In the sermon on Sunday (“Marriage, Part Two” — 4/29/2012), one of the statements I made was that the husband is not “lord” of the wife in the way that Jesus is Lord.
However, this does raise the question: what about 1 Peter 3:6 where it says, “like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham, and called him her master” (NIV 1984). While the 1984 version of the NIV has “master,” the 2011 NIV as well as the ESV and KJV has “lord” since it is the Greek word kurios.
Peter is making a very interesting allusion here because the only time in Genesis when Sarah calls Abraham “lord” or “master” is Genesis 18:12 where she is told that she and Abraham will have a child in their old age. Seeing the reference in context helps us to understand that Sarah was using the term as a term of respect. Sarah was acknowledging that Abraham was the leader in their marriage relationship, just as Paul urges wives to do in Ephesians 5:22-33.
From an article entitled, “Sarah as a Model for Christian Wives,” in Bibliotheca Sacra (a biblical journal) we read,
“Lord” sounds servile to us, but an equally acceptable translation of the Greek word is “sir.” The point is that she verbally expressed her submission to him in a way that was appropriate in her culture.
Sarah was respecting the authority God had given to her husband and following his leadership. This attitude of respect for her husband, despite his advanced years, makes Sarah a model for wives’ attitudes toward their husbands today.
Blessings,
Jim