1 Peter 3:10

10 For
"Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;”

This verse begins a series of verses that tell us how to have a good life. It starts by addressing those who wish to “love life and see good days,” which is pretty much everyone. The basic answer these verses give for how to live a good life is to do good. Note that these verses are not promising that nothing bad will happen when we do good; in fact, a few verses later we say that we can find blessing in suffering for what’s right.

The first step in the set of instructions is the second half of verse 10, to control our speech. Interestingly the first step given is one of the hardest to follow, since “the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness… staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). Our speech is powerful, holding the power to hurt and heal (Proverbs 12:18), preserve and ruin (Proverbs 13:3). Because of this, we must exercise great care to keep from sinning with our words. With this is important to remember that,

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
(1 Corinthians 10:13)

1 Peter 3:9

9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

This verse tells us that instead of seeking revenge, we should respond to mistreatment with blessing. In Luke 6:27-29 Jesus says,

“27 But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.”

Jesus Himself provided the ultimate example of this. When He was tormented leading up to His death, he did not retaliate, instead He put his trust in God (1 Peter 2:23).

1 Peter 3:8

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

This verse is pretty simple, but important. We should live with unity of mind, with fait, not doubting God. 1 James 1:6-7 tells us,

"6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

We should be sympathetic to those around us, have brotherly love, and a tender heart, all of which help us in following the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31, Matthew 22:39). Finally we should have a humble mind. We have Jesus as an example for this; during his time on earth he displayed great humility, despite the fact that He was the person most deserving of arrogance, as He was, and still is, God.

1 Peter 3: 1-7

1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 7 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.

While the first 6 of these verses are written to women in particular, there are important truths that apply to everyone. One of these is found in verses 1-2, which is that our conduct can be a strong witness for Christ; by doing good we show Christ to others. In the other verses we see that God judges us by our actions, not our appearance; we should focus on how God sees us, not others. Verse 7 then instructs men to honor their wives, as they are equally heirs of God.

1 Peter 2:24-25

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

These two verses tell us what Christ gave us by dying on the cross. With his sacrifice we can die to our old sin natures and live in righteousness; he has healed us. He died, “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” By accepting this sacrifice we turn from our old lives, lost, and are found in Him. Through this sacrifice we can become perfect in God’s eyes; 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This raises the question in Romans 6:2 of, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” We should strive to live our lives for God; Romans 6:23 says,

“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

The power of this truth is magnified by the facts given in the previous verses. Jesus never sinned, even when brutally assaulted and executed, yet he died for us, for our sins. He took our punishment, though He was the only man to ever live that did not deserve that punishment (also see Isaiah 53:5, 7-9, 1 John 3:5).