Weaker vessels

Peter describes women as “weaker vessels” (1 Pet 3:7).  That sounds like an insult.  Is it?

First, vessels in Scripture are almost always temple vessels, implements of temple worship.  Hebrew 9:21 is one of the NT passages that uses the word in this specific sense.  Other uses in the NT are derived from it.  In the OT, vessels represent Israel devoted to the worship of Yahweh; when Israel goes into exile, so do the “vessels” and the vessels also return with them.  And so you have Paul talking about “vessels” prepared for wrath and glory (Rom 9).  The “large house” that contains vessels of varying degrees of value (2 Tim 2:20) is the temple of the church, which contains a variety of different sorts of people.  There’s a good bit about vessels in Leviticus, and they represent people; we’re “containers.”  Some of us are rustic earthen containers, some are shiny gold ones; some are shiny containers with dead mice on the inside, while some are clay but hide a treasure.  ”Treasure in earthen vessels” is the way Paul describes the apostles who bear the glory of the gospel (2 Cor 4:6).

Second, the comparative: What other vessels does Paul have in mind?  In context, the only real option is a comparison of husbands and wives.  The exhortation is directed to husbands who are to treat their wives with understanding and honor as a “weaker vessel.”  The following phrase reinforces that: “weaker vessel, as a woman.”  Weaker than her husband, is what it means.

Third, how is the woman weaker?  Why a “weaker” vessel?  The word often carries the connotation of sickly, but it can also connote physical weakness, weakness of faith, moral weakness, even poverty.  In some places it means something like “timidity.”  I suspect that in 1 Peter 3, it means physical weakness.  Exceptions abound, of course, but women in general are physically weaker than men in general.

Fourth, is it an insult to women?  Not at all.  Weakness is, after all, not attributed only to women.  Weakness is the generic human condition (Matt 26:31; Rom 8:26; 1 Cor 15:43).  More importantly, weakness is exalted in the NT.  Paul’s weakness allows God’s power to show (2 Cor 11:30; 12:5, 9-10).  The Corinthians mock the “weakness” of Paul’s personal presence (2 Cor 10:10), but Paul boasts in his weakness and afflictions.  Behind that is the fact that God shows Himself weak in Christ, a weakness that is stronger than men (1 Cor 1:25).  Jesus is crucified “out of weakness” and lives by the power of God (2 Cor 13:4). Having displayed His weakness to the world, God chooses weak things (1 Cor 1:27), like Paul.  Paul’s weakness is a living display of the gospel He preaches, the gospel of a Crucified Christ.

If Paul boasts of His weakness, weaker vessels have more to boast about than “stronger” ones.  The weaker one is, the more transparent one becomes to the power of God that works within.  Paul says “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).