Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Peter 3:1

"In like manner, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your won husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives;" — 1 Peter 3:1 (ASV)

“In the same way” in both v.1 and v.7 points back to 2:13. Christian wives are not to be submissive like slaves; rather, the principle of Christian subjection to God’s will relates to every class and every situation. Rules for wives occur in other locations in the NT (Ephesians 5:22; Colossians 3:18; 1 Timothy 2:9–15; Titus 2:4–5).

The phrase translated “so that” introduces the purpose of the command. Here an evangelistic motivation is added to the general necessity of the divine order. As the Gospel was proclaimed, it was always possible for a wife to be converted before her husband. In such a situation where the man is disobedient to the Gospel message, he may be “won over” (GK 3045) for the faith without a word by the way his wife lives.