EXCEPTION

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, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 1 Peter 3:1-2

The typical and normal rule for evangelism is that redeemed souls, saved by God’s grace, preach, teach, or share as witnesses a testimony of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The pattern is seen in the group dynamic with the preaching of Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2) and from the healing of the lame man at the temple (Acts 3); and the pattern continues in the course of individual salvation, in the case of Ananias ministering to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9) and Peter ministering to Cornelius (Acts 10). Paul lays out the importance of this divine ordinance in his epistle to the Romans, establishing that a preacher must proclaim (Rom 10:14), and he also must be sent (Rom 10:15), for “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). There is an exception to this rule. It is within the circumstance of believing wives married to unbelieving husbands. The marriage between one man and one woman was ordained by God from the beginning (Gen 2:24) because the union proclaims the gospel of Christ (Eph 5:22-33). So powerful is this gospel model that the wife’s silence in respectful and pure conduct will win the unbelieving husband without a word. The Lord God promises this. As the wife reflects the submissive bride of Christ in her behavior (Eph 5:22), and the husband, whether believing or not, exemplifies Christ as head of the body (Eph 5:23), in the case of the unsaved, the Holy Spirit will work a work by the gospel model because the church does not tell Christ what to do or how to behave. Christ is the Head, not the bride. Oh, how perfect, how precious, how powerful is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The unbelieving husband will
Be saved without a word,
For Jesus’ gospel model fills
What the world thinks is absurd.

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Today's M'Cheyne Reading Schedule: 11/26 - 1Chr 22; 1 Pet 3; Mic 1; Luke 10

If you don’t have one, get a free PDF copy of Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s “Daily Bread” Bible Reading Calendar by Clicking Here.

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