The epistle reading this week is part of the author's comments on the appropriate Christian "take" on the traditional household codes of attitudes and behaviors. In the established and accepted hierarchical culture of first-century Asia Minor, relationships were dictated by a strict "pecking order" both in the household and in the marketplace. The Gentile Christian converts 1 Peter addresses here were used to reacting and behaving in ways that were the accepted norm within this cultural milieu. In 2:18-3:7, 1 Peter challenges them to base their reactions and relationships on a greater standard the code of behavior established by Jesus Christ himself.

Today it surprises and disappoints that the apostolic writers and many early leaders of the church seemed to accept the institution of slave…