Gnosis of Her
When a man is having marriage problems, one of the most common reasons is that they don’t understand women, and don’t care to understand them. As far as he is concerned, she lives in her own world. Which is fine with you. But the Bible commands us husbands to dwell with their wives according to knowledge. In other words, men, you are out of God’s will if you are not taking steps to get to know your wife.
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Pet 3:7)
Two words in the Greek language are translated to “knowledge.” The first is epignosis. Epi means higher, or above; gnosis means knowledge. So epignosis is the higher knowledge or relevation received through the Holy Spirirt concerning God’s word or His will. In 1 Peter 3:7, however, the Greek word for “knowledge” is gnosis – simple, everyday knowledge. Husbands are supposed to live with their wives according to the natural knowledge of them. I don’t know that a man can ever fully understand his wife, but even a little knowledge of her can help him to be understanding. The English Standard Version says, “live with your wives in an understanding way.”
How is your wife unique? How is she unique? What pleases her, and what irritates her? What does she enjoy doing? What are her weaknesses, and how can you help her overcome them? Study her, talk to her, and observe how she reacts to different people and situations.
The next thing this verse of Scripture says about women is that husbands are to honor their wives as the weaker vessel. This does not mean she is weaker in intelligence or endurance. In fact, there are some jobs women are much better suited to than men. The word vessel is referring to the physical body only (see 2 Cor 4:7). A woman is physically not as strong as a man (with a few exceptions, of course), and a husband is reminded to protect his wife with his strength.
The husband’s strength is for work and for protection, not for bullying and battering.
Peter declares in verse 7 that the wife is the husband’s joint heir. Their individual spiritual inheritances are still intact with the Lord, but a new inheritance for this life is given when they are joined together.
When the husband loves his wife as Jesus loves the Church, and his wife responds by submitting to him with respect and honor, they enter a place of power in their prayer lives that makes Satan tremble. In this world, husbands and wives need the power of prayer to maintain a solid marriage relationship. Husbands, you will not enjoy the victories through unity in prayer if you don’t take time to get to know your wife. If husbands do not treat their wives in a godly way, the Lord will pay no heed to their prayers.
When one is married, we expect everything to come naturally. Even Adam and Eve figured out it didn’t come naturally pretty quick. We must learn to live God’s way. When you were born again, you didn’t just naturally know how to worship the Lord, how to love Him, how to please Him, how to walk with Him.You had to study your Bible, pray and learn these things with help from your pastor and other believers.
The same is true for marriage. You will find that God has a lot to say about your wife to help you understand her better. He also has a lot to say about you, and what a husband is supposed to be. Many men give in to pride and refuse to admit they need help to have a succesful marriage. To them, studying and learning about marriage is for wimps, those who are “whooped”. Men, don’t be embarassed to let your wife know you are reading books to help to be a better husband and father. Your wife will respect you when you boldly meet your responsibilities and courageously deal with problems according to the Word of God.
