms of a meek and gentle spirit, something which is in God's sight of huge value. Then they will win God's approval. For while man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. Thus they must woo their husbands as those who are chaste, do good works and are godly (1 Timothy 2:10) and as a result at the same time greatly please God, by what they have become. And what they thus ‘wear' will be incorruptible and everlasting. We have seen that Peter constantly draws attention to the need to seek what is incorruptible (1 Peter 1:4; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23). He had taken to heart Jesus' teaching in passages like Matthew 6:19.

We can compare here 1 Timothy 2:9 which speaks of the responsibility of Christian women to ‘adorn themselves in seemly clothing, with modesty and sobriety, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment, but, as becomes women professing godliness, with good works' (compare Revelation 19:8). Ideas like these were no doubt well established in the ‘tradition' of the worldwide church, but have been shaped here by Peter to fit this context. Ephesians 5:22 and Colossians 3:18 both contain instructions to wives, but without going into a similar depth, although in Ephesians it becomes an example of the relationship between Christ and His church and is based on the fact that the ‘husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church'. Both these relationships are founded in God's purposes.

The total lack of sexual discrimination in his thinking is found in the fact that Peter can speak of ‘the inner man' (masculine) of her heart. It is doubtful if a Rabbi could have spoken like that. He would have found some female equivalent. But to Peter, as to Paul, there was neither male nor female, all were one in Christ Jesus. His point is that in her inner being and heart she would be revealing that she was ‘equally as good as a man' in a time of male domination.