Just as when Peter first penned God’s instructions to wives in 1 Pet 3:1-6 ,
from that day until this:
wifely submission remains a powerful, redemptive, God-given response of a wife who is married to a disobedient husband!
Sarah was God’s chosen role model and God must have His reasons for His choice 
Soooo, in order to better understand and obey God’s instructions to me, I spent quite a bit of time reading, studying, meditating upon, and praying about just how Sarah was:
1 Pet 3:5-6 They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah , who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.Sarah is not a shrinking violet, not a doormat, definitely has a voice in the relationship.
Sarah is assertive and has quite a bit of power in her marriage relationship with Abraham! I learned from Sarah’s role model that godly submission can have an assertive face and is not always going to be pleasing to the husband. Look at this:
Gen 21:10-12 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; … And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham… But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased… whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you,
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Recovering my Inheritance: How much authority did Sarah have?
To help women to be FREE and to walk in their GOD GIVEN authority and dominion, go deeper into the WORD. Do not cast doubt what is GOD BREATHED, alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword!
Look at Sarah here:
Gen 21:9-12
Exactly how much more authoritative can one get?
All at once she speaks with authority into Abraham’s life, into history, and right into the Word of God in the new covenant:
Gal 4:29-31
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Seems to me that Gen 12-15 is “like” the pre-Christian days. God is calling Abram out (in Gen 12) but there is not yet a “covenant”.
In Gen 15 God makes a covenant. That is “like” becoming a Christian.
Gen 17 is the covenant of circumcision. That is “like” a deeper work of God, resulting in deeper intimacy. And their names are changed.
If you read through the account of their life and times carefully, you will see that God’s presence and voice is far more evident following the circumcision covenant in Gen 17.
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I heard a sermon about Sarai which mentioned that the very name Sarai MEANS “contentious”! 
…while Sarah means “princess”. 
Which leads me to identify even MORE with that transition Sarai made to Sarah!
(Here is a link to a similar teaching: Ray Stedman: The Circumcised Life )
To me, this discovery was another thread in the very beautiful, harmonious,
(and very personal and intimate) tapestry of God’s Word!
When I misunderstood submission as a state of wifely powerlessness, I obeyed but I was bitter and resentful- (contentious???) When I came to understand my status in Christ, my dominion, my place as co-heir, queen, God’s princess beside my husband NOT beneath him… my spirit quieted within me.
My submission to my husband is-to this day- a powerful missional response. Here is link which describes the 1st century historical context of 1 Peter- Click Here.
I have compiled material on Sara into a series :
[...] I have seen the role model of Sarah (1 Pet 3) used to suggest that a wife is POWERLESS, a wife has NO say over her destiny- “After all, Sarah submitted to be given in bigamous marriage to a pagan king” For more on Sarah’s role model of submission to a disobedient husband, I refer you to this page: As Sarah obeyed Abraham [...]
[...] Sarai made to Sarah! (Here is a link to the post about Sarai- contentious and a whole page on “as Sara obeyed Abraham”) To me, this discovery about Sarai(contentious)–> Sarah (ruler) was another thread in the [...]
[...] is a wonderful faith building, redemptive, and human account. (See “as Sara obeyed Abraham”) Sarah is assertive and has quite a bit of power in her marriage relationship with Abraham! I [...]
“wives should be submissive to there husbands”
Submission is not demanded by dictatorship it is earned.
http://www.johnpreiss.wordpress.com
Ray Stedman has written some good stuff Charis [sounds like you and I are on a similar journey]
and I believe his widow wrote with him, and she still writes.
the N.T. teaches voluntary, [not forced] submission from each believer to another “out of reverence for Christ” [Eph. 5:21]
if both husband and wife practice this from the Spirit within both, out of reverence to Him, in the other, this is the way ahead.
Submission does not have to mean agreement, of course.
Right attitude and respect can be maintained even through disagreement.
The word “submission” means to yeild, to give in, to order yourself under the one who is in authority over you. Yes, husbands are to submit to the Lord, and wives to their own husbands.
Yes, it must be willing, but that doesn’t mean it is not obligatory. We get our own wills on board with the will of another. We give in, give up, yield, quit fighting, quit resisting, make peace. We submit to our husbands. Husbands submit to Christ.
We all submit to God because He is our Lord. In the marriage, a wife submits to her husband because he is her lord in the marriage. He rules, and she follows.
This is the pattern that Abraham and Sarah followed, though imperfectly at times. Sarah left Ur with him. She lived in tents with him. She did him kindness on occasion by telling others that she was his sister. She agreed to that before the left Ur.
She definitely took the submissive role. One time God told Abraham to do what his wife said, since she was right. Otherwise, he would have had his way. God intervened.
Hi webfoot,
Thank you for your comment. You reminded me that I have some updated material which will fit nicely on this page. Based on the understanding of the passage which you expressed I think you might find the following articles especially enlightening (as well as more in keeping with your own “Sara” style- let’s face it, Webfoot, you are not one to mince words! You remind me of another powerful “daughter of Sara”- namely the Jewish Dr. Laura
)
The Egalitarian Marriage of a True Patriarch by David R. Leigh
On the use of submission in 1 Peter by David R. Leigh
Regards,
Charis
PS BTW, Tell your friend Craig/HPK at CCC I am most grateful for his calling my attention to the resources at CBE. Very enlightening!
I just found this website recently, and I find this particular topic interesting. Here’s my opinion, but I want to bring up some parallels in the Abraham/Sarah story to make my point. First of all, I see the Genesis story divided into two parts: Abram/Sarai versus Abraham/ Sarah relationships. Abram is told several times by God that he will have progeny. However, God doesn’t explicitly say that this progeny will be through Sarai. Abram believes that God will give him a son, but he doesn’t seem to think it will necessarily be Sarai’s child. This is confirmed when he tells Sarai to say she is his sister, and Pharaoh takes her into his harem. Abram is hardly upset by Sarai’s abduction, and he even profits from her loss in the form of livestock and slaves (probably Hagar was one of these slaves). A childless wife is in danger of being divorced, and after Sarai’s return, she gives Hagar to Abram to conceive a child on Sarai’s behalf. Of course, Hagar thinks she should be a wife instead of a concubine, and she disrespects Sarai. Sarai complains to Abram and blames him for the situation (rightly so) because he gave her the fear of being divorced. Anyway, Hagar runs away, and God intervenes to tell Hagar to submit herself to Sarai (with the promise of nations being born of Ishmael). Now contrast this to what happens later. God tells Abram that he will make a covenant with him and his descendants. He tells Abram his name is now Abraham and Sarai will now be called Sarah. This is the first time God explicitly states that Sarah will give Abraham a son. Later on, three men (3 angels or God and 2 angels?) visit Abraham and tell him again that Sarah will give him a son. This seems to be the first time that Sarah has heard this news because she laughs at the idea. This is also the first time she calls Abraham “Lord”. Ovciously, she doubts this news and is rebuked by the Lord. Anyway, she soon finds herself in the same predicament with Abimelach (sp?) aas she was with Pharaoh. She agreed to tell him she was Abraham’s sister and ended up in his harem. Of course, God springs her from the harem and Abimelach gives Abraham a lot of riches for Sarah’s RETURN. Notice the difference from the first time. Abram got rich for getting rid of Sarah while Abraham got rich for getting Sarah back. I think this is often over looked. The difference in Sarah’s perspective must have been different by this time as Hebrews 11:11 states:
“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised”
Sarah conceived and recognized that her child was the child of the promise. She also knew that Isaac couldn’t be heirs with Ishmael, and she told Abraham to cast out Hagar. God told Abraham to OBEY Sarah, and yes, the hebrew word meant literally to obey. In contrast, ! Peter 3:5-6 states that Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. I honestly don’t believe that Peter was referring to Abrahm and Sarah’s entire relationship. I also don’t think he was referring to their relationship when they were named Abram and Sarai. I think he was referring to one situation only because he said when Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him “Lord”. The only time Sarah called Abraham “lord” is when she heard that she was to bare a child. Right after this, Sarah “obeyed” Abraham by telling Abimelach she was Abraham’s sister. She did the same thing earlier when she told Pharaoh she was Abram’s sister. However, I think she had two entirely different reasons. The first time, she obeyed Abram because she probably thought that was what an obedient wife should do. She probably took Abram’s word as law, and she probably didn’t think she would get into any trouble or Abram would desert her. The second time, Sarah “obeyed” Abraham because she probably realized God wouldn’t desert her. After all, it was God who sprang Sarai from Pharaoh’s harem, and it was God who got her out of Abimelach’s harem. In other words, she “obeyed” Abraham because she had faith that God would protect her and ultimately make Abraham see the error of his ways. I think this is what Peter meant when he said:
“For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.”
Sarah put her trust in God, stood her ground, and God gave Abraham a new respect for Sarah that wasn’t really there before. I think this is the real message of 1 Peter 3. The phrase of verse 6 “not afraid with any terror” literally means “fear no terror” according to Katherine Bushnell. Bushnell said christian wives are to set a good example for their unbelieving husbands until they learn the better way. This means getting along with them as much as possible in a spirit of conciliation when principle wasn’t involved. On the other hand, the christian wife should stand her ground and correct her husband when he is in the wrong. Hopefully, with God’s help, the christian wife can lead her husband into a christian marriage of mutual submission.
Very insightful, Katydid! Thank you for sharing that!
yea it’s too bad we don’t and never will hear the truth from the Concubine, you know,
that whole ‘justification’ of using women as sex slaves who WERE by the way,
sexually tortured, just like prostitutes are today because hey,
it’s a whore, non human so it’s acceptable.
I hate the whole glorification of Sarah and the demonization of Hagar,
it wreaks of that whole ‘class-race’ privilege,
Both women were victims, though Sarah at the top came out,
but the tragedy is that Hagar, is what the majority of women [esp] trafficked slaves/sex slaves are today,
as IF they had choice, as IF they don’t feel pain, as IF they didn’t want their own love, as IF they didn’t have feelings, dreams, souls
yea, I wonder, what it would Really sound like, if we were to Hear the pain of Hagar,
and all her daughters/sisters like her.
Like how Dare she want to be something Other than some sex slave/slave with a LIFE and SOUL of her own,
yea…
the whole thing, stinks….why we don’t question is, and then Wonder why WE women are oppressed, by our very OWN,
is just unreal…
I am dedicating this to the Human Being Women Hagars of the world…who their Voices, their Pain,
SHOULD BE HEARD,
BY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US WOMEN
WHO CLAIM
LOVE.
Jane
thank you so very much for this POWERFUL foundation):